Ban on baby turtle sales may be lifted

FYI, the House is considering lifting the ban on the sale of baby turtles.

http://thomas.loc.go...110:H.R.924.IH:

It need not be said that this will contribute to the spread of red-eared sliders outside their natural habitat and will possibly spread disease among wild repties when people realize that the little buggers get a lot bigger and live for 20+ years.

It need not be said that this will contribute to the spread of red-eared sliders outside their natural habitat and will possibly spread disease among wild repties when people realize that the little buggers get a lot bigger and live for 20+ years.

Kind of like Oscars, Plecos, and such-like?

Yeah, unfortunately everything looks so cute in those little pet store tanks that people often do not realize what they are getting in to. Everything is cute when it's little.
1 1/2" oscars and red bellied pacus, 2" common plecos, 2" silver arrowanas, quarter sized RES'
I personally think animals that get as big as those examples do have no business being sold in hobbyist pet stores where the average joe can buy them for under $5-10. If people that really want to have these animals (speaking more for the large fish) and are willing to provide proper housing for them should have to be willing to jump through a couple hoops to get them. Not a lot, just enough to show that... Yes, I do understand the needs this fish for the rest of it's life and I understand how big it will get and I am willing to commit to it and provide proper housing and care. I know, I know, that's a extremely unlikely thing to happen and impossible to regulate or prove. Just my own idealistic thinking.

"Awwww, look how cute. Wait, it's growing. It's getting bigger. It's getting too big to take care of. I don't like it anymore, it's not cute (or my kid doesn't want to take care of it anymore and neither do I). I don't want it, but I don't want to kill it . Oh look, there's a nice pond down the road, let's release it and let it be free. It's happier in the wild than it was in my aquarium. "

Unfortunately there's a lot of people with that similar train of thought. When you buy a living creature, you better have done your research and know you are committing yourself to the life care of that animal. My boyfriend was working on a computer for a coworker and I went with him. On their counterop was a glass baking dish with a pile of large blue aquarium gravel, about 1/2" of water (very dirty water from disentegrating food pellets) and 3 half dollar sized RES. The house was cold (it was winter) and I touched the tip of my knuckle to the water when no one was looking and it was FREEZING cold. One little RES opened one eye and looked at me, I felt for him. I asked how long they had them and they said about 3-4 months, I asked how big they were/ how much they grew since they got them, where did they get them from. This was the answer "We bought them from some guy on the street when we were in CA. He was selling them out of a box and my wife liked them so we got all 3 for $15. They haven't grown at all since we got them, they must be miniatures or dwarf turtles because they don't grow at all."

I told him that RES' actually get to be pretty big and they don't come in dwarf size. I also told him they should be in an aquarium (like the 40 gallon tall they had with goldfish) with a filter and an area to get out and bask under a sun lamp. I got "Oh really, I'll tell my wife." I'm betting all 3 of those little turtles died a slow death of starvation or disease. Lifting the ban on the sale of baby turtles is only going to make the problem worse and result in more little critters going in to homes where they will soon be unwanted and their lives ended prematurely or otherwise add to the problem of non native invasives taking over more habitat.

There aren't many of us out there who are willing to do extensive research on any animal we plan on taking in to our home as a pet.

There aren't many of us out there who are willing to do extensive research on any animal we plan on taking in to our home as a pet.

Unfortunately this is all to true...

Yeah, unfortunately everything looks so cute in those little pet store tanks that people often do not realize what they are getting in to. Everything is cute when it's little.
1 1/2" oscars and red bellied pacus, 2" common plecos, 2" silver arrowanas, quarter sized RES'
I personally think animals that get as big as those examples do have no business being sold in hobbyist pet stores where the average joe can buy them for under $5-10. If people that really want to have these animals (speaking more for the large fish) and are willing to provide proper housing for them should have to be willing to jump through a couple hoops to get them. Not a lot, just enough to show that... Yes, I do understand the needs this fish for the rest of it's life and I understand how big it will get and I am willing to commit to it and provide proper housing and care. I know, I know, that's a extremely unlikely thing to happen and impossible to regulate or prove. Just my own idealistic thinking.

"Awwww, look how cute. Wait, it's growing. It's getting bigger. It's getting too big to take care of. I don't like it anymore, it's not cute (or my kid doesn't want to take care of it anymore and neither do I). I don't want it, but I don't want to kill it . Oh look, there's a nice pond down the road, let's release it and let it be free. It's happier in the wild than it was in my aquarium. "

Unfortunately there's a lot of people with that similar train of thought. When you buy a living creature, you better have done your research and know you are committing yourself to the life care of that animal. My boyfriend was working on a computer for a coworker and I went with him. On their counterop was a glass baking dish with a pile of large blue aquarium gravel, about 1/2" of water (very dirty water from disentegrating food pellets) and 3 half dollar sized RES. The house was cold (it was winter) and I touched the tip of my knuckle to the water when no one was looking and it was FREEZING cold. One little RES opened one eye and looked at me, I felt for him. I asked how long they had them and they said about 3-4 months, I asked how big they were/ how much they grew since they got them, where did they get them from. This was the answer "We bought them from some guy on the street when we were in CA. He was selling them out of a box and my wife liked them so we got all 3 for $15. They haven't grown at all since we got them, they must be miniatures or dwarf turtles because they don't grow at all."

I told him that RES' actually get to be pretty big and they don't come in dwarf size. I also told him they should be in an aquarium (like the 40 gallon tall they had with goldfish) with a filter and an area to get out and bask under a sun lamp. I got "Oh really, I'll tell my wife." I'm betting all 3 of those little turtles died a slow death of starvation or disease. Lifting the ban on the sale of baby turtles is only going to make the problem worse and result in more little critters going in to homes where they will soon be unwanted and their lives ended prematurely or otherwise add to the problem of non native invasives taking over more habitat.

There aren't many of us out there who are willing to do extensive research on any animal we plan on taking in to our home as a pet.

Very well put, at the moment it's mostly adult turtles being sold and that is the way it should stay. I do wish it was more difficult for people to get larger growing species.

I have a problem with the street vendors hawking them. They sell these at my LFS. There are signs describing their care, max. size, etc., on the tanks. And the salesmen are trained to know about them. If you ask a fish salesman, he won't help you, he'll go get a salesman from the small pet department for you, who knows what he's talking about. When sold by responsible people, the problem should be minimized.

A similar pet peeve of mine is rabbits at Easter time. Pet stores sell large quantities of baby bunnies at Easter time (and other times, too, but especially at Easter time). People keep them for weeks or months, then tire of their care, and neglect them and/or abandon them. I have seen Dutch bunnies hopping around in the woods in a local county park, apparently abandoned. It broke my heart to see this. I'm sure they did not last the winter.

Well, when sensible people like us take over the world , we'll regulate the sale and care of animals for the pet trade and throw anyone who breaks our laws in a 4x6 cell and see how they like being inhumanly treated.
Ok, again my own idealistic thinking. Seriously though, pet laws are way too lax as it is. They don't need to be any looser than they already are. There are enough animals suffering under substandard care.
At my LFS today I saw an Oscar (~15") and two common plecos (~10" each) that she had taken in from someone that was keeping them in a 29 gallon long tank. The oscar was riddled with hole in head disease as well as some sort of fungus and the plecos didn't look much better. She took them in out of pity for the fish. I wanted to track the guy down and beat the crap out of him for keeping fish that way.