Land Tortises

[coastal-shagg]

hi just a quick question. does anyone know of anyone who has land tortises. is there any species of these native to australia? also does anyon know where i can get one?

 

[Helikaon]

cant unfortunatley

 

[Gecko_ProCs]

sadly no
on an upside i got to get in the giant tortoise enclosure today at taronga zoo and pat them.
only on the shell though coz i had a feeling the male was more interested in biting me haha

 

[coastal-shagg]

haha. bloody hell i really want one! know any other ways? haha

 

[Gecko_ProCs]

move to america?

 

[euphorion]

im sure i saw i post on here recently about this! then again i suspect it had something to do with a zoo... sorry, can't help much more than that!

 

[coastal-shagg]

yea good point . they are great little guys. i spent a year in china and had the opportunity to handle these guys. they are great. i just wish we could get them here !

 

[Miss_Croft]

From what this site has said about corn snakes – I would think there would be some in private hands – be it smuggled or kept from when there were fewer restrictions on importing reptiles. But as it has pointed out on this site it is illegal to keep land tortoises in Australia. Something about threat to bio diversity from the possibility of introducing exotic parasites and disease or the treat of ramped breeding, creating a large feral population and displacing native animals.

 

[Ned_fisch]

From what this site has said about corn snakes – I would think there would be some in private hands – be it smuggled or kept from when there were fewer restrictions on importing reptiles.

True, there's probley thousands of people over aus keeping boa's, retic's ect.
But we can not have them.....

 

[888lowndes888]

I take that back lol The pics were only taken at a zoo.

 

[hornet]

Im pretty sure you can keep them in Australia type "cute tortoises " into search.

you can keep them in aust, but you risk a huge fine if you get caught

 

[Retic]

Yes I'm afraid you will have to move to anywhere else in the world
Just to make you feel better, heres one we had in the UK a few years back.

 

[888lowndes888]

Aha so the ones in that post are obviously un-licenced!

 

[Mrs I]

Growing up my Nanna had one

Apparently she brought it out when they moved out from Greece about 50 years ago.

When she died my cousin looked after it, until one day it ran away !!

I remember (20 years ago) it being about the size of a large plate and it used to chase the dogs around the back yard.

50 years ago when they moved out i doubt they checked for a tortise in your luggage, lol...

Mrs I


xxx

 

[JasonL]

I take that back lol The pics were only taken at a zoo.

That thread was just a joke, they are not allowed.

 

[888lowndes888]

LOL don't I feel like an idiot I now realize that.

 

[bump73]

That thread was just a joke, they are not allowed.

And a good one at that

Still can't believe how many people PM'd Erin_jane when i said we were breeding them:lol::lol:

 

[coastal-shagg]

wow thanks for the instie guys. that tortise was beautiful. thats exactly what im after. shame u cant get them over here. maybe i should start looking for that one that ran away hahaha

 

[addy]

land tortoise are awesome...so cute, so many videos of them on youtube,,,adorable little guys..there is one fighting a cat,,,,so cute,,,,,awesome little guys. sadly not native, very tempting though.