Olimpia Martinotti Executive Editor Reptile Apartment Group
Olimpia Martinotti | Executive Editor Reptile Apartment Group
Olimpia Martinotti speaks about her background before landing here at the Reptile Apartment Group.
Having been born in Madrid, Spain (a city not known for its ecological diversity of the reptilian kind), moving to Miami, Florida, as a child was really what started me down the road into herpetology. It’s a city where iguanas line the sidewalks and alligators line the canals, and where every wildlife center, zoo, museum, or veterinary clinic I volunteered at had its fair share of exotic and cold-blooded animals to care for. Internships and volunteering opportunities took me as far as Costa Rica and back to Spain a few summers.
By the time I went to college at the Florida Institute of Technology I had already amassed a decade of experience with these and other exotic creatures, and despite the vociferous behest of my high school counselors to pursue a career in writing or illustration, I leapt right into a degree in biology instead.
At the same time I began keeping and breeding reptiles personally, instead of just caring for them professionally, and focused on working with almost a dozen species of geckos and chameleons. By 2012 I was so hopelessly in love with these animals, chameleons in particular, and their intricate care that I became passionate about helping keepers and chameleons alike through education. So I launched Much Ado About Chameleons, into which I could pour my (now) almost 20 years of experience and my background in biology and physiology to enable keepers to understand husbandry and health in a way that is clear and straightforward.
Since starting the blog original content has been published in two books, I have become a consultant for veterinarians and other animal care professionals, and I am co-authoring a book due for 2018. Writing and editing for The Reptile Apartment is my newest adventure in this hobby, and one I am excited to be a part of.