Guest author Shannon, Anthony’s wife, shares what it is like to be married to a “Turtle Man”
I think it is time to address an earlier post about my husband’s… cough cough… “hobby.” Anthony and I met through work, while both us were working for non profit companies helping others with disabilities find employment. We had spoken on the phone a couple of times and realized we would both be attending the same career fair, after hours. We hit it off immediately, discussing our knowledge of Rhode Island basketball. I will never forget over hearing a client referring to him as the “Turtle Man.” I never really thought much of it until we started dating and this hobby continued to come up in conversation.
Anthony with a Hispaniolan Slider (Trachemys decorata) on our honeymoon. Imagine his excitement when he saw there was an indoor pond full of this rare species in our hotel.
Anthony with a Hispaniolan Slider (Trachemys decorata) on our honeymoon. Imagine his excitement when he saw there was an indoor pond full of this rare species in our hotel.
Early on, the sly dog talked about his hobby in a way you’d have to respect. He recalled great memories of catching turtles with his dad and aunt and continued to talk about times fishing with his father, going to the pet store, etc. Still innocent right? As we got more serious, I went to his house and his room had a couple aquariums filled with turtles, all of which had names. The view of the tanks I did not mind as much as the smell of an aquarium in a room I would later sleep in.
Anthony took me to reptile shows, a mass gathering of interesting people, especially since snakes and spiders are included in these expos. I have to admit, for people who knew me growing up this is not a place they would have pictured me spending free time. My freshman and sophomore year of college I studied Fashion Merchandising, with a personal goal in life to become Elle Woods from “Legally Blonde.” Up to the point when the “Turtle Man” entered my life, I was fulfilling that lifestyle. Yes, the days of getting my hair and makeup done every Friday and Saturday night, the shopping, the high end bars, racking up my Nordstrom credit card, etc. Those were the days.
However, I loved Anthony and I enjoyed anytime we spent together. I started to learn the latin names of different turtle species and made friends with the vendors at some of the reptile shows. In fact, one guy over heard me talking to Anthony about the smallest turtle I had ever seen, when I referenced how cute I thought it was, he gave me the turtle free of charge. You cannot even imagine how jealous Anthony was after all the years of haggling people for turtle prices. I guess being a girl gets you even further at a reptile show than it does at the upscale bars I referenced earlier. Over time I turned into Terri Irwin to support Anthony, who was my Steve. We would spend our weekends catching turtles going on our boat, sometimes adding fishing lessons to the agenda. Every time we visited a different state, we would be sure to do at least something turtle related, like a trip to an aquarium or a quick stop at an off-road reptile attraction.
Fast forward a couple years, after the purchase of our first home, and now I have a basement with over 40 turtles. Anthony has partnered with others to help develop a conservation organization called theTurtleRoom. He also does podcasts (the show is called the “Pondcast”) once a month, he has spoken at events and schools, written articles for publications from around the world, including the famous REPTILES Magazine, and is in the process of publishing his first book. Oh, and did I mention we have a basement full of turtles?
You cannot imagine how difficult it is to explain this hobby to people, but I am so proud of him. With time, what I have realized is all men have some sort of hobby. Some like video games, golf, fantasy football, guys nights, happy hour, etc. You catch my drift. My husband is not out cheating, sitting at bars, or gambling. He’s not a heavy drinker or partier. He is in the basement cleaning his turtle enclosures or making videos for theTurtleRoom’s YouTube page. In many ways, once you get past the initial weirdness of his endeavors, I actually hit the husband jackpot.
My all-time favorite turtle, a Forsten’s Tortoise (Indotestudo forstenii) named Molly, with my favorite dog, our Carin Terrier, Gus.
Now, do not get me wrong this hobby does cause us marital stress, like this past winter at a family event when someone asked how many turtles we had and the number had magically increased without prior discussion. My husband smuggles turtles into the house so I lose track of how many we have, in these situations I refer to him as “El Chapo.” There is the also the occasional scheme where I might hear something along the lines of “I am not keeping this turtle, but will mail it out next week to a friend.”
Anthony does a lot of conservation work with the turtles, and I have to admit I will take full credit for this. When we first met he had many turtles that were rare due to genetic mutations and I never fully understood that. I thought it was cruel that people were purposely breeding these sweet reptiles, playing God, for their own amusement. Anthony has many conservation projects in the works with zoos all over the US, with the goal of keeping critically endangered turtles from going extinct. To me, that is the kindest thing a person could ever do. He knows the way to my heart. He also knows that I actually do not like turtles too much. However, he knows that if he comes home with a tortoise, my heart will melt.
It is amazing what love will do to you. I never pictured myself marrying a man whose idea of fun was going to a pond and catching and releasing turtles. But life is just the way it should be.
Shannon is the wife of tTR Senior Director, Anthony Pierlioni and could regale us with endless stories of life as a "Turtle Wife".
Visit Shannon's blog, Primping and Pumping where she shares the good, bad, funny and sad experiences of life as a working mother with her readers.
