Do people really buy these tortoises?

SinLA

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Purely an "out of curiosity" question. If one does a search on "tortoise" on Craigslist, and I'm using LA as an example given the weather and population size we probably have more here than in other places, but the list of tortoises available and their associated prices seems bonkers to me:


Like a Burmese Black Mountain tortoise for $10,000
Adult Sulcatas (of clearly varying health) for anywhere from $300 to $800 to sometimes thousands of dollars
Russians and Redfoots around $150-300
Baby Sulcatas seem to run around $85 as the norm (which is less surprising to me)

Anyway, just wondering if anyone really pays that much for adult tortoises, or if these are just fishing expeditions...
 

ZEROPILOT

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What people are willing to pay sets the price. Some tortoises are more common in different areas. Some of those ads are probably scams. Lots of them are for sick animals.
I'm pretty regularly taking in Redfoot tortoises off of Craigslist. They're usually free or very inexpensive. And they almost always need a lot of help or a trip to the vet before I can even THINK about finding them forever homes.
It's always a money LOSING proposition. But I get a good feeling out of it.
Definitely be careful getting a tortoise off of Craigslist. Some of these animals have had harsh lives. And some of these sellers are not legitimate
 

pacific chelonians

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I live in San Diego and I see that cregslist all the time what I will say about the Burmese black mountain for 10,000 I am like 90% sure that post is just there to spite me I have been trying to buy it for 2 years after that guy bought it out from underneath me in early 2019 for 1000$ It is worth a maximum of 4000$ not 10k but who knows what some of these people will pay here is a list of prices in this area that things usually go for locally

Adult female sulcatas 800-1100$
Adults male sulcatas 300-500$
Adult redfoots 300-500
Adult Russians 100-200

And to answer your question people will buy things on the lower end of the priceing above in like 1-2 days and on the higher end it takes 1-2week but they do sell almost always
 

wellington

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Some adults can go for thousands. Not the ones you listed though.
Aldabra, Galapagos, Radiated, just to name a few will go for 5 thousand and up for adults.
Russians and sulcatas are free in so many instances I can't see ever paying that much for them.
Burmese maybe 1 thousand never 10.
Redfoot, they can be found free or cheap a lot on CL.
 

pacific chelonians

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Burmese female can go for up to 6000 and there is quite the demand if you listed that adult female Burmese black mountain it would sell in 30mins for 4K
 

PA2019

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You think that’s expensive? Trying buying Pyxis. You get a 100 gram animal and pay anywhere from 2-5k. They are probably the most expensive per gram species in the states 😭
 

ZEROPILOT

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I've seen Cherryhead Redfoot go for over $1,600 here in south Florida where Redfoot are as common as fleas on a dog.
It comes down to what people are willing to pay for that particular animal.
I'm on another forum where fishes that can be purchased for about $50 as fry are routinely on sale for between $500 and $25,000 as adults. Would I buy that? No. But somebody somewhere must've and it has set the price.
 

pacific chelonians

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I've seen Cherryhead Redfoot go for over $1,600 here in south Florida where Redfoot are as common as fleas on a dog.
It comes down to what people are willing to pay for that particular animal.
I'm on another forum where fishes that can be purchased for about $50 as fry are routinely on sale for between $500 and $25,000 as adults. Would I buy that? No. But somebody somewhere must've and it has set the price.
Personally the most h have ever spent on a cherry head pair was 2100 witch is high but I have sold a few pairs for 3000-3500 if people want something bad enough they will shell out the cash
 

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