haven’t been here in a long time but need advice

[Ro]

Hi All. I haven’t been here for awhile as my dbt died 2 years ago )-: She was a rescue from an Asian grocery and after I bought her, I transported her via a 14 hour car trip from Ohio to Iowa where I live. Well, I’m visiting family again and have just saved two eastern painted turtles (male and female) from the same Asian grocery. Problem is, I am flying home late tomorrow–I’m not driving. How can I fly home with two turtles? Although I’m not planning on releasing them into the wild (they will be living in a friend’s extensive turtle habitat), I’m sure most people won’t take my word that I’m not releasing them. Would it be better to fed-ex them? Has anyone flown with turtles? What is the nest way to pack them up either way? SUggestions? The flight has 2 legs, each lasting an hour. Thanks!!!!! Rowena

[Tim & Laurie Schwab]

Airport security is not to happy about it. —–Original Message—– From: Ro [mailto:nickle_pickle@…] Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 9:12 PM To: diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com Subject: [diamondbackterrapins] haven’t been here in a long time but need advice Hi All. I haven’t been here for awhile as my dbt died 2 years ago )-: She was a rescue from an Asian grocery and after I bought her, I transported her via a 14 hour car trip from Ohio to Iowa where I live. Well, I’m visiting family again and have just saved two eastern painted turtles (male and female) from the same Asian grocery. Problem is, I am flying home late tomorrow–I’m not driving. How can I fly home with two turtles? Although I’m not planning on releasing them into the wild (they will be living in a friend’s extensive turtle habitat), I’m sure most people won’t take my word that I’m not releasing them. Would it be better to fed-ex them? Has anyone flown with turtles? What is the nest way to pack them up either way? SUggestions? The flight has 2 legs, each lasting an hour. Thanks!!!!! Rowena

[Todd Stockwell]

Ro; Pre-911, I used to hear of people going to the big show down in Florida every summer and bringing back suitcases filled with hatchlings. I haven’t talked to anyone who has flown with live turtles after 911, but maybe some still do. Personally, I think you would be runinng a big risk of throwing airport security into a real tizzy somewhere along the line. Most airlines strictly prohibit reptiles as carry on because of the fear and panic they might cause to other passengers (yes, even our sweet harmless turtles count by most standards). I would check the policies of the airline VERY carefully if you try to carry turtles on with you or ship them in your luggage. I would just be afraid that even if everything was allowed by policy, some security staff along the way would hold you up and cause lots of problems and delays until it could be straightened out. Also, Ohio has some regulations on species native to the state, which MIGHT cover subspecies of painteds, depending on a particular law enforcement officer’s view of the regs. While captive bred offspring of native Ohio species can be sold, there is a per-person limit to the number of any wc native species that can be possessed. All native species over four inches need to have a microchip to be possessed in Ohio, whether they originated in Ohio or not. I’m not sure if Ohio presently would allow eastern painteds to pass as non-natives or not. At any rate, I wouldn’t want to test the system by having to go through airport security, even if you came out o.k. in the end. Personally, I would ship them home using DHL/Airborne Express. The DHL/Airborne Express terminal at the airport would be a good place to try as they are more likely to be familiar with live animals than the average local drop off. By policy, if you’re not a registered shipper, they do not have to accept live animal shipments, so you may need to do some work prior to shipping to gain permission to ship turtles since you will be unknown to the terminal. Besides, DHL/Airborne, some UPS terminals will accept live turtles, but UPS seems to be a little more particular then DHL to un-registered shippers. It doesn’t appear that FedEx will knowlingly accept live shipments, but maybe someone else can advise on that. Delta Dash works great for large shipments of live animals, but would be cost prohibitive for two small painteds. Southwest and other airlines will ship live animals as air freight, but only to federally registered shippers. Let us know how it works out. ToddRo

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