Last night I was googling for ornate box turtles available, and I found an ad for one available in Dayton, OH. The turtle is being offered on Craig's and the seller wants $40 for the turtle and a glass tank full of crap.
The ad says the turtle is six years old, but she is TINY and deformed, has obviously not been fed or housed properly. The ad also describes the turtle as a "low maintenance pet". Isn't that sad?
I wrote to the seller and she says the turtle is still available. Here's the thing: I want to convince this seller to give her turtle to one of her local reptile rescue orgs. How can I do this? I don't want to be off-putting, or to put her on the defensive. I need to be able to reach her in a non-confrontational, kind way, to get her to give this turtle up.
I would buy it myself in a heartbeat, actually, just to get it out of there, but I don't think it's safe to ship it here this time of year in the heat, and also, it would not be safe to house this turtle with Rex: this turtle is in no shape to be bred, ever.
Help. I need to do this right.