"As a child, I had an aquarium with turtles in my bedroom for many years. According to my parents, I didn't change the water often enough. My bedroom and actually the whole upper floor used to smell a bit like a zoo during a cleaners' strike. That wasn't exactly fun, but yeah... Thanks to my turtle experience, I can confirm that the print of these shoes is a 'turtle belly'. Not an actual turtle hide of course, but cowhide leather with a turtle belly embossed on it. The turtle print is applied on top of a matte metallic underlayer. It's a nice flat print that is a bit more distinct than a snake or croco print. By the way, I used to have walking stick insects as well, but sometimes they'd turn into stagnant sticks. My mother said this was related to my taking care of them as well (or lack thereof). Maybe something for next season!"