- Joined
- Nov 7, 2012
- Messages
- 5,172
- Location (City and/or State)
- South of Southern California, but not Mexico
Hi,
I recently found several I. forsteni hitting 'for sale' posts around the US market. Some allegedly as long term captives, most well stated as recent imports.
A friend mentioned his source in the Miami area, (a major port of entry) said that USFWS had strongly suggested they not seek to import more at that entry location.
Meanwhile a few importations have occurred on the west coast.
These essentially wild caught adults may be represented as captive bred, and so squeak in on the the variable discretion of the USFWS people who inspect the cargo.
The export quota from Indonesia is a few hundred animals, that is export to all of the world, not just the US. As our USFWS actually implements CITES (relative to most of the rest of the world) this recent few importations represent an good chance to work with an interesting and unusual species.
These past few that I have had contact with adapt pretty quickly to captivity. It is my belief that they represent wild caught individuals held for eggs, then once those eggs are laid, these here now are sent into commerce. That holding is where they become somewhat acclimated to captivity, eating strange things, and abundant human presence.
So, when/if USFWS will 'shut down' these imports is a speculative at best. These are very rare in the wild as they have a very limited range and have been collected for commerce heavily over the past decade. Most that have come in, in the past, were rife with disease issues, no doubt due to the circumstance of their life after capture and before they ended up with a keeper somewhere. These here now seem pretty peppy and have little or no inhibition the eat and 'go about their business' with limited daily intrusion as husbandry.
Some care parameters have come out here on TFO, off and on, I have posted a few 'wild type' articles about them. They are not what I would call extrovert tortoises like redfoots might be considered, and for the most part do not look much different than elongated tortoises. Some differences have come out in a few threads here on TFO.
Just saying, if they have interested you before, now might be a good time to jump in. They are NOT a "starter" tortoise whatever that means.
Will
I recently found several I. forsteni hitting 'for sale' posts around the US market. Some allegedly as long term captives, most well stated as recent imports.
A friend mentioned his source in the Miami area, (a major port of entry) said that USFWS had strongly suggested they not seek to import more at that entry location.
Meanwhile a few importations have occurred on the west coast.
These essentially wild caught adults may be represented as captive bred, and so squeak in on the the variable discretion of the USFWS people who inspect the cargo.
The export quota from Indonesia is a few hundred animals, that is export to all of the world, not just the US. As our USFWS actually implements CITES (relative to most of the rest of the world) this recent few importations represent an good chance to work with an interesting and unusual species.
These past few that I have had contact with adapt pretty quickly to captivity. It is my belief that they represent wild caught individuals held for eggs, then once those eggs are laid, these here now are sent into commerce. That holding is where they become somewhat acclimated to captivity, eating strange things, and abundant human presence.
So, when/if USFWS will 'shut down' these imports is a speculative at best. These are very rare in the wild as they have a very limited range and have been collected for commerce heavily over the past decade. Most that have come in, in the past, were rife with disease issues, no doubt due to the circumstance of their life after capture and before they ended up with a keeper somewhere. These here now seem pretty peppy and have little or no inhibition the eat and 'go about their business' with limited daily intrusion as husbandry.
Some care parameters have come out here on TFO, off and on, I have posted a few 'wild type' articles about them. They are not what I would call extrovert tortoises like redfoots might be considered, and for the most part do not look much different than elongated tortoises. Some differences have come out in a few threads here on TFO.
Just saying, if they have interested you before, now might be a good time to jump in. They are NOT a "starter" tortoise whatever that means.
Will