It is important that you know all the laws involving you related to your turtle or tortoise before you get one. I cannot cover all of them here, so you need to do your own research. I will alert you to some of them though.
Firstly, it is illegal to sell turtles or tortoises under 4 inches in size, at least in the United States. Baby turtles can only be sold to researchers. Many stores exploit a loophole in this law and either give you the baby turtle free if you buy the bowl and a can of food, or they include a disclaimer which you sign stating that it is your responsibility to buy these babies only for educational purposes... But you're really better off finding some wild babies yourself. If you're looking for common turtles, such as painted turtles in the midwestern U.S., this is quite easy. They come out into the open during or right after rainstorms and tend to sun themselves on logs when the sun is coming at a slant, like around 10 A.M. or 3 P.M.
The second law involves your turtle's population status and where your individual pet comes from. There may be legal issues involving even captive-bred turtles, so I advise you to look for responsible breeders or stores. Some animals, like the Desert Tortoise of California, are required to be licensed and the owner must have a permit to keep them. Also many turtles get severely dehydrated and loaded with parasites while in transit to the store and while waiting for someone to buy them because they are oftentimes not cared for properly at these times. There are also breeders who will release unwanted turtles into the wild, which is very irresponsible because most of them cannot survive and the ones that do are usually not native to the area.
Almost every species of turtle or tortoise have laws restricting how many can be taken from the wild. For example, in the state of Illinois, a person owning a fishing license can capture up to 6 aquatic turtles or 8 box turtles daily and they can own up to 16 turtles of one species at any given time. However, in Missouri and most other states, the taking of any turtle is illegal. So you should call your local game warden to see what your state's laws are at this time before you keep a wild-caught turtle. These laws are regarding using turtles commercially, so many game wardens won't care if you keep just one turtle, but it is still your responsibility to tell him.
I have also not seen one single instance where it was legal to import a turtle or tortoise from another country. For this reason, such exotic turtles such as the Burmese star tortoise, African Pancake tortoise, Chinese four-eyed turtle, and the Hundred-Flower turtle are extremely difficult to find. These turtles can only be purchased from captive breeders, and these are few at this time. (By the way, if any of you find a Hundred-Flower turtle, AKA C. Galbinifron, please point me to it!)
Those of you who live near the beach, hearken...All of the known seven species of sea turtles are extremely endangered. This is made especially true by the fact that turtles we now call large are actually half the size they were a hundred years ago! For example, if a 4-foot, 800 pound leatherback turtle is sighted, this would be noted as a large adult turtle. However, at one time turtles close to 8 feet in shell length and weighing about one ton were not uncommon.
It seems that some of these sea turtles are beginning to make a comeback. The numbers of nesting females have leveled off and a few new nesting sites have shown up. This is thanks to extensive research on sea turtles, satellite tracking, and human incubation of turtles' eggs so as to prevent them from being eaten or collected for commercial purposes before the turtles have a chance to start life. You can help by not taking any babies you find out of the wild, unless it is obviously sick or injured. For this reason, I will not include any care information on sea turtles. They grow very large, so they don't make good pets anyway. I will, however, include ways you can help an injured sea turtle should you find one.
Thank you for showing that you are going to be a very responsible pet owner by reading this page. I hope it hasn't scared you off :).
