The Pondcast

The team visits with their good friend Kevin Pollack - one of the most knowledgeable reptile people you've never heard of. For that reason, we joking call him the "mystery guest." Kevin is a field biologist and naturalist who also breeds reptiles. He has herp experience on four continents and keeps some incredibly cool species.

Christine Light is an experienced scuba diver, with around 500 dives under her belt, one of which saved someone's life! She has traveled to several points on the globe in her efforts with both wild and captive animals from whale sharks and mobula rays to rehabbing a Painted Terrapin at the Downtown Aquarium Denver where she was Assistant Curator to being one of the first "Western Biologists" to see a Forsten's Tortoise in its native environment.

Christine comes "up for air" to join The Pondcast and discuss her adventures in Sulawesi with the Forsten's Tortoise and the Sulawesi Forest Turtle, her role in the Turtle Race Task Force which aims to end races of wild turtles in the US, her experiences caring for close to 30 chelonian species at the Turtle Conservancy and a myriad of marine fish and invertebrates at various aquariums around the US, and what it is like being a woman in herpetology and turtle conservation.

Tonight, Shannon joins the team as a special guest host to interview a college friend and very special guest, Dave Hudson, PhD. As a marine and aquatic biologist, researcher, and educator, Dr. Hudson aims to cultivate biological research, education, policy, and business interactions for marine and aquatic environments. To achieve that end, he works to empower people through collaborations with universities, non-profit organizations, and companies to help them solve problems around environmental sustainability, food security, and increased communication between stakeholders.

Dr. Hudson's current line of professional interest lies in developing strategies for communities and companies to work in harmony with the environment to produce needed food while decreasing the negative impacts on human health and environmental quality. To that end, he develops aquaculture solutions for communities in Colombia, South America to decrease reliance on subsistence fishing, reuse food waste to provide feed for livestock and aquacultured animals, and do basic natural history and behavioral ecology research on aquatic and marine systems to determine baseline community health.

Dr. Hudson enjoys applying the knowledge he has accrued, and along with publishing his work and working toward broader societal goals around sustainability, he aims to inspire the next generation of problem solvers.

Carl J. Franklin, the President of the non-profit research organization Texas Turtles, joins The Pondcast to talk about his myriad experiences in herpetology. Carl is one of the most interesting men in herpetology, having spent time under the stars in locations all across the Americas and southeast Asia. His adventures could fill several episodes of The Pondcast and include a run-in with the Venezuelan military, negotiations with both a Peruvian chieftain and Mexican jailer, cooperation with the indigenous Miskito of Honduras, and accidentally frightening an entire village in Mexico. His field, academic, museum, and husbandry experience combine to give Carl a wide knowledge base of chelonians from all corners of the globe. Currently, Carl's efforts are focused primarily on the chelonians from Texas as he leads Texas Turtles' effort to "fill a Texas-sized hole in our knowledge of Texas turtles". You can learn more about their exciting work at https://www.texasturtles.org/support-1

Carl has held a lifelong fascination and passion for herpetology with a keen focus on turtles. Over the past 25 years, he has worked at the herpetology departments of the Fort Worth Zoo, Dallas Zoo and the Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has assisted in and conducted numerous herpetological scientific collecting expeditions in Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Java, Sumatra and the United States that have contributed to new breakthroughs in science as well as the discovery of hundreds of new species of amphibians and reptiles. Aside from working within the scientific field of herpetology and being included among the primary authors contributing to Texas herpetology, Carl has bred and maintained several species of reptiles and received the Joseph Laszlo award for outstanding contributions in herpetoculture. He is an avid outdoors-man, photographer, frequent speaker for a variety of audiences and has worked with a number of television documentaries showcasing reptiles.

In this episode, the guys are joined by award winning animal educator and digital content creator, Emma Lock. Her YouTube channel, Emzotic, currently has over 690,000 subscribers, comprised of animal lovers and pet keepers seeking a place to learn about exotic animals and pet care.

Her ‘Creature Feature’ videos have been showcased by the BBC World Service and Blue Peter, as well as many digital media outlets, such as UniLad and LadBible. Interviews about her work as Emzotic have been published in newspapers and magazines, such as The Independent, The South China Morning Post and Dook Dook Ferret Magazine.

In March of 2020, Em’s first book ‘Animal Kind’ was published, and achieved ‘Best Seller’ status in multiple categories. The book focuses on the healing power of pets, and the variety of ways they enrich our lives.

Viviana Ricardez is the Vice President of the non-profit research organization Texas Turtles. Viviana joins our hosts to talk about all the cool things Texas Turtles is doing to study turtles and her background going from "90s turtle nerd" to a leading expert on the turtles of Texas. The goal of Texas Turtles is to “fill a Texas-sized hole in our knowledge of Texas turtles including studying the 'Paul Bunyan' of North American turtles, the Alligator Snapping Turtle". You can learn more about their exciting work at https://www.texasturtles.org/support-1

The Pondcast team speaks with Diva Green, DVM, a talented exotics veterinarian from Connecticut who has partnered with tTR on care of their animals. Dr. Green is the type of veterinarian you want caring for your animals and is someone young professionals can look up to and aspire to be. We'll talk about the importance of working as a team with your vet and the importance of developing such partnerships. You can read more about/from Dr. Green on her blog, Dr. Diva - Off the Leash at https://drdivaofftheleash.com/

The boys sit down to talk with one of the best turtle people you've never heard of, Ken Sopher. Ken is a box turtle expert and a wealth of knowledge on many species. Tonight we pick his brain to gain as much insight into his observations as possible.

The Pondcast crew introduces a new series within The Pondcast called "Husbandry Talk". Husbandry Talk shows will be focused specifically on the husbandry of a few select turtle and tortoise species.

On today's show, each host will talk about the husbandry of a species or group of species selected by the other hosts!

Photographer, videographer, naturalist, and reptile keeper Greg Brashear of Greg's Turtle Haven joins The Pondcast team to talk Alligator Snapping Turtles and other reptiles from the Southeast United States. Like theTurtleRoom, Greg is passionate about educating others about turtles, tortoises, their conservation, and their husbandry.

Greg is one of the rare cases, where a turtle advocate walks the line between field herper and keeper. Greg keeps more than 150 turtles and tortoises at his Georgia home, mostly rescues. He is also frequently in the field, observing species like the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) in its natural habitat, allowing for the discovery of interesting in-situ behaviors.

Greg's YouTube channel called Greg's Turtle Haven is an ever-growing collection of footage that blends his in- and ex-situ work together into a properly balanced offering for turtle nerds of all types. Greg has been an avid listener of The Pondcast, and we are proud to have him on the show to talk with him about his love of The Pondcast, his future goals, what has him excited at the current moment, and his areas for growth.

Be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdp2... for Greg's Turtle Haven.