16 replies to this topic

[SIXFOOTLONG]

has any one kept a turtle on here
any advice on what to get and tank size etc ??

my mrs wants one but thinks its as simple as going and geting one ......................

so i thought i would get her the right one/right setup before she comes home with a Galapagos turtle or something bigger and a 20ltr tank .........

looking for the smallest possable one as this will be taking up room for my fish tanks

[Peckoltia]

Firstly, you will need to apply for a license. From memory the only turtle you can keep straight away (category 2, 3) is the oblong, so that makes your choice in species pretty easy.

Do a google search on keeping oblong's. They aren't the hardest pet in the world to keep, especially if you have kept/keep fish.

[ilikefish]

Hi mate,

If your chasing one, theres a pet shop opposite Morley aquariums - I`m sure they have one. You will also need a minimum tank size of 4foot by 30cm by 30cm minimum. They also stock heating globes, etc. The chap at the shop knows a fair bit and will help you get started.

You will need a turtle dock & Turtle/Terrapian food - pm me on this.

HTH,

Mark

[SIXFOOTLONG]

cheers guys just filling out the paperwork now for the lic
im going the cat 4 lic $100 a year but then we can get a flat shell turtle

[tranced]

you need to own a cat3 animal for one year, without it dying or escaping before they will give you a cat 4. i think the flat shell turtle may be getting downgraded to cat3, so im waiting around for that to happen myself ...

[SIXFOOTLONG]

humm got told today cat 4 is the highest youy can go before buying unwanted pets to get to the one you want .. dont get how that works? cat 5 requires you to have held a cat 4 or below for 1 year

[tha_krust]

i think you should just get a CAT

[Paddy]

+1, I pity the turtle..

[Sarah Jayne]

Last time I heard you need to have previous experiance before you get a category 4. A category 5 is much harder to get, as You can get venomous snakes

Your local pet store that sells reptiles should be able to tell you what you can and cannot keep.

Give the Department of environment A call or email

[SIXFOOTLONG]

you need to own a cat3 animal for one year, without it dying or escaping before they will give you a cat 4. i think the flat shell turtle may be getting downgraded to cat3, so im waiting around for that to happen myself ...

General Information
Can I keep reptiles and/or frogs?
Yes. Legislation allowing private citizens to keep reptiles/frogs was introduced on March 7, 2003.

Do I need a licence?
Yes. Western Australia has no exempt species, so you must have a licence to keep pet reptiles in WA.

What species can I keep?
You're limited to a few Western Australian species. The species you can keep will depend on the type of licence you get.

Do I need to keep records?
Yes. You must maintain, in an approved form, records of your activities. You must also give to the Executive Director (probably not in person), in an approved form, reports of your activities.

Licence Types
Note: A higher licence Category can keep all lower Category species (e.g. a Category 4 licence covers animals from Categories 2, 3, and 4).

Category 2
$20 a year.
With this licence you can keep several species of skink, gecko, and frog.
Category 2 pet herpetofauna is fauna that meets all of these criteria:

is not dangerous
is not rare or endangered in the wild
has no special feeding or housing requirements
is resilient to handling
is suitable to be kept by a person of any age with no prior experience in keeping pet herpetofauna
Category 3
$40 a year.
With this licence you can keep the following species Stimson's pythons, south-western carpet snakes, oblong turtles, western netted dragons, stripe-tailed pygmy monitors, plus some skinks, geckoes and frogs.
Category 3 pet herpetofauna is fauna that meets all of these criteria:

is not dangerous
is not rare or endangered in the wild
requires only easily prepared and readily available food and simple housing
is resilient to handling
is suitable to be kept by a person over 18 years of age with no prior experience in keeping pet herpetofauna
Category 4
$100 a year.
With this licence you can keep black-headed and woma pythons, flat-shelled turtles, western spotted frogs, and several dragon and monitor species.
Category 4 pet herpetofauna is fauna that the Minister considers is not dangerous and meets any of these criteria:

is not commonly kept as a pet
is rare but not threatened or endangered in the wild
has specialised feeding or housing requirements
is not resilient to handling
is otherwise suitable to be kept only by a person over 18 years of age with prior experience in keeping pet herpetofauna
Category 5
$300 a year.
With this licence you can keep olive Pythons, two monitors, and some dangerously venomous elapids.
Category 5 pet herpetofauna is fauna that meets any of these criteria:

is dangerous
is threatened or endangered in the wild
has highly specialised feeding or housing requirements
is very difficult to keep in captivity


sorry buddy you were right why do they put un trained people at the pet store selling turtles????

+1, I pity the turtle..=== at least it will be going to a good home and not abused .........

[Ronny]

Or you could just move over east and open up your options A LOT lol

[Sarah Jayne]

Moving over east opens our options with alot of things... Darn western Australia ... Hey Ronny .. Care to ship a few things over for us

[Ronny]

I can ship stuff over but you wouldn't be able to keep it

[Westie]

pet magic sells turtles
i was looking at one on the weekend

very cool

[tranced]

i was going to keep an oblong for a year so i could get a flat shell. hopefully they will reclassify the flat shells as cat 3!! this is a great site for WA reptile keepers... http://www.pilbarapy...s.com/trueblue/

[ice]

They need to have a look look at that list. There are plenty of animals on the cat 4 list that should be cat 3. Even so im only about a month off getting my cat 4 and then its hello BHP/womas

[Peckoltia]

i was going to keep an oblong for a year so i could get a flat shell. hopefully they will reclassify the flat shells as cat 3!! this is a great site for WA reptile keepers... http://www.pilbarapy...s.com/trueblue/

Pilbara pythons are good. Only porblem is they don't update their site very often. Went to purchase snakes that were for sale 3 times, only to find out each time that they were sold. I gave up in the end and bought snakes from Gary Davies. Great guy to deal with and he will even come out to your home with tubs full of snakes and show you quite a few.