Hey from WI

[BufoBufo10]

Hello!
I, obviously, am new to this forum. I live in both Illinois and Wisconsin, but I do most of my frog catching in Wisconsin. I have A LOT of frog and toad experience and I once caught 13 frogs and toads!
Wow I feel like I am being interviewed for a job.
I currently own a European Common Toad (Bufo Bufo) named Bufo, and a Cope's Gray Tree Frog named Sticky. I also have to blue spotted salamanders, two cats, a dog, a snake and a turtle but I thought that the toads and frogs were the most important relative to this forum. I have never paid a cent for my frogs, and the only pets I have that I paid for are one cat and one dog. The rest I found.

[Kurt]

Welcome aboard. What kind of snake and turtle are we talking about?

[John]

Welcome to the forum!

[Mattiez]

Hi! Where in IL/WI do you live? I live in Chicago.

I would always have a field day catching baby toads in Devil's Lake State Park when I was little. Ever been there?

[BufoBufo10]

I live in Chicago IL and Boulder Junction WI, and I have a Garter snake named Tim and a Western Painted Turtle named Earl. She just laid some eggs!

[Kurt]

So Earl is a girl. Hey that rhymes!

[into]

So Earl is a girl. Hey that rhymes!

It sounds like the classic case of "lets name him earl!... oh, umm he's laying eggs"

[BufoBufo10]

No I have never been there...
And about Earl.. Well when I caught her my dad told me that I could keep it if I thought of a good name for it, so while we were at a wilderness zoo, we saw some other WPTs and the name Earl popped into my head. My dad thought it was a cool name so when we went back home to Chicago I did some research and found out Earl was a girl. ... The name had already caught on.....
Oh and Tim, whose name is short for Timid, bites me every time I get near her/him. lol not so timid after all.

[John]

How many eggs did Earl lay and when? Are you incubating the babies? You know that if you don't incubate them at the right temperature that most of them will be one sex or the other? I really like Western Painted Sliders.

[Kurt]

Yeah they are beautiful, but then again so are our two subspecies here in Massachusetts. The southerns rule too!

[BufoBufo10]

Yeah, Earl laid 9 eggs but only 6 or 7 r alive now. I did a lot of research but I think they will all come out as males because of the temperatures.
I am a huge turtle fanatic and the southerns do rule but my faves are Diamondbacks. They r so beautiful! Ive neveR heard of Western Painted Sliders, though. I didn't know there were such things. Ive only heard of yellowbellied sliders and red eared sliders. I also love cooters. Basically the only turtles I don't like are softshells. They just creep me out, to be honest. But I dont really have anything against them.

[John]

Western Painted Slider = Western Painted Turtle. Slider in and of itself is just another name for one of these groups of turtles. The only names that matter are scientific names. The point Kurt and I were making is that we both like these. I'd be very tempted to adopt a baby from you. Note I said adopt because it's illegal to "sell" turtles under 4 inches carapace length due to the increased Salmonella risk in youngsters but to the best of my knowledge there is no law against adopting one and paying an adoption fee.

[Kurt]

Its is legal to by them for "educational" purposes. I buy all my turtles that way. Its the only way to get captive bred turtles. I have a Florida box turtle and a Florida soft-shell turtle.

Oh BTW, they have diamondback terrapins on display at the New England Wildlife Center. Its where the New England Herpetological Society meets.

[BufoBufo10]

Oh, wow I am learning all kinds of things today.
But my daddy told me it was 6 inches, although I have read and heard a lot that it is indeed 4. This law was passed in '73, I think. Granted I am not the sharpest pitchfork in the shed.

[Kurt]

It is 4" and I am not sure when the law was passed but I think you got it right.

[BufoBufo10]

Good, I knew that something in there was right.