The TTPG was founded by Russ Gurley in 1996 to help spread the horrible news: The world’s turtles are disappearing. Across the planet there are a variety of pressures facing the world’s turtles including habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, collection for food and folk remedies, collection for the pet trade, and many more. Each year, turtle and tortoise keepers are having more and more successes with keeping their chelonians healthy and in creative enclosures and they are producing healthy captive-hatched specimens that are living stress-free and parasite-free in homes all over the world. These pets are ambassadors for their cousins, living in nature.
The TTPG is happy to be involved with the dissemination of information about the world's turtles and tortoises and their proper care through talks at herpetological societies, Turtle Night at the National Reptile Breeders Expo, the TTPG Conference on Captive Care and Breeding of Turtles and Tortoises in Phoenix, Arizona each year in November, and through books, articles, care sheets, and this website.
We were the proud hosts of Turtle Night at the National Reptile Breeders Expo for twelve years and now host the TTPG Conference each year in the fall. We hope you will join us for this year’s conference where attendees hear a wide range of chelonian topics devoted to captive care, nutrition, medical care, captive breeding, incubation, raising healthy offspring, and much more.
Russ Gurley was a founding member of the American Federation of Herpetoculturists in the 1980s and served as a creative force behind The Vivarium magazine for several years. He has produced many books and articles relating to the captive care of reptiles, including geckos, snakes, and more recently aquatic turtles and tortoises. These articles have appeared in magazines and journals such as HERP NATION, Reptilia, MANOURIA, The Batagur, and on various websites.
Russ’s first turtle-related book, The African Spurred Tortoise, Geochelone sulcata, in Captivity, was published in 2002. He has authored a number of other popular books including A Color Guide to Tarantulas of the World I, A Color Guide to Tarantulas of the World II, Tarantulas and Scorpions in Captivity, Keeping and Breeding Freshwater Turtles, Baby Turtles, SULCATAS: Spurred Tortoises in Captivity, and he currently has a number of other books in progress.
Russ formed the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group in 1996 to promote the captive breeding of rare turtles and tortoises and to spread the most recent information relating to the keeping and breeding of captive reptiles through articles, books, conferences and workshops, and through the TTPG website. Russ and the TTPG members host the TTPG Conference on Captive Care and Breeding of Turtles and Tortoises each year in Arizona.
Russ has a BFA from Oklahoma State University in illustration/painting and is involved in the art scene in his free time and he is the owner of Green Earth Gallery: Fine Art and Unusual Objects and FORGOTTEN TIMES (with Ari Flagle). He maintains a large collection of turtles and tortoises and is involved in a variety of unusual lizard and tarantula projects.
James Badman has worked at Arizona State University for 18 years. He is the Associate Director for the Department of Animal Care and Technologies. He owns Wildside Pets, LLC, an exotic pet store in Mesa, Arizona. He and Drew Rheinhardt host the Phoenix Reptile Expo, LLC. James is married and has two beautiful daughters. Like most, he has kept tortoises since he was a kid.
James maintains a wide variety of tortoises with an emphasis on species that do well outside in the dry climate of Arizona. These include sulcata, leopard, pancake, radiated and Mediterranean tortoises. James also maintains and breeds several specialized species such as Pyxis, Kinixys spekii, Egyptian and Chaco tortoises.
Drew Rheinhardt is a painter by trade and has worked with many species of reptiles since his early childhood. Like his mentor, Bert Langerwerf, Drew has devoted most of his time keeping species that will thrive in outdoor enclosures in his native Arizona. His enclosures are producing some of the most amazing species from Africa and Europe including Leopard tortoises (Stigmochelys pardalis), Spurred tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata), and a variety of Testudo species including Testudo hermanni, Testudo floweri and Testudo marginata. Drew also keeps and breeds a handful of aquatic species and has recently produced a number of Vietnamese pond turtles (Mauremys annamensis), a species that is now extinct in nature.
TTPG board member Wayne Hill is most notable for bringing our hobby the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Florida. After a long history with reptiles which includes breeding albino cobras, keeping and breeding Eastern diamondback rattlensnakes, and keeping and breeding Madagascan Hog-nosed snakes (he was the first to breed all three species), he settled into a fascination with turtles and tortoises. He has a large and diverse collection at his breeding facility in Florida that includes an excellent soft-shelled turtle collection, multiple Podocnemis species, Erymnochelys madagascariensis, snake-necked turtles, and a large variety of exotic species including a beautiful herd of adult Galapagos tortoises. Wayne has produced Spotted pond turtles (Geoclemys hamiltoni) for many years and his work with this species has single-handedly added over 500 specimens to the world’s population of this rare and attractive endangered species. His population in Florida could potentially be the replacement group for this species in nature if pollution, man’s interference, or a natural disaster ever devastated the wild population of this aquatic turtle species.
Wayne has been the gracious host of the TTPG’s TURTLE NIGHT at the National Reptile Breeders Expo for the last ten years and his support of conservation projects around the world is unmatched in the hobby of herpetoculture. To date, his auctions at the National Reptile Breeders Expo have raised more than $100,000 for projects around the planet that are devoted to captive breeding of reptiles and amphibians.
