Ibought a russian from Petco . He is about 4 inches. I asked the manager, he said all the tortoises are cb. I even called the main petco administration and the told me that they used to sell wc a few years ago but they only sell cb tortoises now. Considering his size I am questioning this. anyway I love my little guy, but at the same time I am upset for supporting the capture of these tortoises, if indeed he is a wc. I just dont know the truth of the matter!
I would question it too! I just was at a Petco Monday night and the Russians were WC, not captive ones.
Don't beat yourself up about buying the tort. Think of it this way, that tort is no longer viable to the wild Russian population. Is it better that you, a person willing to seek out information and most likely give it a correct home or for somebody to buy it and keep it forever in a 10 gal aquarium and feed it iceberg lettuce?
Will they buy more to replace them? Most likely, but then they would if somebody else bought the tort or if it died before they could sell it. I don't think lowering the demand will stop the WC trade. The people catching those torts are usually poor and they will keep catching them for whatever income they can make off of them. Only way they will stop is if we can give them something else, some other way to make a better, easier income...or the torts are all gone.
If it helps any, I myself bought a Russian from Petco a couple of months back. She was a large breeding size female, that I hated to see not going into a breeding group. Am I a bad person? All I know is I would do it all again.
We were in your shoes less than a month ago. They sell both WC and CB and they do NOT know what they have.
They sold us a supposed 6 month old CB Russian...Well, I posted here to share our new baby and was enlightened that he is about 7 YEARS old and is a Greek Tort with slightly different needs and is most likely WC NOT CB.
We played with bringing him back but we all (esp our boys) were so attatched we just couldn't. However, he is our little education tortoise. We have talked to everyone about him and what to look for etc.
I called the store manager and the reptile lead. The lead was apologetic and was embarressed she did not realize what they had.
Enjoy him, learn from him...and get your next tort from one of the fine breeders here
i also recieved my first RT from petco. all you can do is give the tort all the love you have and give it the best life you are able to give it.
major pet stores are out to get money and do not care what they tell someone. remember your not the first person Petco has lied to and you certainly wont be the last.
I just tonight bought my first tort from Petco. We tried to go through a dealer, but he didn't return our calls. His prices were so cheap, they were probably WC anyway.
The lady at Petco said they get all of their Russians from a breeder in Vermont (i think). They are 4-5 inches. She said they are about 5 years old. Apparently that breeder won't sell them until that age because of the more difficult care and mortality rate in younger torts. I wonder how much of that is true??
I'm going to see if I can find out more details about the breeder they work with just for my own knowledge. I wouldn't like if I was lied too.
We won't be unveiling the little lady until Christmas day. My son "really really" wanted a tortoise for Christmas and his mom and I are suckers for pets
By the way... thanks for all the info
I'm afraid they did lie to you
I don't know of any breeders in the Northeast of Russians that could supply any large petstore chain. Also almost no breeders keep their hatchlings until they are 4 to 5 inches and then sell them, it's just not possible most of the time.
Petco has figured out that most people want to buy CB animals. So their company policy is that all their animals are now CB, whether they are or not. I doubt that any Testudo at a major chain is CB, the only tortoises for sure that would be are Sulcatas and Leopards with Redfoots having a chance that they might be CB.
Danny
and it's not just Petco... It's Petsmart and Pet World as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Animart did the same, tho' I've never talked to them about their torties.
I just called for more information about where they get their Russians. The guy said they get them from "Amazon Connection". He wasn't "allowed" to give any more information about their vendor.
The only Amazon Connection I found was in Pittsburg, PA (their number is no longer in service)... but the guy did slip up and say he "thought" they were out of Florida.
I was really hoping that I was told the truth about the torts before I bought one. It's not looking that way.
There is an Amazon Reptile in California, but Petco would be buying them on a larger scale then this retail place would be able to do. They are probably buying from a wholesaler in Miami, Florida.
Danny