shortage ?? what's happening ??

[guille24]

i been wondering if there is a shortage on russian tortoises, i cant find any anywhere !! i wanted to buy a female russian and visited 5 pet shops that always have had them , but during the last month i haven't even seen one ! i asked the workers from the pet shops and all they said was that they are not going to have any russians in at least six more months !! or that they don't know why they don't have any anymore !! do u guys have an idea why is that happening ???

 

[Madkins007]

It is not as safe/profitable to ship tortoises during the colder months, and wild Russians have been hibernating and still have a while to go.

The species that are more widely captive bred are not as affected by this.

 

[Tom]

There are only a few people in the country who import them. When they do import them, they bring in several hundred to a couple thousand at a time. Then they don't do it again for a while. It is becoming increasingly difficult, expensive, and risky to get the paperwork all done and get batches in. They sell out all of one batch and make sure there is a demand before they bring in another because they don't want to sit on them. They want to get them in and sell them ASAP.

When these batches come in people always go through and hand pick the best ones and most people buy up the females first, since you really only need one male for several females. Then all the excess males have to be sold off before stores are ready to stock up and get more.

The moral of the story for anyone who keeps or wants to keep live animals is: Get it while the gettin' is good. If there is any animal you want and you see it for sale somewhere, don't hesitate. Just get it. Don't fret over a few bucks one way or the other. Don't think that you will shop around and find another deal some other time down the road. I have hesitated many times and almost always lost my opportunity. At some point just going to the store and picking up a new tortoise will likely not be an option and we will all be relying on whatever captive breeding stock we have to produce babies to feed the hobby.

 

[guille24]

thank u so much for all the info guys!! do you think if they bring more russians to the country they are going to be more expensive ??

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Try here: http://www.floridaherps.com/categories/Turtles-&-Tortoises/Tortoises/

Captive-bred Russians...a bit more than PetsMart sells 'em for, but likely MUCH healthier, so you'll save a lot on vet bills!

 

[Lasciels Toy]

Oh wow, as of like 1am this morning, Florida Herp was out, but now they have them again hmm Oh well, already placed my order with Tyler at TortoiseSupply.

 

[Brandrep88]

i live in the cold world that is Rhode Island, and the petstores near me are flooded with russian tortoises.