CALLING ALL EXOTICSCON ATTENDEES: Come visit our booth for the WEL diagnostic lab section!! Our VDL offers turtle and tortoise respiratory panels, ophidiomycosis, nannizziopsis, emydomyces, chytrid, and ranavirus testing, among others! #exoticscon

1. POV: You said your favorite animal was a reptile
2. POV: You said your favorite animal was a bird

We are celebrating the end of summer break with a successful week of box turtle team! We have such amazing veterinary student volunteers that made our field and lab work the most fun and efficient! How can we have turtle searches every week? 🐢

Our DVM/PhD student, Maris, was the winner of the Terry Amundson Award for best student presentation at this year’s WDA conference! She presented on a qPCR assay she developed for a penguin herpesvirus. Congrats, Maris🥳🏆 #WDA2023

Our lab’s leaders championed their oral presentations at WDA! Dr. Allender discussed the status of influenza at PSJ & Dr. Adamovicz discussed our favorite topic, Eastern box turtles! We are so lucky to have such amazing scientists leading our lab & mentoring our students👑🐢

Dr. Kaitlin, Carly, and Maris all participated in the oral student presentation competition at WDA! These students did a fantastic job presenting their projects to on such a big stage! The future of wildlife disease is in good hands!! We could not be more proud🥹 #WDA2023

Starting off strong for the first poster session strong with presentations from our PhD and veterinary students! Georgia is hot but these posters are hotter🥵🔥 #wda2023 #wdaathens

There’s nothing like being hip-deep in the marsh during the hottest day of the year! Today is one of the very few days where flooding those waders is a must! 🥵

Happy Wednesday from a shy little friend💛

Just a typical day in the office💁‍♀️

Each year, @Brookfield_Zoo visits Nachusa Grasslands with boykin spaniels to find ornate box turtles, which can only be found in prairies. This NBC story is a great one to learn about these wonderful furry partners in conservation! Wildlife Epidemiology Lab at IL Elizabeth Bach

nbcnews.com/video/nightly-…

Miss Science 2023👑

Have a ssssspecial World Snake Day! 🐍🐍

Did you know that turtles can get Chlamydia just like koalas?? Oh, you didn’t? WEL, sounds like you should talk to Turtle Team Leader, Lily, who is studying how Chlamydia can impact turtle health!! A healthy turtle is a healthy ecosystem! 🐢🌱

No caption, no words, just cuteness🥺

Our very own, Dr. Laura, is the recipient of the very prestigious, Walder Grant! The Walder Foundation promotes the sustainability of the natural environment. Laura’s study will establish an infectious disease surveillance program for freshwater turtle communities in Chicagoland.

Scamp is one of the older working Turtle Dogs, but she still shows her nieces and nephews up from time to time! Just when you think she’s losing focus, she brings you a very handsome turtle. These dogs are amazing!

Rising third-year DVM student, Kristin, has been an absolute rock star for our lab this summer!! Kristin is one of the best partners to have in the field, in the lab, and in life! We are so thankful for our dedicated and hard working students!! How can we clone her??

Our Blanding’s turtle queen, Dr. Kaitlin, is back in the summer fieldwork grind before starting her third year as a PhD student this fall!! Kaitlin is problem solving her way through Blanding’s Turtle headstart programs, and we are so thankful for all of her hard work!!

Have you ever seen a tail draw be so effortless?? Raise your hand if you’re jealous of Marg’s snapper skills🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️