adult Russians from tortoise supply

Ddflinn

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Hello, I'm interested in getting a couple of adult female Russian tortoises. I contacted Tortoisesupply by email and asked if the adults they had are wild caught. She responded in a very timely manner, that they are imported from earlier this year. Should I assume wild caught and a "no go"?
I currently have adult female, juvenile female, adult male and 2yr male. I don't want the male to come after the adult female too much, he leaves the juvenile female alone, he's obviously not a perv. lol .
 

TeamZissou

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Just because they are imported does not necessarily mean they were wild caught. It's my understanding that they raise a lot of the Russians on farms and then they are imported into the US. There is also currently a listing on FaunaClassifieds selling several Russians that you can check out.

Either way, you'll want to set up a new tortoise under quarantine for at least three months before introducing it to your group.
 

wellington

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You should contact them again and ask plain out again if they are wild caught or what does their imported mean.
Not sure why she would answer so vaguely if you asked outright if they were wild caught.
Maybe @TylerStewart will come here and clear it up.
 

Ddflinn

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You should contact them again and ask plain out again if they are wild caught or what does their imported mean.
Not sure why she would answer so vaguely if you asked outright if they were wild caught.
Maybe @TylerStewart will come here and clear it up.
I THINK I WON'T GET THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE 4' NOW. MUST BE 3-5 YEAR OLDS AND THAT WON'T HELP MY MALE AT THIS STAGE.
 

Tom

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Hello, I'm interested in getting a couple of adult female Russian tortoises. I contacted Tortoisesupply by email and asked if the adults they had are wild caught. She responded in a very timely manner, that they are imported from earlier this year. Should I assume wild caught and a "no go"?
I currently have adult female, juvenile female, adult male and 2yr male. I don't want the male to come after the adult female too much, he leaves the juvenile female alone, he's obviously not a perv. lol .
Imported tortoises ARE usually wild caught and there is nothin wrong with this. The entire hobby is founded on animals that were once wild. As long as we don't take too many from the wild in any given area, it is fine. The benefit of an older import is that thy already have some size to them and can be sexed. Most of them have been in captive conditions for a while and have adapted and are doing fine. Tortoisesupply would not sell them if they were eating well, thriving, and showing no signs of any problems. Because of where they've come from, a long quarantine period is a necessity as well as some diagnostic testing and fecal checks.

A CB baby will cost more, but is betted adapted to captive foods and conditions. The disease/parasite risk is far lower, but you still need a quarantine period. Babies can't be sexed, and it takes years of your time to grow them to maturity. Captive bred adults for sale are few and far between.
 

TylerStewart

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They are wild caught/imported and on the description on the website it says that they are. Sorry if you missed it. Here's a cut/paste from their page on the website:

These adult Russians tortoises are originally wild caught and imported. Because of this, they have some minor dings and scratches in their shells and aren't all cosmetically perfect. There will be no major problems (no missing toes, no missing eyes, etc). We have run them through a preventative round of de-worming, but they should still be quarantined from existing collections until they are more well established in captivity.
 

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