Reptile expo slithers back to Mid North Coast after four year break

It was the first time since 2019 that the North Coast Herpetology Group has been able to host the event after numerous weather events and global pandemics put them on hold.

"It's really good and exciting to have the expo back," North Coast Herpetology Group president and Reptile Solutions handler Stuart Johnson said.

"We're constantly getting a lot of enquiries about when the expo would be returning."

But the return of the expo isn't the only highlight for the group.

The North Coast Herpetology Group, which focuses on reptiles and amphibians, are celebrating their 25^th anniversary.

The group which covers Newcastle up to the state border is one of the few remaining herpetology groups with the next closest groups being in Sydney, Hawksbury and across the Queensland border.

"We've managed to save it as well because unfortunately a lot of groups did shut down over COVID-19," Mr Johnson said.

"We were very close there at one point- we just managed to hang on and persevere."

The group has since been able to revitalise with new committee and general members, creating a website and building an online presence.

"It was a case of having to grow and evolve that way to get a bigger reach out to the people on sort of a larger scale," Mr Johnson said.

"And we've sort of been gradually growing over the past 12 months and hopefully this event will see it grow even further."

Over 1000 people attended this year's Reptile Expo with over 700 tickets sold in advance.

The event also features 16 breeders with vendors from Queensland and Victoria travelling to attend selling snakes, turtles, enclosures and other related wares.

But the 2024 Reptile Expo had more than just vendors selling reptile and amphibian related wares.

It was also a chance to help highlight local endangered species.

Mr Johnson's reptile demonstrations at the event involved on one of the Mid North Coast's most endangered species- the Bellinger River Snapping Turtle.

Mr Johnston hoped to raise awareness of the species at the event.

"It's to have that community engagement so that people are aware of them," he said.

"They're just one of those animals that nobody really knows that they're here, that they exist and that they are our most endangered animal.

"It really puts a face to these animals, and the more people are aware about them, the more help and assistance they can get further down the line."

The turtle species which is only found in a specific stretch of the Bellinger River was nearly wiped out by a virus in 2015.

Since then, breeding programs have been put in place to try to boost the population.

The near extinction of the Bellinger River turtle has prompted initiatives with other east coast species like the Manning River Helmeted Turtle.

Western Sydney University Associate Professor in Ecology Ricky Spencer said there was a huge amount of work going into the Manning River species.

He's also the co-program lead of One Million Turtles, a community driven conservation citizen science program that aims to support initiatives conserving threatened Australian freshwater turtle species.

"We've created with Aussie Ark and the Australian Reptile Park an insurance population- a breeding population," A/Prof. Spencer said.

"So if anything like the virus that came through the Bellinger River Turtle comes through again, these turtles are ready to repopulate."

One Million Turtles had a stall at the Reptile Expo, aiming to help bring awareness to freshwater turtles as well as it's TurtleSAT mobile app which allows members of the community to record turtle and nest sightings in Australia.

"The TurtleSAT app is really great because it shows where they've been picked up off roads, whether they've been killed, and shows hot spots straight away," A/Prof. Spencer said.

"And we're working with transport NSW to make turtle safe roads now."

They aren't as cuddly as koalas but Mr Johnson hopes that shell-bound species could get the same sort of exposure.

"[Koalas] have got so many incentives and initiatives that people will quite happily go to for those guys," he said.

"If we can get the turtles the same sort of recognition and make them a household name that's uniquely ours in the Mid North Coast, that will go leaps and bounds to their long term conservation and sustainability."