Any available macrospilota in the foreseeable future?
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Hello, all! I am very interested in getting a colony of Ornate DBTs started up again. I say again as I unfortunately had to part with my 2.1 several years ago before moving away for college. I am back settled down in sunny Austin, Texas, now for the long haul so I would very much like to get back into DBT breeding again. So, if anyone has any eggs cooking or (and this is the big if) a couple of “surplus” older individuals (as Ornates should never be thought of as surplus haha) in need of a good home, I would be much obliged if you would contact me. My email is papaxaos@… I would be quite happy to get on any waiting lists for future hatchlings as well, for I am hoping to obtain several individuals from varied bloodlines if possible. Thank you so much for your time and attention! AJ P.S. I hate to be fussy, but I am only interested in individuals that may be authenticated as either c.b. or LEGAL(!) LTCs Thanks again!
AJ, You need to be aware that Texas has a law prohibiting the possession of Diamondback Terrapins. This rule does NOT distinguish between Texas and non-Texas turtles. If you are interested, tomorrow, Saturday evening, the Austin Herpetological Society is having a meeting in Georgetown. Speaker will by Karen Pianka, Wildlife Permits Coordinator, Texas Parks & Wildlife. She will be answering a lot of questions that we have concerning the current regulations. If you are interested in attending, e-mail me at dsydney111@… and I will provide you with the location and time. Deborah Sydney Treasurer, Austin Herpetological Society From: diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com [mailto:diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of AJ D Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 1:12 AM To: diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com Subject: [diamondbackterrapins] Any available macrospilota in the foreseeable future? Hello, all! I am very interested in getting a colony of Ornate DBTs started up again. I say again as I unfortunately had to part with my 2.1 several years ago before moving away for college. I am back settled down in sunny Austin, Texas, now for the long haul so I would very much like to get back into DBT breeding again. So, if anyone has any eggs cooking or (and this is the big if) a couple of “surplus” older individuals (as Ornates should never be thought of as surplus haha) in need of a good home, I would be much obliged if you would contact me. My email is papaxaos@… I would be quite happy to get on any waiting lists for future hatchlings as well, for I am hoping to obtain several individuals from varied bloodlines if possible. Thank you so much for your time and attention! AJ P.S. I hate to be fussy, but I am only interested in individuals that may be authenticated as either c.b. or LEGAL(!) LTCs Thanks again!
Absolutely correct! I am in Dallas and have 8 dbts….. though I have mine grandfathered in….. i have paper proof that I obtained mine before they issued these regulations. If you had kept your dbts you would have been fine having them now… but now you would have to worry about getting caught breeding….. 🙁 hopefully they will change the regulations… since these guys are not on the threatened or endangered species list. I think proof of captive bred individuals should be sufficient to keep your dbts but Texas Parks and Wildlife really need someone to go through their regulations and make the appropriate corrections. You can try to contact them but from past experiences talking to them about this issue they took ages to finally respond to my emails. But if anyone finds out anything updated about this issue PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE contact me because I would like to expand my group of DBTs some day. Michaela
This is a general question – when were the regulations changed in Texas? I ask as there appears to have been a concerted effort to ban DBT ownership in the coastal states, regardless of subspecies, which if proven, is unconstitutional. Virginia suddenly banned all take last year which may or may not include ownership and has clearly changed the imputed regulation from eastern DBT to DBT (to cover all species). There is an association of state nongame programs and this sounds exactly like the kind of thing state regulators would do – force through a subtle change most people don’t notice in the absence of federal law on the subject. The U.S. Constitution has an express ban on states forming compacts, i.e. making group decisions, unless specifically approved by Congress. I don’t like to bring an issue like this up but I am losing my patience with the very narrow ideology of no private ownership of reptiles/amphibians which seems to be the viewpoint among all state programs.If Texas follows a practice of recognizing subspecies of other reptiles in its laws, this makes the current form of the regulation very suspicious as to the actual intent, i.e. to protect Texas wildlife vs some other purpose since the other wildlife is being regulated. An argument that somehow owning other subspecies, which are clearly delineated from Texas DBTs, would either interbreed or some such nonsense is classic overreach by a regulator. If there is no other reptiles in the same circumstance, i.e. all ownership including Texas subspecies is banned, then the regulation is extremely suspicious.As for contacting the actual employees, if you have proof of prior contact, and the employees are not very responsive, you should contact you state legislators. Also writing a letter to the commissioners outlining your concerns regarding regulatory overreach means the issue suddenly gets the kind of visibility that prevents abuse of power, even if only regarding DBTs. There is nothing worse for someone trying to pull a fast one than to have a public record of the disagreement. If multiple people raise the same issue, you can probably have an effect of beating back this overreach. A polite letter to the commissioners would get them thinking as to why this change. It will probably make them inquire and the replies of the regulatory staff to the commissioners will then become part of the record. If the reasons look ridiculous, then it will probably look ridiculous to the commissioners. In the absence of forcing them to state their position, you are depending on goodwill alone which is as good as nothing.Sorry to go on so long, but I think this is a serious issue facing all reptile owners. I hate to think the day will come when it will all be illegal. Since I am likely older than most people on this forum, I have seen the reptile hobby go from no regulation to the present state, even though now the availability of information and resources for proper husbandry (which includes this forum) are infinitely greater than ever before.
I am not entirely sure when but I do know that it was like a year or so after I obtained my diamondbacks that the regulations went through. I agree with you… I have questioned the Texas Parks and wildlife several times a couple of years ago… and it took something like 6 months for them to get back to me on one email i sent. And they didn’t even understand my question they just kept saying it is restricted to keep any sub species of Diamondback terrapin… and basically she just read it out of their code book or whatever… don’t know why exactly that would take so long to figure out… but i already knew all this… and never answered my questions. I am not sure if I still have those conversations or not. I doubt it if it was over two years ago. I find it incredibly frustrating to be a responsible owner and contributor to the good practices in this hobby and conservation of the species to find these people pretty much deleting my hopes to continue to learn and work with the species in my own home. I do find what you say suspicious as well and hopefully those of us in Texas that love this species and rise together to make this change! Michaela Mullen
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