Torts for sale in trade-it

[courtneysmum]

I had my local Trade-it paper the other day and there seemed an awfull lot of torts for sale (spurs) all were very expensive, some young some old, and all with the same phone code 0744 although all different end numbers..I phoned a couple as I'm looking to buy another female, but none of them had certs. all said they had had them a while and were family pets etc. and didn't bother with paperwork etc...should I complain? I always thought they had to be given as gifts or just passed to family members..advice please, don't want to stir trouble for them if legal but didn't like the sound of any of them..one had 4 all aged 10 but didn't know male/female etc. One offered to deliver if I paid up front by bank transfer!

[hullreptilelover]

Stay well clear, they should all have paperwork. We had someone come into our shop with tubs full of tunisian spurthighs trying to sell them for £10 each, I asked about paperwork (which I knew he wouldnt have!) and he told me they didnt have any! He had brought about 50 of them back in his suitcase from his holiday! I was absolutley appaulled! Before we could do anything he walked out the door and was never seen again! I was angry with myself as I was going to take them off him as it was obvious he was not going to look after them! Makes me so mad....

[courtneysmum]

The only reason I looked was that a local breeder advertises on there and I bought Clarice on there last summer, and she does everything above board, and that's when I saw the others, I wouldn't normally buy anything from a paper..your story is shocking, but imagine it happens.

[Andy n Claire]

thats terrible,sound familiar when we got squirt he got deliverd if i had known this id have gone mad,family eh,i didnt expect to recive a xmas gift of a tort but love him to bits, the guy selling said he was from gateshead and he come with a set up it was shocking, just a little box and basking light aparently they dont need uvb lol and a care sheet with brocoli and cabbage(cabbage is a favourate) lmfao cabbage my ass! woops!!!
its shocking what people do for money isnt it,

[Athravan]

It may be a scam, especially if people are asking for money before you've seen the animal. Sometimes a scammer will post loads of different ads with different prices and a few different numbers just to hook people in. Not having certificates is very dodgy. There are also still a number of individuals bringing in torts from holidays and then selling them.

[Tina]

My personal opinion is that these are most likely illegal imports which you can report through the WWF/TRAFFIC Eyes & Ears Campaign:

WWF-UK: Stop the illegal wildlife trade

[courtneysmum]

Originally Posted by Tina

My personal opinion is that these are most likely illegal imports which you can report through the WWF/TRAFFIC Eyes & Ears Campaign:

WWF-UK: Stop the illegal wildlife trade

I don't think they have been reported yet as I just looked on trade-it website and someone is advertising a 'garden tortoise aged 10' same number. May phone it.

[courtneysmum]

Yep phoned it and same story..he bought them with no paperwork and it has to go as moving house..one of the others I phoned said the same.

[Andy n Claire]

aww stay clear defo