# Where to get a healthy tortoise with good price?



## keiraliang (Mar 19, 2010)

I am looking for some tortoise to be my pet and I was trying to buy torotise in local pet store but the only pet store here is really expensive!

The owner of my local pet store tells me that he can get me russian tortoise baby about $300 USD each.. (same price for Russian, Herman, Greek baby..)

...is $300 a normal price for a baby tortoise???....( russian herman greeks...)

the pet store price is more than I expected..at least it's more expensive than online store.

for baby ...online price is like...max is around $ 220 cheap can be $50~$60

now I am kind of giving up on my local pet store..because of the price.
and now I am wondering which online tortoise store is reliable?

I wish I can find the store that they care about tortoises more than their profit and will send tortises in a safe box just to make sure tortoise are ok!

Which tortoise online store would send buyers a healthy tortoise baby and with a reasonable price? 

Please tell me which online tortoise store is the best!

Thank you!~


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## Tom (Mar 20, 2010)

Welcome to the forum.

I prefer to buy them hands on. Have you looked for any upcoming reptile shows in your area? 

LLLReptile has been very good to me AND the are a paying sponsor of our site. I've bought from them many times over the years and been very happy with the service, prices and products.

$300 sounds very high. Where are you?


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## Yvonne G (Mar 20, 2010)

Are you in Texas? If so, then no, $300 is way too much money. They go for about $50 private party or around $100 pet store. (Russians)


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## GBtortoises (Mar 20, 2010)

Plain and simple-if a pet shop is charging you $300 for a Russian, Hermann's or Greek they are looking to rip you off! They're buying them for somewhere around $50-75 each. A pet shop price of $150 would be more "reasonable". 
I also just got a PM yesterday from someone on this site that told me a terrible story of them purchasing a supposedly 4 month old Hermann's tortoises from an online tortoise supplier. When she opened the box the tortoise was dead, with sunken eyes and a faint reddish blood color could be seen in it's shell. It also still had it's egg tooth. This was supposed to be a healthy, well started, 4 month old tortoise. Of course with alot of persistance they finally replaced it with something else she wanted. Unfortunately to many businesses their animals are simply "pieces" for sale. "If it breaks, we'll replace it" is a good policy to have when selling glassware, but with live animals. If they were healthy and well cared for and they willingly provided correct care information to you then they wouldn't need that policy. 
If you don't have the ability to see the animals in person I would suggest checking out many of the reputable private breeders on the internet. Many of them are on this site often. Go to the "for sale" and "sold" sections, you can find several there. 
I wouldn't allow a pet shop to order a tortoise if it were me. They get whatever they get and you're stuck with it then. Good private breeders will send you their best and often times will be willing to send you some photos of a few of their offspring for you to pick one out. Most will also provide you with husbandry information and a history and photos of the parents if you'd like to see what yours will look like as an adult.
All for much less than $300!
I'm going to shamelessly plug a couple on this site that immediately come to mind: 
HermanniChris (www.gardenstatetortoise.com) & Tyler Stewart (www.bluebeastreptile.com)


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## samstar (Mar 20, 2010)

It really ticks me off to see these pet shop owners treating these torts in such a way as purely business


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## t_mclellan (Mar 20, 2010)

If you place a post in the "WANTED" section I think you might find exactly what you are looking for.
Tell the type of tortoise you are interested in & size / age then see what happens.


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## gummybearpoop (Mar 20, 2010)

That is pricey for a CB russian

I usually see captive born babies for $75-$150 in the states

I got lucky and picked up two captive born females that are 5-6" for $150 for both.

If you really do your research you can find almost many of the common tortoise species cheaper than kingsnake or petshops.

If you are patient, then you can find some super deals.

Many of us are not patient, which is why a lot of us have a lot of tortoises. We buy some here and there, then we come across a deal we cannot pass up

Good luck


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## Kristina (Mar 20, 2010)

There are a few people here on the forum even that raise nice captive bred babies, and I know they do not charge $300 each. I recently bought 4 Russians (they are wild caught, however) for $65 each. I would not recommend the seller that I got mine from personally, but you can still find nice captive bred babies for less than $150. You do have to pay for shipping that way, but still $200 is less than $300.

I suggest reading up as much as you can on the care of the kind of tortoise you are wanting, how to tell a healthy one from a sick one, and visiting a reptile show. You can ask the breeder questions, look at and handle the tort, and if you don't like what you see, move on to the next.

Patience really is the way to go. The right one will come along 

Kristina


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## keiraliang (Mar 20, 2010)

keiraliang said:


> I am looking for some tortoise to be my pet and I was trying to buy torotise in local pet store but the only pet store here is really expensive!
> 
> The owner of my local pet store tells me that he can get me russian tortoise baby about $300 USD each.. (same price for Russian, Herman, Greek baby..)
> 
> ...




Yeah, I am in Texas. In Plano, TX

I am looking for Golden greeks or Russian or herman baby  

thank you everybody!!! for replying


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## Meg90 (Mar 20, 2010)

For a pure golden, you are looking to be paying a bit more than a normal greek. Keep in mind, most places sell their Greeks as Goldens, but they rarely are. A baby Golden Greek should have a shell with almost no dark areas, and their body color (head, legs) should be pale, and yellowish. Have you looked in the for sale section at all? There are Hermanns for sale there, AND a young male Golden Greek.


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## keiraliang (Mar 20, 2010)

I am in Texas!


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## Meg90 (Mar 20, 2010)

Yes, you said that already. Most of us have gotten our animals shipped to us overnight, through UPS next day air. Shipping runs around 50$. I am in Wisconsin, and both of my CB babies came from MA.


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## ChiKat (Mar 21, 2010)

My CB Russian hatchling was $115 ($165 with shipping) which is very reasonable. I found the breeder on the Kingsnake classified ads.


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## ki6ojv (Apr 4, 2010)

t_mclellan said:


> If you place a post in the "WANTED" section I think you might find exactly what you are looking for.
> Tell the type of tortoise you are interested in & size / age then see what happens.



If any one is looking for a Tort check out San Diego tortoise society and your local rescues. The have tons of them that need good homes. I Picked up Darwin from the San Diego Society. It cost 25$ to join and they let you have as many as you can care for (responsibly)


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## TortoisesRock! (Apr 5, 2010)

The pet stores near me are not that expensive. I have multiple privately owned pet stores near me and also the big names like Petco and Petsmart. Petco usually has Russians around $100, but they aren't necessarily babies. I'd possibly check Craigslist, or see if there are any reptile rescues near you!


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