help me find a turtle for my brother

[coura]

Just be sure your brother understands that a turtle is a long-term commitment. Any turtle will live for a few decades if properly cared for.

Mike is a great guy, Im shure it´s brother inherited good genes Actually I dont find turtles longevity as burden, more like a blessing, some of my guys and galls have been with me for a long time.

 

[coura]

I would agree that a common musk or striped mud is the best choice, followed closely by the smaller subspecies of painted turtles. Both are hardy and stay relatively small (3-stripes usually under 4-5", stinkpots under 5", southern and midland painteds almost always under 6").

I would say that Malaysian Boxies need more room than the person in question is willing to provide, seeing as they average around 8" and can get quite a bit larger.

In my opinion, North American box turtles (terrapene) and all tortoises should be kept A.) in an non-glass enclosure, as they tend to be more stressed in glass enclosures, and B.) in a much larger footprint than a 75g would provide. Glass enclosures often just don't suit the sort of temperature and habitat variants needed to properly care for these creatures.

Josh

Sorry but that is not completly true. First I think its a "European" thing, but I and many other guys here that tryed painteds, at least as hatchlings finded them hard to aclimate and feed because they are so tiny and fragile. As adults they are much hardier, however they are not the easiest turtle, in particular they are tricky to hibernate here.
Next indeed malaysian boxies can get to RES size, however in my experience it is extremely rare they do so. Even a 8´one is not something you see everyday, only females get to that size and it takes many years for a juvenile to get to it. If he gets one now he can enjoy it for a long time before he has to make arrangements for a larger enclosure.
Really big malaysian boxies are stunning but really hard to come by as well.
Finally the glass tank thing is true for permanetly house most tortoises, but there is nothing against using it as temporary housing to grow young ones or quarentine specimens. Also some tortoise species do just fine in glass enclosures provided some modyfications....and that the keeper is experienced enough to keep them as these are the smallest and more delicate tortoises. Egyptian tortoises, pancake toises, hingebacks, Chersina angulata,... can all be kept on "glass terrariums", however this are far from normal 75 gal ones.

 

[Mike D]

thanks for all of the help guys. i am going to go out looking with him this weekend. i will report back if we end up making a purchase!

 

[andyjs]

this was a federal law until, i think, 2004. baby turtles can now be sold to anyone as long as the seller informs them about the dangers of salmonella and how to prevent it. i've seen the vendors at reptile shows have the law printed out because fish and game kept wrongfully confiscating their turtles. most vendors also hand you a paper about salmonella when you buy a baby turtle.

I actually haven't bought a turtle since 2002 (my new baby stinkpot was given to me by a friend), but when I got my cooter and slider as hatchlings I just had to sign a little waiver thing saying they were for "scientific purposes"

 

[ScatMan]

^yeah. even though that's what they said and had some print out, i haven't been able to find anything on the web that shows that they're legal yet. just a bunch of bills and stuff that never got signed into law.