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Mini musk turtles (genuine dwarf locality odoratus)
These are mini/dwarf/pygmy locality/population musk turtles / stinkpots (odoratus).
They are 50 each regardless of size or total number selected. Two-animal minimum since shipping costs about as much as one mini.
5 females @ ~2.25" scl to ~3" scl (they reliably carry eggs at ~2.5" scl)
8 "unsexed" juveniles, most of which are female @ ~1.25" scl to ~2" scl
As mentioned, my "limited" experience is that they start laying eggs at 2.5" scl or so. Any of the animals 2" or longer that are not yet breedable should become breedable this year. If you are skilled at growing turtles out quickly, you can get even the tiny ones up to adult size by year's end. From what I understand, their natural breeding season is not narrow or particularly well-defined, so you can get eggs over much of the year with a sizeable colony wherein multiple females are cycling asynchronously.
While one or perhaps two of the little ones could be males, I would expect females just because that is how things have trended for animals which are not being artificially incubated. One of the tiny juveniles has white stripes instead of yellow stripes if that kind of coloration difference thrills you.
I am drawing off more than I usually would from the group since I am considering very mild renovation of my beat-to-heck old artificial pond. The fewer animals in there when I need to clean it out, the better (obviously). The Central and South American sliders have been removed and placed. For now, that means the remainder consists of mini musks, a female reevesii, and a baurii. The baurii is a rehab case. The reevesii is a project animal. Some of the mini musks will stay as they always do, but a good number will go. Trying not to kill the fish is going to be a challenge when I remove the old detritus and sediment. Anyway, now you understand my reasons for depopulation. I will probably let it repopulate organically once I am satisfied with a few things. I also have a couple of ponds in the back with stuff, but they are tiny, natural, and fluctuate a lot with droughts and storms, so I tend not to rely on those for anything.
I have some future temp-sexed males I am incubating, the first of which should hatch this month or next month. I also have a limited number of sexually mature males that I need to temporarily retain for project purposes. Anybody who has gotten females from me is given the priority for obtaining a male from me when I can part with them.
Background on mini musks-
This is a group of common musk turtles that are from a miniature population. More accurately, there are multiple mini population pockets in which these occur. Some in spring/river environments and others in ponds and lakes, but there is a regional nature to their origins. Males are sexually mature well before 2" scl and do not often get all that much larger than 2.25 to maybe (maaaybe) 2.5" scl. Their tails eventually become more massive than their legs. Females are usually sexually mature at or slightly beyond 2.25-2.5" scl and females generally do not grow much longer than 3" scl (and perhaps barely more if so). They are eating a variety of pellets, thawed pre-cooked shrimp, earthworms, clam meat, thawed whole krill, thawed fish, live pond-cultured snails (primarily tadpole/bladder snails), and live wild insects, but you can offer a massively broad variety of foods (live or otherwise) that they should be willing to consume. Some will consume vegetable matter (fleshy seeds, duckweed, and so on) despite being primarily carnivorous and I think that should be encouraged if possible (even if just offering a little squash or lettuce leaf here and there - it might round out some unknown dietary aspect).
This is a cool little regional variation of a cool and hardy little bruiser of a turtle species. They are simple to care for and do not require luxuriously spacious digs. If you are a keeper that is limited with respect to housing space, these can do very well in compact setups. On a set of shelves with multiple tubs or tanks, you could establish a surprisingly large colony with ease and, since their mature size is so small, no undue stress to the animals. They scamper around with some energy and are prone to actively forage. Males may or may not engage in combat. Mine have not. My females are definitely peacefully living with each other. These can coexist reasonably well with various kinds of fish. Those fish that are larger, more nimble, or more sturdily built are better for cohabitation, but these turtles usually only seem to go after weakened or injured fish from what I have seen. These turtles can perform a janitorial duty in a community setup, as they will root around for missed morsels that fall to and accumulate at the bottom.
Any buyer is expected to have done his/her research prior to making contact, as it shows intellectual investment in the well-being of the animal(s).
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TOS:
Shipping and LAG:
I ship via Reptile Express (which utilizes Fed-Ex). If there is adverse weather involved, we will wait for a safer shipping window as warranted. Contact me at nickolasanastasiou at yahoo dot com if you are interested in purchasing. I offer a live arrival guarantee if you are present to receive. If there is a DOA situation, I expect multiple hi-res photos adequately displaying the condition within an hour of receipt (and I may require the corpse/corpses to be sent back to me; you will be compensated for this if it happens). If there is a discrepancy in description, I expect to be made aware of it within the day it is received (in which case, I will issue you a full refund upon safe return of the animal/animals to me). Animals under 4" scl are not sold as pets. Contiguous 48 only (I actually can ship to HI or AK, but there may be additional costs involved that the buyer would have to cover).
Shipping is about $50 most of the time. Sometimes I save two bucks and sometimes I lose ten over the included number, so $50 is what I settle at for smaller animals. I suppose I could meet up with someone closer and chop the shipping off, but it would have to be a convenient location for me and I am ONLY chopping the shipping off for a meet-up. The distance you traverse has zero bearing on this cost reduction. Larger animals cost a heap more to ship, so that incorporated cost is steeper.
Contact:
Email me at nickolasanastasiou at yahoo dot com if you are interested in purchasing. I am usually busy between work, perhaps school, care for my menagerie, more work, family stuff, and yet more work, so email works best for me. Deal discussions are to be conducted through email. Since I use Fauna private messages for site-related communications, I am unlikely to respond to PMs about animals in my ads. It also implies the person either did not read or did not care about what was written.
Payment:
All non-local sale prices have shipping cost, packaging, and any miscellaneous fees/costs built in for buyer convenience except where otherwise indicated (usually for much larger individuals). What you see is what you get. Payment plans are no longer accepted. If only a portion of the total due is sent to me and I have not explicitly agreed to that, I reserve the right to refund you and refuse sale. If an offer is made and I accept it with a time frame involved for payment, a lapse of said time frame without any delivery of payment typically means the agreement has been invalidated (for example, if you say you are going to pay me [amount] on [date] and I agree to that, the deal is basically void if [date] passes and payment has not been sent) unless we both agree to the renegotiation of the payment window and there are no communication deficits.
Sexing:
Unsexed animals, probable sexes, and temp-sexed animals have no associated guarantees as to a specific sex. A probable male/female appears to be so at the time, but has not necessarily reached full maturity, so there is room for error. A TSF or TSM label is subject to the performance of accurate TSD and that is a shift of probability in favor of a particular sex (it often works out, but occasionally does not; such is the chance we all take). A guaranteed sex is, as stated, guaranteed. If an animal of guaranteed sex ends up revealing itself to be not of the purchased and explicitly declared sex (with sufficient evidence sent to me) down the road, it can be returned to me in a healthy state for a full refund (the general practice) or, if you are attached emotionally, we may be able to do a partial refund based on current market prices while you retain the animal.
Trades:
I prefer sales to trades in almost all cases. Not seeking trades at this time.
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Things we are not: a charity, a rescue, or a home for wayward tortoises that failed to make it big by venturing out West only to end up starring in tortoise mating documentaries.
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