Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Walker
1. Mexican box turtles = 1.1 $2,000
2. Yucatán box turtles = 8.8 $13,000
Anyone know the legal status of acquiring/selling these in the USA?
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This probably won't answer your question. But here's what I found.
Yucatan Box Turtle Distribution
The Yucatan Box Turtle is an endemic species, meaning that the entire known species is isolated to a single area. The only known location of the Yucatan Box Turtle is the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, for which the turtle is named after. It is the southernmost subspecies of box turtle and is heavily isolated from the other subspecies; more so than any other type of box turtle. When first discovered, it was even believed not to be a subspecies but an independent species of its own.
Acquiring one in the United States is almost impossible. There are only a few examples of Yucatan Box Turtles being kept in captivity in America. Few studies have been done and little information is available; but the locals of Yucatan believe that the turtle’s population may be dwindling.
In addition to what he was trying to sell the turtles here for, I found that they sell for 10K USD plus per pair in japan, and there is some question as to the legality of the species there, and questions being asked if by chance they were smuggled. Now that's not to say that would be a legal situation here.
There's not much out there about this specie.
Good Luck Robert!
Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles