Sal Santelli is a Registered Sleep Disorders Technologist by trade, a loving husband and proud father by marriage, and an avid herp enthusiast by heart.  Sal focused on the sciences throughout his schooling and graduated from New York University in 1994 with a BA in Psychology.  He has been involved in Sleep Medicine ever since, and passed his Boards in December of 1998.  Sal currently manages a Sleep Disorders Clinic near his home in south-central Pennsylvania.

Sal’s love of herps began back in the late 1970’s when, as a young boy, he would spend many hours of his summer break time seeking out various insects, which have always fascinated him.  On one particularly memorable occasion, Sal was stalking insects “out in the field,” which, in the Bronx, New York, where Sal was born and raised, translates to an abandoned lot behind local supermarket.  Upon flipping a large swatch of junk carpeting, Sal came upon his first herp - en mass - 27 common, brown DeKay’s snakes (Storeria dekayi).

That discovery sparked a life-long passion, and Sal has managed to keep that passion alive by working with a multitude of various herps over the years.  Over the last 15 years, the focus of Sal’s herp interests has been primarily dedicated to chelonian husbandry.  In the mid ‘90’s, Sal actively sought out peers on the Internet.  He founded the Clemmys online listserv community ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Clemmys/ ) in the Spring of 1998.  Some of Sal’s closest, peer friendships were formed via the World Wide Web. 

Chelonian species with which Sal has worked extensively include N.A. Wood Turtles (Glyptemys insculpta), Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata), Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina), Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta), Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina), European Pond Turtles (Emys orbicularis), Diamondback Terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin), Mediterranean Spur-Tailed (Hermann’s) Tortoises (Testudo hermanni hermanni & boettgeri), various Greek Tortoise subspecies (Testudo graeca ssp.), Russian Tortoises (Agrionemys horsfeldi), and, more recently, Aldabra Tortoises (Dipsochelys dussumieri).

Sal’s latest passion, the Aldabra Tortoise, has already evolved into hundreds of hours of detailed observation and research.  Aside from raising a young aldabra of his own, Sal has unlimited access to one of the largest, private collections of adult aldabra tortoises in the country – which belongs to a very close and dear friend of his.  The ability to interact with these awesome giants, at will, is a dream come true for any chelonian enthusiast.  Sal is blessed in this respect and is deeply grateful for the opportunity.

Sal is honored to serve as a Trustee of the WCT, and is excited to continue his active assistance in carrying out their mission statement.  Sal also has some literary projects (both chelonian and non-chelonian) in the works that he hopes will someday result in their being published.  Stay tuned…