Loggerhead Acres Turtle Farm

In celebration of our Dad,
John Turtleman Richards; he would want nothing more than for us to be doing what we love today.

He would also want all of you to know how the AST eggs are looking thus far. ☺️ — swipe right 👉

Two months in, and one more to go until we see a little egg tooth popping open these pressure filled turtle globes.

The tactile difference in how porcelain- like these eggs feel upon first handling, vs how they feel halfway into incubation is astounding.

Like they’re inflated with air.

You can feel the internal pressure pushing out from these embryos, and it’s just exhilarating.

I can recall dad’s face every year we would check on the eggs.

Even seeing this every year throughout the past three decades, his eyes would widen and his jaw would drop with the biggest Turtleman smile you could imagine.

I couldn’t help but share the same fascination.

Once amazed, always amazed.

Like every year is the first time again.

How many things can you count that bring you that level of joy?? 🤩 🐢🪺

What’s this little guy thinking about?! 😆

Oh the cuteness is real when packing these little creatures for travel to their eagerly awaiting owners. 🤣

Admittedly, hand picking each one to match the name of the person, the town and state they live in gets to be pretty fun, especially when it’s two or three 🤗

Because of you fellow AST crazies, we are all out of last years hatch! 😲👏

Which means we are as anxious as you all to see babies hatching again in September. 😭😭

We project this year to have 2026 hatchlings in so many hands that we may run out by late winter-early spring 2027.

So don’t wait till next summer! 🤣

Turtleman.com is where you can preorder the hatchlings to come this September. 👊🏻

Stay tuned for some class photos of the eggs of 2026!! 😄✌️

These little moments will remain in my heart. 💚

I can wonder where the turtles that hatched from these eggs are now. 🧐

I imagine they have as spunky a personality as the man who touched their lives first. 🥹

Then I think how blessed I am to even have these ponderings.

A huge thank you 🙏 to everyone this past week who shared how our dad the Turtleman touched their lives over the years.

Through personal moments and epic stories, phone calls, shared enthusiasm, questions answered.

These memories don’t stagnate, they flow like the greatest rivers.

It is baffling the quantity of quality he brought to folks young and old in the turtle community. 🌎✨

2026 hatchlings are ticking by the day, and will be peek a booing their way out of the egg in early September.

As summer rolls on by, we will do our diligence in making sure many of you have a baby 🐢 for your tank in the fall.

To preorder your hatchlings, look no further than 👉Turtleman.com👈 the domain our dad proudly claimed as he made his frequent trips south to rescue the adult alligators snappers that remain Happy Snappers in the Ozarks to this day. 🤗

Here’s to getting out there and making lasting memories with your family this summer! 🙌

All the best from Loggerhead Acres! 🙏

Most of you knew him simply as Turtleman.

To us, he was just Dad.

On the morning of June 23, 2026, he took his final breath and made his journey home.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've read a countless number of comments, messages, and stories from people whose lives he somehow touched. Some of you knew him for thirty years. Others met him only once. Some only knew him through a turtle you purchased, a phone call asking for advice, or the stories shared here over the years.

Reading those messages made us realize something.

Dad didn't just build a turtle farm.

He built a community.

He built a family.

And we'd like to tell you how that happened.

The last year and a half of Dad's life was spent doing what mattered most to him: Being surrounded by family after his cancer diagnosis at the end of 2024.

Many of you know how cruel that road can be. Cancer has a way of testing everything.

For our family, somehow it didn't drive us apart.

It brought us closer.

Dad fought harder than any of us thought possible. He endured more pain than anyone should ever have to endure, yet he never lost the grit, determination, humor, or stubbornness that made him... well... Turtleman.

One thing my brother and I are especially proud to share is that Dad renewed his faith in God.

Through the toughest season of his life, he met each day with grace and gratitude. More than anything, he soaked up every moment we were blessed to share together as a family.

When the time is right, we're going to have the shindig of all shindigs to celebrate his life. It'll be exactly the kind of gathering he would've wanted - full of laughter, stories, good food, good music, and the people he loved.

We'll share more when that day comes.

Before we tell his story, there's something we need to say…

Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who has shared Dad's passion for turtles.

Thank you to everyone who bought a turtle, visited the farm, asked a question, shared a picture, told a friend about Loggerhead Acres, or simply believed in one man's dream.

As my brother and I have grown into this business, we've realized something.

This was never Dad's dream alone.

All of you became part of it.

Ever since he was a little kid, Dad wanted to understand the natural world around him.

One of those fascinations happened to be turtles.

As God's timing would have it, a creek ran through his backyard in Kansas City where turtles of all kinds lived. The very first turtle he caught was a common snapper, and from that moment on, he was hooked.

He filled his big little noggin with every turtle book he could find.

One of those books was written by the late, great Dr. Peter Pritchard.

Inside was a picture of an Alligator Snapping Turtle.

