Many beautiful wild caught terrapins for sale on Kingsnake.com
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Recently we’ve seen some very beautiful terrapins advertised by sellers on Kingsnake.com: from flashy concentrics down to the “lowly” black Northerns. I was startled by the comments made by one of the advertisers that availability in coming years may be much reduced. Is this sales hype, or is something happening viz. harvesting and the new Maryland “conservation” measures? I am tempted to rescue some of these turtles for breeding stock, but recall an information exchange on this group stressing that acclimatizing wild caught terrapins is difficult (feeding, brackish water, fungus problems, stress problems), and that several years may be required to induce females to lay eggs. In short, the recommendation was to pass on the wild caughts and stick with CBB. Appreciate any comments. Dick
Hi Dick, Yes, groups like the Terrapin Institute have been pushing for a moratorium on terrapin harvesting for years now; based on recommendations that were drawn up by the 2001 Terrapin Task Force. The new regulations that took effect in August was supposed to support the recommendations of the 2001 Task Force but ended up falling far short of the initial goal. So the push for a moratorium continues with even groups that were previously supportive of the water-down new regulations now organizing a petition for a moratorium. Go figure – but at least everyone seems to be on the right page now. So yes, I can foresee the day when terrapins will no longer be harvested in not only Maryland, but throughout its entire range. There are just too many threats against this species to not justify eliminating one of the threats – commercial harvesting. You are correct that wild caught individuals are hard to acclimate to captive conditions. That is why we recommend CBBs to the novices. Those who choose to rehabilitate wild-caughts should have plenty of experience, as well as time and financial resources to make such an undertaking a success. Veterinary care is often needed since the terrapins are refrigerated immediately after capture. And any financial benefits one may reap from selling hatchlings may take several years to realize, if at all. All the best. -Stephen Chew — In diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com, “rmbion”
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