Kurt Edwards has a diverse collection of both aquatic species and tortoises. He was best known early in the hobby for producing Spotted turtles. In more recent years, he has developed a fondness for South American species and became the first breeder in the United States to successfully hatch and raise a Spiny-necked turtle (Acanthochelys spixii). In addition to aquatic species, Kurt is also interested in Elongated tortoises, Testudo species and various lizard projects including Cyclura species and Ctenosaura species.
Kurt has just begun his writing career related to turtles and tortoises and their captive care. He is currently working on an article on Spotted turtles and a book for the TTPG Turtles of the World series. He will no doubt be helping with THE BATAGUR, the newsletter of the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group this fall.
Kurt spoke at the National Reptile Breeders Expo in 2005, NARBC Arlington in 2007, East Texas Herp Society in 2009, and the Phoenix Reptile Expo in 2009.
Jerry Fife is a former CPA who managed golf courses, sports complexes, and spring training baseball stadiums in Phoenix, Arizona. He has bred a large number of species in his outdoor enclosures, including Star tortoises, Egyptian tortoises, Leopard tortoises, Spurred tortoises, Spider tortoises, Flat-tailed tortoises, and a variety of Mediterranean tortoises.
Jerry has an interest in lizards as well and has kept and bred iguanas and chuckwallas for over a decade. He currently works with Rhinoceros iguanas, various Spiny-tailed (Ctenosaura) species, Angel Island chuckwallas, and other lizard species. He has traveled to the Caribbean, Mexico, Galapagos Islands, South Africa and Central America to see many of these species in the wild. Jerry is the author of many books and articles and speaks at herp societies, turtle and tortoise conferences, and reptile events throughout the year.
Barry Downer was born and raised in Wisconsin where he spent much of his time in the outdoors. While reptiles were not plentiful where he grew up, he found himself in awe at every opportunity to get his hands on eastern garter snakes and common snapping turtles, the two most common reptiles around. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 2003 and his Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from Oklahoma State University in 2011. He is presently employed at the Oklahoma City Zoo as Deputy Director. He currently holds the position of AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) Studbook Keeper and SSP coordinator for Testudo kleinmanni and for Heosemys annandalii. Prior to his current appointments he was the Studbook Keeper and SSP coordinator for Geoclemys hamiltonii. He is the current Vice-chair of the Chelonian Advisory Group for AZA, has been working in zoos since 1994 and has dedicated himself to specializing in Chelonians as that is where his passion lies. Some of his successes to note are being the first person in a U.S. zoo to hatch Chelodina mccordi, and the first person in the U.S. (that he knows of) to captive hatch Homopus aereolatus.
Ken Foose has been keeping reptiles since the age of nine years old. Today he is the President of the International Herpetological Symposium, a columnist for Reptiles magazine, and the owner of Exotic Pets Las Vegas, one of the premier reptile pet stores in the United States.
I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't have turtles and tortoises. My love for them has been one of the constants in my life. As a child I depended on my parents to educate me on the care of my pets. When the experts told me to feed freeze dried ants, flies, and raw hamburger. The mortality rate in some species was high. As I got older and my love of chelonians continued I hunted for information on their care and how to improve their lives. After our sons were born, we got them two nickel size Red-eared sliders thinking it would teach them the cycle of life, hygiene, and caring for a pet. What happened was the start of not only educating ourselves but also many other children and adults. I was President of the National Turtle and Tortoise Society for fifteen years. The society's main focus was the education, conservation, and captive propagation of chelonians. I thought I could back away for a turtle and turtle organization. I found that I was still educating people without a place to send them. That is where I am glad to have the TTPG. I am happy to be a part of an organization that cares about our world's chelonians. I have been blessed to keep many species of turtles and tortoises. One of my greatest accomplishments is the captive breeding and hatching of Chelonoidis chilensis, also known as the Chaco Tortoise. Twenty-four years later, the life cycle of our sons' Red-eared sliders is still continuing!
Dennis Uhrig grew up in New Jersey but has been a resident of Florida for the past 38 years. Turtles have been a part of Dennis’ life for over fifty years and Dennis hatched his first turtle eggs at the age of eleven. Dennis maintains a large collection of aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles and hatches out nearly one hundred different species of turtles every year.
Keith graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in History and minors in Business Administration/Geography. After graduation Keith spent three years working with Friends of the Dunes, (www.friendsofthedunes.org) a local non-profit organization dedicated to outdoor education programs. As head educator, Keith oversaw the Bay to Dunes education program, teaching Dune Morphology and Bay/Estuary Biology to elementary, junior high and high school students. After leaving the education program Keith went to work for College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California as a Scholarship Advisor and finally took on a position as a Financial Aid Councilor. After 3 years with College of the Redwoods, Keith relocated to Arroyo Grande, California and took a position with Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. Keith worked for Zoo Med, first as a shipping coordinator, then as the Marketing Manager and finally as National Sales Manager for the last 12 years. Keith has been interested in animals all of his life but over the course of the last ten years, he has become increasingly interested in herpetology, especially tortoises from the Mediterranean Region. For the last 6 years Keith has been member of the TTPG.