hothouse

It is part of my job to be a "responsible pet seller", and it is the pet owner to be a "responsible pet owner". If only it was all this easy! Every Turtle we sell goes with one of my books, 'Keeping Freshwater Turtles Successfully in NZ (2014 revised edition), so the Turtle Owner gets the correct information for their care (I can't enforce pet owners to read this unfortunately). We only sell Turtles to the Pet Stores, this way it is up to the store seller to determine if the customer is going to be a responsible pet owner, as it is with all pets they sell. This doesn't always work as many 'want to be owners' lie about equipment they don't have, their huge tanks that are only 2 ft long, etc. and this will always happen. But at least our Turtles aren't sold on an online site where we have no idea what the future will be for the Turtle. We field many emails daily on Turtle care, problems etc, and have re-homed plenty over the years, including flying Turtles from other Turtle re-homing facilities to be re-homed. The National Aquarium of NZ (also here in Napier) take in and re-home Turtles if the owner has no other option. It was only two weeks ago I uplifted some Turtles from there to be re-homed. The biggest problem with Turtle owners is the change in life style where the Turtle no longer fits. This happens with all animals unfortunately. But please don't assume we just breed and it stops there with us. I have had people around the country collect and forward Turtles to me and I have also driven long distances to collect and re-home unwanted Turtles and will continue to do so. It's just what I do. So yes there is a Turtle Re-homing service provided here in Hawkes Bay, but as we are well known in this part of the country, I don't need to shout it from the roof tops. Chris Burne Hot House Turtles Limited

The most trusted researcher in the world Frances Baines (in my opinion & many others. see attached), there is no problems at all with red infrared bulbs that cause problems with eyes. The eye 'burning' is caused from poorly manufactured UVB lamps/tubes. http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile ... formation/

I have kept this species, they are perfectly legal in private hands and have been so for many years. Unfortunately not many keepers have pairs, or their animals are very old. They make for a very interesting species to observe, and seem reasonably easy to look after once past the baby stage.

Please do not PM or email us requests or orders for Emydura subglobosa, (Jardine River Turtles, Australian Painted Turtles, Red bellies). We are wholesale only and sell all hatchling Turtles (except for the odd morph) to the Pet Stores. I appreciate those that are wanting to get in first, but we are dedicated to the Pet Industry of NZ. Order through your Pet Stores and we will liaise with them when we know availability and estimated time of dispatch. Thanks for your understanding. Cheers Chris

Cheers

Just hatched:

I will endevour to remember how to upload some pic's of my E. subglobosa: Old gnarly female! Male that's shed algae covered shell. Males exhibit more color than the females, and are half the size, (apart from the tail!). Some of the past seasons successful hatching's.

Nothing to explain. We have other species of Turtles that we are working with, but I don't want to get keepers hopes too high, only to find we have losses in our stock. Dealing with livestock has it's highs and lows, and often more lows than highs especially when keeping very old individuals. It's not just a matter of throwing two animals together and getting the right result. They need to be housed in the right environment, receive the correct diet and be compatible. Breeding and growing Turtles doesn't happen quickly.

We have had this species for many years in our care, and has been one part of our many breeding programs to keep different species here in New Zealand and breeding. After so many trials and errors we finally managed to get a successful mating of a very old pair of E. subglobosa. Then after many mishaps with incubating and raising of extremely fragile offspring have developed over the years our breeding colony. This year saw a handful of hatchlings born, of which we have sold to retailers. These are perfectly legal, and haven't been seen in the Pet Shops since the 70's of which my original very old breeders stemmed from. I hope to have more species available in the future. Chris Burne, Hot House Turtles Limited.

If you are referring to mercury vapor bulbs, I'm not sure if there are 100w ones available in NZ at the moment. If there are, I haven't seen any for sale.

My biggest concern with the Exo Terra & ZooMed's mercury vapor bulbs is the high wattage of these bulbs (160watt), and the small enclosures that most pet keepers house their Beardies in. These mercury vapor bulbs need a large enclosure in order to not to overheat ones pet. Most Reptile terrariums sold in the pet shops or made by DIY keepers are a standard 4ft long x max 2ft high x 2ft wide. These bulbs will either overheat ones enclosure or blow prematurely from lack of ventilation (most enclosures I've seen are simply hot boxes with very little ventilation). For those wanting to use these mercury vapor bulbs need to do their homework as they can't be used with thermostats or dimmers. Trial temps carefully, without introducing your Bearded dragon till you are certain you won't overheat your pet. However, if you have a very large enclosure I would certainly recommend using mercury vapor bulbs.

Buy them online direct from reptileuv.com. You can buy them for the same price or cheaper than what they would retail here in NZ.

To stand you corrected Hatchlings purchased over a three year period proved a 50/50 ratio of sexes. More females in the first year, more males in the last year, 50/50 in the middle.

Thank Goodness for previous threads. Pity one doesn't check these first. :roll: All Reeve's eggs incubated in summer months would be more likely to be Female. I got most eggs during the cooler months. I have had feedback from purchasers of Female Reeve's that I have hatched in the past and these are producing fertile eggs.

Where have I ever claimed "they're not". The only species of Turtle that I've bred that's known not to be TSD is Chelodina longicollis (Australian Eastern Snake-neck Turtle). Incubation temps for Male Reeve's Turtles seems to be around 27oC - 28oC and females around 30 - 32oC. The Incubator that I incubated all Turtles in was set between 27oC and 30oC. This gave a great mix of Red-eared Sliders sexes. You can't please everyone. Had I turned it up a bit everyone would have been bitchin that there were no Male RES around.