HOME BREEDING TURTLE IN GERMANY

About me:
Name:           Oliver Römpp Age:               42                        Married, 2 boys                        Living in the southern part of Germany Hobbies:       Turtles, Tree Ferns, Bamboo, Travel
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.
I obtained my first snake necked turtles when I was about 18. Two small Chelodina novaeguineae hatchlings arrived with a small parcel from a breeder in northern Germany. Since that time these little guys have fascinated me, and my focus was turned towards snake necked turtles. Besides keeping different kinds of snake necked turtles today, my other favourite turtle is the Pig Nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta).
	If not in the basement, then in the garden maintaining my bamboo and treefern collection is where I am likely to be found when my wife comes looking for me. However I do try to spend as much time as possible with my wife and my 2 little boys, born in December 2002 and July 2005. At this point, my older boy seems to share the enthusiasm for turtles. As soon as he notices that I have disappeared into the basement, he follows me and wnats to help or at least watch the turtles. I hope that he will still accept my hobby when he grows up and with a little luck he will also turn into a 'turtle guy'.
My little boy has made fast progress and he is now able to walk around beween the different setups. This is getting a problem since he loves to play with the running water hose or sometimes he tries to throw all kind of stuff into the tanks. It is now more difficult and more challenging to take care for the turtles while keeping an eye on him.