CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Anyone here have experiece keeping or breeding a type of turtle/tortoises? My wife has got the idea she wants to keep a turtle of some kind. We have a 30 gal tank that we can use. It will have to stay small, and I'm thinking if I get one I'd like to try and have them breed. Any info that you guys have about them, or types I should get feel free to post away .

Theres not a whole lot that will work in a 30 gallon except some of the smaller species of land turtles and tortoises.

In a 30 maybe you could keep a box turtle - (eastern,desert,texas will work but not florida of gulf coast,they get to big and not asians because they need water for swimming) or thorn turtles

For tortoises - in a 30 your pretty much limited to russian's, or one of the hingebacks (bells,holmes etc..) or stars (stars are expensive)

If you want to upgrade later on most tortoises grow pretty slow - greeks,iberians,forsteins,elongateds,marginateds,leopards,hermans radiateds and a few others all grow pretty slow and don't get to huge.
If you want to upgrade later the list of turtles you could start out in a 30 is pretty long.

The two main things to consider in useing a 30 gallon tank:
1) if you go aquatic turtle and have half land and half water is either big enough.
2)if you find a smaller species make sure the tank is wide enough for both to walk side by side - if not and on flips over and can't flip back you'll lose one

Hopefully that helps you out some.
If you find a specific turtle or tortoise and need some info maybe I can help you out a little better.Kind of hard to give general info when theres thousands of different species.

Well, really I don't know the first thing about them. I would like to have a pair, so what kind stays small enough to keep 2 of preferably a male and female? Are they somewhere online that I can order from? Our lfs has turtles but they dont' sale them. I'm not sure what kind they are. They just have them for show.

Not much you'll find that will do well with 2 in a 30gallon for a long time. (except what I listed before)
but
to look for some to buy,check out:
**Classifieds**
kingsnake.com Tortoises classifieds
kingsnake.com Turtle classifieds
**Dealers**
exotic reptile jungle (if you ,find something there try to talk to ricky)
Don Hamper (Don and Robbie are both nice people to deal with)
zoological imports
Reptile Depot.
Reptile Haven
Silver City Serpentarium(Dave is the head guy,nice guy to
Strictly Reptiles ,strictly's is huge,if they don't have it chances are they can get it,but I'm not sure how their retail prices are.

That should give you enough places to start looking.
One thing to keep in mind also these places add or change stock every week or so,so they may not have something you want but they could get it the next week

I emailed a few of them about some of thier stock. Some of those frogs and lizards look pretty cool also. Never heard of anyone breeding lizards or frogs though.

I emailed a few of them about some of thier stock. Some of those frogs and lizards look pretty cool also. Never heard of anyone breeding lizards or frogs though.

wow;)
Theres actually alot of people that do,it's ("reptiles trade") supposedly been the 3rd largest money maker/exchange of money in the u.s. the last few years.

Depending what you actually find,I might be able to get it cheaper for you if it's something worth enough for shipping and etc.. I know alot of these people from selling at reptile shows over the last few years and from when I used to import,so if you end up finding something you want to buy drop me a PM and I can double check my prices for you.

Stillearnin I was looking at your photos in your gallery and I see you keep alot of reptiles. Some that caught my attention was the bearded dragons, leopard geckos, and the Leucomelas aka Bumble Bee dart frogs. Do you breed any of those, and can any of those be kept in a 30gal?

Originally posted by OscarFish42680
Never heard of anyone breeding lizards or frogs though.

!!!!! ME !!!!! Well, kinda

Originally posted by OscarFish42680
Some that caught my attention was the bearded dragons, leopard geckos, and the Leucomelas aka Bumble Bee dart frogs. Do you breed any of those, and can any of those be kept in a 30gal?

You could keep a trio of LG in a 30gal.