Fly River Turtle!

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Younglin;5158518; said:
I have only heard rumors of breeding. I have never seen it confirmed. Until then I will tell people not to buy them.
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guy in Australia breeds...
 
It takes forever for them to get huge. They're not hard to find, obviously OP got one for free. They are protected, but not endangered. They're illegal to be exported in some countries, but they're not totally illegal from being exported. Only you the one who's frown, not many people. Have you actually keep one to determine how hard to care for one?
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Maybe they aren't hard to find for you, but I have only ever seen one, and yes it was the massive one.

As far as I know it is illegal to export them at all.
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Like I said, as far as I know. I didn't know that some countries aloud it. Thanks for educating me, which countries would these be? And I didn't say they were for experienced hobbyists because they were difficult to care for, I said it because of the size they get. IME only experienced and dedicated hobbyists have tanks large enough for them, I just didn't want a noob with a 20 gallon to go buy one.
 
Crash607;5156064; said:
I think thats a true rumor. I talked to a professor at Mizzou a while back to get some info on them when I was thinking about getting one. He said that in New Guinea captive bred ones are sold in all the pet stores and on the streets for what would be like $5 here.
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Those ones are probably just captive raised. People go out during the breeding season and raid the nests. The eggs are then artificially incubated and the babies are sold as captive bred.

As far as I know the only true captive breeding of the species has been done by one guy in Australia (where they are illegal to export), one breeding at a german zoo, and once at the bronx zoo.

Most if not all of the frt on the market are captive raised individuals from new guinea. I did see an ad not too long ago offering zoo bred babies, but I have no way of confirming this.
 
ceeej31;5159242; said:
Those ones are probably just captive raised. People go out during the breeding season and raid the nests. The eggs are then artificially incubated and the babies are sold as captive bred.

As far as I know the only true captive breeding of the species has been done by one guy in Australia (where they are illegal to export), one breeding at a german zoo, and once at the bronx zoo.

Most if not all of the frt on the market are captive raised individuals from new guinea. I did see an ad not too long ago offering zoo bred babies, but I have no way of confirming this.
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Thats sad, With all the people captive breeding, I figured someone would setup a great FRT breeding operation. Not only would they make a ton of money, they would also limit the negative impact on the wild population..
 
AquataHolic420;5159258; said:
Thats sad, With all the people captive breeding, I figured someone would setup a great FRT breeding operation. Not only would they make a ton of money, they would also limit the negative impact on the wild population..
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The trouble is that frt are slow growing, hard to sex, and often very territorial. Their high cost also means it would be extremely expensive to obtain a group of breeding age adults or to raise a group of babies to maturity. Also, nobody really knows what triggers them to breed. The Bronx zoo wasn't even trying to breed theirs, they just found babies in the exhibit one day. The size of enclosure required to house a breeding group is massive, I believe the australian breeder keeps his in an outdoor pond.
 
thanks everyone for the comments :). he is extremely cute and active.

as for frowning upon owning an frt, i haven't heard of that. i do dislike however when people own an endangered animal without knowing anything about them. at least at its current market price it will dissuade most "newbies" from purchasing them.

i have read that they are slow growers, but can reach 50lbs. rare in the hobby, but more so in the zoo/wild. i've also heard that they reach sexual maturity at around 20 years old. the payback period and return on investment to breed these guys based on that fact alone would not be logically profitable. other factors would likely include compatibility issues, environment/climate simulation, sexing, availability of stock, licensing/regulations, survival rate, etc.etc.
 
Younglin;5159191; said:
Like I said, as far as I know. I didn't know that some countries aloud it. Thanks for educating me, which countries would these be? And I didn't say they were for experienced hobbyists because they were difficult to care for, I said it because of the size they get. IME only experienced and dedicated hobbyists have tanks large enough for them, I just didn't want a noob with a 20 gallon to go buy one.
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A quick google will give you two links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_River_turtle
http://www.tortoise.org/archives/pignose.html

If someone can afford a FRT, I'm sure they can afford a tank bigger than 20gal. Even if they can't, they can always sell it, or relocate it, and I'm sure there are plenty others who's willing to adopt a FRT
 
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