steve wrote:How big are they now? I've wondered, do they offer any guarantee about the sex?
I can show you photos when I first bought them when I transfer the photos from my phone and you will clearly see that they recently hatched out however before I went to the sellers location he lied and said they were well established and eating very well The fact is, I found out he lied and he just uses that wording to make sales. I talked to others who have been around this man since I was no longer in the United States and Over in England, that he was a new comer to the industry for the last 5 years after my departure. I personally known just about everyone prior to this.
Many also reported the death of their pets to my other friends when he got into the business of selling and with him using this line of wording with me and as you and I know, many people have the inexperience it takes as first, I could see why this happened. Bottom line, I gave them the opportunity to get used to their environment beofor offering them a few types of crushed food. It was only when I added the thawed blood worms mixed with the crushed food, till they started eating great. Now my albinos will not touch live guppies even today, but they will eat just about everything else offered to them. The hybino was a bit different and from day one, has never refused anything and for the first time yesterday, he nipped at a baby guppy yet the poor thing did not catch it. That was kinda funny.
The albinos are now three inches in diameter and was sold to me as temp sexed females. I went on and examined their nail and cloaca regions and determined that they were for sure a male and female without question. I showed my life time friend Bill Murray as well and he agreed the sexing of them. Unfortunately I still don't think anyone out there when they are new borns can guarantee sexing though temp sexing is a good part on the overhead ratio of males to females If you feel different with your experience, please let me know. I am open ears for learning.
I myself am thinking about just for some extra money on the side being that I am in the hobby of the turtles to start buying groups of albinos in at least 6 lots, raising them to three to four inches just to 100 % determine the sexes only to sell later after doing so. Many people I am sure will pay more just to have guaranteed sexed albinos. I would not charge much more for them and just charge for my time raising them from new borns so if nothing else, it covered the food expense and a bit for me. This way, people are happy with guaranteed sexed turles on not wasting their money on a guess. I would also need to be sure on the bloodlines of each to make sure the people know if their new turtle would be compatible to others they may already have in their collections. I myself know that I would be grateful on paying more for guaranteed sexed turtles and bloodlines..