I attended the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group's annual conference again this year and it was every bit as good as last years. I saw some fantastic presentations and learned at least a little, if not a lot, from each one. There were roughly 50 people in attendance there this year. I even met Tim from here on TFO. Hi Tim!
Here is the speaker and subject list:
DAY 1:
Ryan Walker, "The Tortoise Crisis In Madagascar" (This guy is a field researcher)
Mike Rapley, "Breeding The Japanese Leaf Turtle, Geoemyda japonica"
Drew Rheinhardt, "How NOT to produces waffles: Raising Healthy Mediterranean Tortoises" (Unconventional for Meds)
Richard Fife, "Searching For Giant Leopard Tortoises in Ethiopia" (They found some)
Jerry Fife, "Breeding Galapagos Tortoises" (He did it!!! 4 hatchlings)
Gary Fleming DVM, "Turtle Nutrition"
Cris Hagen, "Current Status of Cuora sp..."
Kurt Edwards, "Maintaining a Large Collection Indoors"
Gary Fleming, "Beak Trimming Demonstration"
Jerry Fife, "Sperm Retention in African Spurred Tortoises" (Its not very long...)
Bill Love, "Tortoises of Madagascar" (Showed where all four species come from)
All of this was followed by a special Pyxis round table meeting.
DAY 2:
Cris Hagen, "Keeping and Breeding Map Turtles"
Paul Vander Schouw, "Keeping and Breeding Williams' Side-Necked Turtles"
Barry Downer, "A Breeding Program for Aldabra Tortoises" (Very informative and interesting)
Michael Ogle, "Notes on the Keeping and Breeding of the Spiny Turtle, Heosemys spinosa"
And at Sunday's lunch banquet: Tomas Diagne, "The Tortoise Village in Senegal and Saving Endangered Turtles in Africa"
This is a fantastic group. Field researchers, zoo keepers and private breeders all working together and sharing info in the interest of promoting successful keeping and propagation of our beloved chelonians. Each presentation was full of amazing, illustrative pics, personal observations and tips and each one was followed by Q and A from the group. Often I picked up the best tid-bits during the Q&A. It was fascinating learning about what goes on in the world even with the species that I'm not all that interested in.
I highly recommend this conference to anyone with any interest in turtles and tortoises. It is worth the effort to go there and meet these people.
I intend to do some individual threads on some of these topics and share what I learned.
Here is the speaker and subject list:
DAY 1:
Ryan Walker, "The Tortoise Crisis In Madagascar" (This guy is a field researcher)
Mike Rapley, "Breeding The Japanese Leaf Turtle, Geoemyda japonica"
Drew Rheinhardt, "How NOT to produces waffles: Raising Healthy Mediterranean Tortoises" (Unconventional for Meds)
Richard Fife, "Searching For Giant Leopard Tortoises in Ethiopia" (They found some)
Jerry Fife, "Breeding Galapagos Tortoises" (He did it!!! 4 hatchlings)
Gary Fleming DVM, "Turtle Nutrition"
Cris Hagen, "Current Status of Cuora sp..."
Kurt Edwards, "Maintaining a Large Collection Indoors"
Gary Fleming, "Beak Trimming Demonstration"
Jerry Fife, "Sperm Retention in African Spurred Tortoises" (Its not very long...)
Bill Love, "Tortoises of Madagascar" (Showed where all four species come from)
All of this was followed by a special Pyxis round table meeting.
DAY 2:
Cris Hagen, "Keeping and Breeding Map Turtles"
Paul Vander Schouw, "Keeping and Breeding Williams' Side-Necked Turtles"
Barry Downer, "A Breeding Program for Aldabra Tortoises" (Very informative and interesting)
Michael Ogle, "Notes on the Keeping and Breeding of the Spiny Turtle, Heosemys spinosa"
And at Sunday's lunch banquet: Tomas Diagne, "The Tortoise Village in Senegal and Saving Endangered Turtles in Africa"
This is a fantastic group. Field researchers, zoo keepers and private breeders all working together and sharing info in the interest of promoting successful keeping and propagation of our beloved chelonians. Each presentation was full of amazing, illustrative pics, personal observations and tips and each one was followed by Q and A from the group. Often I picked up the best tid-bits during the Q&A. It was fascinating learning about what goes on in the world even with the species that I'm not all that interested in.
I highly recommend this conference to anyone with any interest in turtles and tortoises. It is worth the effort to go there and meet these people.
I intend to do some individual threads on some of these topics and share what I learned.