Ancient.

Powerful.

Unlike anything he'd ever seen.

That turtle left a mark on his heart that never went away.

So he did what any determined kid would do.

He figured out how to get one.

First he needed Mom and Dad's permission.

Then he needed that thing adults are always talking about...

Money.

Five dollars and a phone call later...

He was holding his very first Alligator Snapper.

Perhaps that was the moment.

And years later, that very moment would come rushing back to him.

Like any young man, Dad grew up, learned different trades, and discovered a gift in the culinary arts. He earned the trust of great mentors who gave him the freedom to perfect his craft, eventually becoming an executive sous chef at a prestigious hotel. He found something practical, and became exceptionally good at it.

But the little boy who dreamed of owning a turtle farm never left.

In every spare moment, he stayed connected to turtles and to the people who loved them as much as he did.

Then he learned that Alligator Snapping Turtles throughout Louisiana were being commercially trapped and sold into the meat trade.

That childhood fascination suddenly became something much bigger.

He knew they needed help.

And deep down...

He believed that helping them was what God had called him to do.

So he did something most people would've called crazy.

He stepped away from the career he had worked so hard to build and said to his boss,

"Dan, I have to do this. I need to spend more time with my kids... and this is my roadmap there."

Most employers would've tried to talk him out of it.

Dan knew our Dad better than that.

He knew this wasn't just another idea.

It was a calling.

Armed with little more than paper road maps, determination, and faith, Dad started driving south.

He didn't know exactly where the turtles, or even the trappers were.

But he absolutely knew the rivers they called home.

Those rivers eventually led him down dirt roads, into strangers' driveways, and face-to-face with commercial turtle trappers.

Imagine climbing out of your car, introducing yourself to complete strangers, and asking them to trust you.

Honestly...

If you knew our Dad, you know he probably had them laughing within five minutes.

Then he made them an offer.

He would buy the turtles himself.

He paid what the meat buyers paid by the pound.

But he offered double for every female.

That simple idea gave trappers a reason to keep breeding females alive instead of selling them into the food trade.

They probably thought he was out of his mind.

Who was this guy from Missouri who believed he could rescue these giant turtles, haul them home, and somehow rebuild a population?

Dad saw something no one else did.

Hope.

For nearly a decade, he made those trips.

Hundreds of adult Alligator Snappers were given another chance because one stubborn man refused to believe extinction was inevitable.

Soon he left city life behind, moved to the Ozarks, and built the place so many of you came to know as Loggerhead Acres.

His rescue mission continued until 2004, when laws finally prohibited the commercial harvest and sale of Alligator Snapping Turtles into the meat trade.

He had played a part in changing the future of a species he loved.

But one of the greatest surprises was still waiting for him.

The pond where he released those turtles was brand new.

Just red Ozarks clay.

No mature trees.

Very little vegetation.

No thriving ecosystem.

Then something incredible happened.

The pond came alive.

Every year brought new plants.

New frogs.

New insects.

New birds.

An abundance of life seemed to appear from nowhere.

The turtles began nesting.

The barren clay banks slowly transformed into underwater caverns and hiding places.

Little "turtle condos," as Dad liked to call them.

The habitat healed itself.

The turtles were thriving.

Dad had been right.

Looking back now, it's amazing to realize how many people one person can quietly inspire.

Thousands of turtle keepers.

Researchers.

Conservationists.

Children discovering reptiles for the very first time.

Families.

Friends who became family.

We always knew our Dad was special.

What we didn't fully understand until these last two weeks was just how many lives he had quietly changed.

Reading your stories has been one of the greatest gifts our family has ever received.

Thank you for letting us see our Dad through your eyes.

As for Loggerhead Acres...

This isn't the end of Dad's story.

It's our turn to carry it forward.

My brother and I know we'll never replace the man everyone knew as Turtleman.

We don't want to.

Our promise is much simpler than that.

We'll protect what he built.

We'll care for these animals the way he taught us.

We'll continue sharing what we've learned.

We'll continue educating.

We'll continue conserving.

We'll continue putting the turtles first.

And we'll do everything we can to honor the standard he spent thirty years setting.

Dad probably would've laughed if someone told him he was building a legacy.

He would've said; "I’m just doing what I love to do"

Looking at your messages over the past two weeks...

We know now he was doing so much more.

We can’t do it the way Dad did.

But we can do it the way he taught us.

We hope you'll continue walking that road with us.

Dad believed God places people exactly where they're meant to be.

Looking back now...

We believe He did exactly that.

Thank you for loving our Dad.

Thank you for believing in his dream.

Thank you for helping ensure that his legacy lives on. Not just here at Loggerhead Acres, but in every turtle, every pond, every child inspired to care about wildlife, and every person whose life he touched along the way.

We love you, Dad.

Until we meet again.

❤️

Schuyler & Austin Richards