We are Andrea Luison and Stefano Redaelli, two italian turtle's breeders with a deep interest about freshwater and swampy turtles.
In our site you can find many informations about us:
- the species that we keep and breed: our breeding techniques, how we house and care our turtles; with many pictures.
- our publications and works: published articles and books
- many pictures of zoo and park of the world that we visit
- availability and what we are looking for
- news about expos and shows in Italy (specially about Tartarughe Beach)
- everything about Testudo Magazine, the first italian magazine about turtles

Les Tortues Chelidae...

Les Tortues à cou de serpent d'Amérique du sud comptent parmi les chéloniens les plus primitifs vivants encore à notre époque. L'objectif de ce site est de favoriser les échanges d'informations sur les domaines de la systématique, de la bibliographie, de la géographie et de diffuser régulièrement tout ce qui fait l'actualité des Chelidae. Un forum de discussion spécialié est aussi à disposition

It all started with a small red eared slider that I bought in a local pet store at the age of 15.
Falling in love with this little creature, I started to obtain more species and with 18, I had already a small collection with various kind of turtles: snappers, softshells, roof turtles, big headed turtles, Podocnemis species and some Hermann's tortoises.
My parents encouraged and assisted me during that time and a large space in the basement was set aside to keep the animals. A small concrete pond was built in the back yard that allowed keeping some species outdoors during the summer.

Ce site est créé dans le but de présenter une partie des tortues que l'on retrouve sur notre planète. Cet animal très sauvage n'est malheureusement pas assez connu du grand public.
C'est à partir des informations contenues dans les fiches des espèces que vous découvrirez les tortues et le mode de vie de chacune d'elles.
Vous participerez donc à leur sauvegarde par la même occasion.

Die Europäische Sumpfschildkröte Emys orbicularis bewohnt ein riesiges Verbreitungsgebiet von Nordafrika über Spanien, Frankreich, Mitteleuropa, Italien, die Balkanhalbinsel bis weit nach Russland, die Türkei und den Iran. Derzeit wird sie in dreizehn Unterarten unterteilt. Die Emys orbicularis orbicularis ist die einzige in Österreich heimische Schildkrötenart (Lobau, Donauauen östlich von Wien).

Aufgrund ihres Verbreitungsgebietes erkennt man unschwer, dass Emys orbicularis die einzige Schildkrötenart ist, die in eigentlich für diese Tierordnung eher untypische nördliche Klimazonen Europas vordringt. Aus diesem Grund ist sie geradezu prädestiniert für die ganzjährige Pflege in einem Gartenteich. Sie bewohnt die unterschiedlichsten Gewässerformen wie Sumpflandschaften, größere und kleinere Seen, Tümpel, Bäche, Flüsse, Kanäle, Drainage- sowie künstliche Be- und Entwässerungsgräben. In einigen Verbreitungsgebieten findet man sie sogar in Brackwasserzonen.

Die Europäische Sumpfschildkröte bevorzugt schwach fließende bis stehende Gewässer mit weichem Bodengrund und üppiger Vegetation sowohl im Wasser als auch an den Uferrändern.

The German Chelonia Group (AG Schildkröten) is the largest working group in the DGHT (German Herpetological Society). Our goal is the continuous breeding of turtles and tortoises under captive conditions that closely meet their natural environment and needs. In addition, the German Chelonia Group intensively concentrates on protection of nature and species.
The exploration of the natural habitats of our animals is just as important as the investigation of increasingly more successful caring and breeding strategies is. For many of the chelonian species, there are still only sparse observations available giving information about the natural habitats. We want to contribute to this knowledge scientifically by publishing our observations on behaviour, growth and reproduction, and in this way, we will therefore be supporting species preservation.



We offer our members different possibilities to make contact with like-minded people and exchange experiences. We hold a three-day yearly meeting in the spring and several different one- or two-day regional workshops. Quarterly we publish the RADIATA, the publication of the German Chelonia Group - our readers can choose between an English and a German edition - with a total circulation of 4000 copies. Since November 2002, the members of the German Chelonia Group additionally receive our newsletter MINOR.




We keep statistics of stock and breeding, as well as a member list, where you are welcome to participate. If you are interested in a single genus or species, it is possible to join our specialist groups, the associations. Here you find also competent conversation partners if you have questions about your animals. Heed also our discussion forums for tortoises and turtles. For species that are commonly kept, we offer caring-tips that can be downloaded.

We would be pleased to welcome you as member of the German Chelonia Group.

Homopus Research Foundation

In 1995, the Studbook Breeding Programme Homopus was started to coordinate studbooks (captive breeding projects) on tortoises of the genus Homopus. This programme was supervised by the European overall studbook foundation "Stichting Overkoepelend Orgaan Stamboeken", now known as European Studbook Foundation (ESF).
In the course of time, the number of activities not directly related to studbook keeping, such as conducting scientific work within the captive populations and in the wild, increased. Therefore, it was decided to condense all activities in a new, broader organisation, named the Homopus Research Foundation. This new organisation was founded in 2000, and has a non-profit tax-exempt status.

Spanish turtle website

About Turtles, Tortoises and EFTBA in Croatian Language