Episodes 1 & 2: Tabasco Mud Turtles: The Turtle World’s Best-Kept Secret and Hatching Success: Tabasco Mud Turtle Breeding
My journey with turtles started as a fascination, became a curiosity, morphed into an obsession, and has now matured into a mission.
I was about seven years old when I first laid eyes on Star tortoises at my school. I was fascinated by those gentle creatures and would stop by and watch them every day. In middle school, I was told turtles bring bad luck. This made me curious: how can turtles bring good luck to neighbors in China but bad luck to us? I was determined to find out for myself. I didn’t get my first turtles until I was 24, a pair of Red Eared Sliders that were most probably smuggled into India. I was obsessed! We don’t keep exotic animals as pets in India, I mean, there is no Zoomed or Zilla in India. We didn’t even see dog kibbles until 2002 or so.
I moved to the United States in 2003, and my obsession with chelonians just exploded. I was lucky to find out about the Sacramento Turtle and Tortoise Club, which led me to Felice Rood. Felice became a mentor and a good family friend. The wisdom shared by Felice, along with what I learnt from fellow turtle nerds on Austin’s turtle forum, gave me the tools to become a thoughtful keeper, and also paved the way to become a volunteer rehabber for our local rehabilitation group.
In 2004, a Chinese box turtle hatchling led me to Russ Gurley, and his email signature introduced me to the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group. I was nosy and asked him about the group and how I could become a member. Russ simply replied, “Consider yourself a member of TTPG”. Great, now what? Well, I didn’t hear much about the group after that, but I did get Russ’s book “Keeping and Breeding Freshwater Turtles”, a thoughtful Christmas gift from my wife. I kept turtling. Then in 2010, TTPG came back into my life through an ad banner on Kingsnake.com. It was an ad for the first Annual TTPG Conference. I made the trip to Mesa, AZ, that November, and made many lifelong friends.
Like many others, I wanted to breed turtles, and I did. The first species I ever hatched was the North American Wood turtles, followed by Redfoot tortoises. Over the years, I have focused on species ideal for first-time turtle keepers. I am now on a mission to help as many first-time keepers as possible succeed in their journey with turtles and, if possible, become a voice for turtles everywhere.