His interest in electronics began when he was given a copy of the Radio Amateurs Handbook for his 8th birthday. He was first licensed at the age of 16, in 1961 as WN5DQP. The call sign of his amateur radio station is now N5BZ.

Previously held radio call signs and licenses WA5DQP, WB5GVL, WA5CTD(club station trustee), KET0456(CB) , KSM614(business band) , FCC 1st class Radio Telephone license, 2nd class Radio Telegraph License, with radar endorsement.

Bob Zinn studies Box Turtles as a 'hobby' and has about 166 box turtles, many of which are 2nd generation, captive bred. He is specially licensed by the state of Louisiana (required for anyone to possess more than 4 box turtles!), and also a state licensed wildlife rehabilitator(turtles only).
. 12 July 99 

Photo from the late '80s of two of my favorites, Boxer and Skelly (each with a bandaged foot, Boxers right foot is bandaged to keep him from scratching his eye lid which had been badly infected. Skelly's left foot was injured). The next two pictures are of Shell.

This turtle's name is Shell. He was rescued from Dalrymple on July 10, 1987, after being brushed by the tire of a passing car . His shell was bleeding in several places. He is a mature male Terrapene carolina triunguis 14 cm by 10 cm by 6 cm. He weighs about 420 grams.
  We had 60 eggs hatch in '93, 63 eggs hatch in '94, 28 eggs hatch in '95(81 laid), 63 hatch in '96 (131 laid), 23 in '97, 18 in '98, 62 hatchlings found in '99.

Cupcake is one the worlds strangest looking box turtles. I attribute her shape to the use of a shell conditioning product, Vita Shell, on her shell when she was young. Chocolate Chip was also treated with Vita Shell and shows shell deformation. Although I can not be certain that the Vita Shell is the cause, I do NOT use that product any long on any of my young, rapidly growing turtles, and I do not recommend its use on young, rapidly growing turtles.

The following links to pictures and data contain some large picture files. Some of the pictures are reduced resolution and are linked to higher resolution pictures. Some of the graphs are linked to the date that was used to make the graph.

Here are pictures of many turtles and detailed information and

• a baby turtle hatching from an egg.
• More pictures of eggs hatching and hatchlings.
• Crackers, strolling in front of fireplace (male western box turtle)
• Shells of turtles that died and some plaster plaster casts.

Left to right and back to front:
Little Turkey and Greenie western box turtle,
Shelly (cast in 1986) and her shell. Shelly died in the summer of '91. Three babies in my custody carry her genes.
A 3 year old 3-toed, A cast of Crackers Shell
• Turtle inventory, September 1999.
• Box Turtle inventory, October 2001
• Box Turtle inventory, November 2003
• Box Turtle inventory, December 2006
• Pictures from Growth Study. A series of [usually] four capapace and four plastron pictures, taken at two year intervals, of many of the box turtles in my care. This study combines pictures from the turtle inventories listed above.
• Some inexpert ideas on drug dose vs time. Expert critique requested, comments to bz@chem.lsu.edu
• Some inexpert ideas of size and weight vs time. Expert critique requested, comments to bz@chem.lsu.edu
• Antibiotic Shotgun I sometimes use on sick turtles
• Post Mortum photographs of 'pits' in the shell of a female 3-toed box turtle and speculation on cause of such pits.

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Here you can see some of my water turtles in and around our pond.

Fish: Large gold-fish (4-5 years old) approximate count 18, medium gold-fish (2-3 years old) ~10, baby gold-fish(2 months old) 3,

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Information about turtles and other herptiles on other sites
 

Cute turtle cartoons New Link 12/22/99 

The Asian Turtle Crisis NEW LINK 9/14/99

Smithsonian

Melissa Kaplan's herp page (very good source of care information)

Tess's wonderful online book

Other hobbies/interests:

Bob is one of the editors of the St. James Lodge newsletter. Follow link to newsletters.

Bob's wife, Dr. Marta Vasquez, is not only a chemist and a chemical engineer, she is also a seamstress.