Reality TV in Louisiana??? (swamp people etc)

[Canaan 10+ year member]

Wow. They have Swamp People, Ax Men (some of the guys originally from Swamp Loggers), and now Duck Dynasty. Alot of crazy people doing (what people in other parts of the US consider) crazy things....but hell, alot of the things shown on these shows are just a fun weekend IMHO. Its amazing...lmao.

I know they blow things out of proportion to hell and back, but hell it's TV. Most of them are just hardworking people that have fun doing and living the way they do.

But I just wanna throw this out there for everyone here on CA. Well, with all the crazy jobs and lives here in Louisiana...I think I have another one to throw in the mix for possible reality TV show. Not sure on how it will go, but hey, its worth a shot.

My family runs a turtle farm. Yep, turtle farm.

The market has been hard for the last 8 or so years, but we hatch around 500,000 turtles a year (yea, half a million). If there was ever been an odd-ball job, turtle farming is likely in the top 100.

So, what does CA.com say. Is turtle farming different enough to get on TV?

Maybe even on something like Dirty Jobs (yea, its dirty)?

Just a simple question.

Damit, lets complicate things. For years, I ran a crew on the family turtle ponds, but now I work at a PAWN SHOP (and car audio) while going to ULM. lol.

Click to read more...

 

[Heel4lyfe 10+ year member]

Swamp people is my sh1t... CHOOT EM CHOOT EM lol that guys 2 funny

 

[bigwheel15 10+ year member]

Interesting, lacrx's pecan farming would be another show idea.

 

[Canaan 10+ year member]

Interesting, lacrx's pecan farming would be another show idea.

Dave doesn't farm pecans. He sneaks onto other people's land and picks up pecans. lol

(I know Dave well, prolly gonna let him pick up pecans around the house next fall //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

On second thought, sneaking onto someones land and grabbing pecans would make some DAM GOOD TV!!!

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

i actually used to see these guys quite often fishing down here. i used to run into the guy with the dog all the time down in manchac his camp is actually just a few places down the canal from us. heres a funny thing about lake ponchatrain it has 1 blue parrot that sits of i55 bridge liked to trip out the first time i saw it

 

[Canaan 10+ year member]

i actually used to see these guys quite often fishing down here. i used to run into the guy with the dog all the time down in manchac his camp is actually just a few places down the canal from us. heres a funny thing about lake ponchatrain it has 1 blue parrot that sits of i55 bridge liked to trip out the first time i saw it

Thats Bruce.

I actually met his father years ago. His family also has a turtle farm.

Bruce's father ran the farm for years before he came down w/ alzheimer's. I met him at a meeting for turtle farmers in Louisiana. We where (and still are) working on getting the pet turtle market back open in the US. It has been shut down since the mid-70's. We farm and hatch the turtles here in the US, but all of them are exported. The turtle market is one of the few markets in the US that depend TOTALLY on exports.

Oddly enough, most turtles exported from the US go to China...!!!???!!!

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

I actually had a run in with a "turtle farm" before here in TN. A guy I worked for doing construction and other odd jobs bought a piece of land that had turtle ponds.. thousand of turtles in pretty small ponds. It was an interesting adventure when he decided he wanted to get rid of ALL of the turtles in these ponds. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif the big snapping turtles made for some fun! People still look at me crazy when I mention farming turtles...lol I would say it qualifies for Dirty Jobs for sure! Don't know how interesting it would be as a series though.

 

[Canaan 10+ year member]

I actually had a run in with a "turtle farm" before here in TN. A guy I worked for doing construction and other odd jobs bought a piece of land that had turtle ponds.. thousand of turtles in pretty small ponds. It was an interesting adventure when he decided he wanted to get rid of ALL of the turtles in these ponds. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif the big snapping turtles made for some fun! People still look at me crazy when I mention farming turtles...lol I would say it qualifies for Dirty Jobs for sure! Don't know how interesting it would be as a series though.

Yea, I'm pretty sure it would not be good for a series. But something like Dirty Jobs would be a good one.

I crack up seeing the stuff people on some of these shows do, then think...damit, we haul trailer loads of barrels of fish scrap (from fish markets...fresh guts/carcasses) regularly to feed our turtles during the summer when the turtles in the breeding ponds are active. And I just look at that like another day on the farm.

I figure stuff like that is 'dirty' enough.

This time of year (spring spawn), if a catch a few bass or perch and clean them to eat....guess where I drop the guts/heads? The turtle ponds! The turtles love fresh fish!

We don't raise any snappers though. Mainly red-ears, but some maps, yellow-ears, river-cooters (kings/soups), chickens, and paints.

If you stock soft-shell and snapping turtles in your breeding ponds, they tend to dig into the banks and increase erosion.

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on a side note.

The soft-shell turtle is the only turtle native to the US that s3x is not determined by the egg incubation temperature . In all other fresh water turtles native to the US, you can tweak the incubation temp to determine the greatest majority of the hatchlings s3x.

***edit***

I had to type s3x instead of s.e.x.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

There were soft shell and snappers in the ponds I encountered. I don't know what the rest of them were..but there were several different kinds all in together. It wasn't a professional type set up by any means. But it beat the hell out of roofing out there messing around with turtles. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif you should contact dirty jobs..I'm sure it would be an interesting episode!

 

[Canaan 10+ year member]

There were soft shell and snappers in the ponds I encountered. I don't know what the rest of them were..but there were several different kinds all in together. It wasn't a professional type set up by any means. But it beat the hell out of roofing out there messing around with turtles. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif you should contact dirty jobs..I'm sure it would be an interesting episode!

I am going to contact Dirty Jobs.

Hell, we are thinking about relocating 2500+ turtles from our old stock pond to a new pond this summer. I know I will be working my *** off doing this.

If a camera was on-hand and an 'outsider' that has never handled a turtle....well, that could REALLY get interesting. LMAO.

Since you have obviously handled a few turtles, I bet you know what its like grabbing your first few hundred full grown turtles out of traps...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Quick question.

How many times have you been bitten by a turtle?

Hurts like hell...

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EDIT

IMHI, softshells are the best tasting turtle.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

I am going to contact Dirty Jobs.Hell, we are thinking about relocating 2500+ turtles from our old stock pond to a new pond this summer. I know I will be working my *** off doing this.

If a camera was on-hand and an 'outsider' that has never handled a turtle....well, that could REALLY get interesting. LMAO.

Since you have obviously handled a few turtles, I bet you know what its like grabbing your first few hundred full grown turtles out of traps...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Quick question.

How many times have you been bitten by a turtle?

Hurts like hell...

.

.

.

.

EDIT

IMHI, softshells are the best tasting turtle.

Yeah we relocated probably a few hundred...pretty tough job pulling those traps up full of turtles while on a muddy bank! Being as it wasn't a permanant job, we actually had fun doing it. It wasn't your normal,everyday kind of job, that's for sure. Lol. Luckily i was only involved with it for a week or two. I don't think it would be much fun after it became a real job. Lol

 

[SourDeez 10+ year member]

all that **** on tv is fake staged **** bra.

especially those repo shows.

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

well we have american stuffers so fuck you

 

[T.I.K. 10+ year member]

cinco cinco cinoco! de la pena! loco guerro!

 

[Dr. Slam 10+ year member]

Let Michael Bay put a twist on turtle farming for you and you'll be ok

 

[T.I.K. 10+ year member]

aaayeee, punta, mi threada es on topas! no commentio!

 

[CAT MAN 5,000+ posts]

licker