About Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society

Some of the club leaders' water turtles basking in one of their ponds. The many land tortoises roam through the entire garden.
The Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society was founded to enable local animal lovers to get together informally to discuss these fascinating chelonians. Membership in the Society and attendance at the monthly meetings are always free. At the group's meetings, attendees learn the proper care for each species of turtle and tortoise.
The Society meets on the first Saturday of every month, and occasionally on both the first and third Saturdays of the month, from 3 to 6 p.m. (15:00-18:00) in various members' homes and gardens. Meetings take place in the towns around Geneva, Vaud, and nearby France. Over many snacks and drinks, members and guests discuss the care, feeding, housing and breeding of their chelonian pets, or the welfare of wild specimens in danger of losing their natural habitats. New pet owners and expert herpetologists alike exchange facts, opinions, and experiences, typically in English or French. Visitors are always welcome with prior notice, whether or not they keep any reptiles.
If you're interested in turtles or tortoises, you're invited to attend the next meeting of the Society for free. You can enjoy plenty of snacks, drinks, and good conversation with members who share your interest. You might both offer and receive advice on particular species of turtles and tortoises, the best foods for each type, their interesting courtship rituals, how to hatch their eggs in an incubator, how to influence the ratio of hatchling males and females, or how to raise the hatchlings. What's better than attending a meeting as a visitor? Attending as a registered member:
Visitors to this web site are also invited to join the Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society for free. Just click on the red link above marked Sign up. It takes just a second to register, giving you all the benefits that come with membership. The most valuable one is receiving full details about each month's free meeting, including its different location every month. You'll also be able to vote in the group's on-line polls, borrow books on turtles and tortoises from the Society's library, borrow a turtle egg incubator or an insulated tortoise shelter when needed, have other members "babysit" your turtles or tortoises while you're out of town, and contact any members by e-mail.


Turtles and tortoises live in harmony with goldfish in the club leaders' 500-liter aquarium
Many of the monthly get-togethers are held in the home and garden of group founders Suzanne and Peter in Nyon, about 15 minutes northeast of Geneva. There they've established their scientifically designed Turtle and Tortoise Sanctuary. (Peter is a serious herpetologist who was very active in turtle and herpetology organizations when he lived in New York, and was editor of their publications.) The couple now adopt and care for pet chelonians when their original owners can no longer give them the care they need. The water turtles swim in their extensive ponds teeming with tasty fish and water lilies, and hibernate every winter in the mud in the bottom of the ponds. The land tortoises stroll all over their fenced-in garden planted with its "edible landscape," and rest or hibernate in insulated shelters underground. Baby turtles and tortoises live indoors in well-planted aquariums and terrariums until they're mature enough to live outdoors. Turtles and tortoises live long and fruitful lives in such ideal environments, and breed enthusiastically. People with chelonians they can't take care of can have them picked up and moved to the Turtle and Tortoise Sanctuary by writing to Suzanne and Peter at PeterSuzanne2@hotmail.com, or calling them in Nyon at 0041 22 362 03 60.
Suzanne and Peter also founded the Geneva Area Pond Club in 2004. Some Turtle Society members who keep their turtles in their garden ponds have joined both clubs, along with dozens of current and prospective pond owners. The Pond Club's web site offers free membership to all, plus information about the club and its free meetings, held twice a month. Its Message Board section features many informative articles about designing and constructing ponds, making them safe for children, selecting hardy aquatic and bog plants, preventing and eliminating algae, breeding goldfish and koi, protecting them from herons, and many other subjects for ponders to ponder. The site's Photos section includes over 400 captioned pictures of the many varieties of pond fish and species of aquatic plants to aid in their identification, plus photos of club members' ponds.
The Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society, of course, has many features on its own web site, which visitors to this site are welcome to examine. Clicking on the blue underlined links on the left side of each screen will lead you to some interesting sections:
The Welcome section lists very brief descriptions of the latest additions to this web site. It highlights the Turtle Society's next meeting, and lists below it the next few meetings, plus club members' reviews of the last few meetings. Clicking on each meeting's title will produce full details of the event. The Welcome section also lists the latest members to join the club, the latest articles in our Messages section, the latest pictures in our on-line photo albums, the latest items in our Files section, etc. To get full details of each item, just click on its title.
The Calendar section lists all the Society's upcoming meetings. You can switch back and forth to read about the events by clicking on the link marked calendar view to see the meetings in a two-month calendar format, or by clicking on the link marked list view to read a much clearer chronological list of meetings. Clicking on a meeting's title will reveal a complete description of the event, including its location, the main topic of discussion, a growing list of members who have already submitted an RSVP for that meeting, how many guests they're bringing along, and their comments.
While you're on a page describing an upcoming event, you can submit your own RSVP by simply clicking Yes, No, or Maybe to indicate if you plan to attend. If your plans change, you can always return to that page to revise your RSVP. It's a good idea to mark the date on your calendar so that you won't miss the meeting. Registered members can also download and print clear road maps and printed travel directions to each event's location.


Two of the club leaders' ten Hermann's tortoises mate frequently. The eggs will be placed in their incubator for hatching.
The Members section of the web site lists the dozens of families or individuals who are current members of the Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society. Some are young; some are old; some have included their photos. Clicking on the members' names will bring up the written profiles they've submitted, showing what kinds of turtles, tortoises or other animals they keep, and some of their other interests as well. New members are encouraged to upload their own portrait photos so they can be recognized when they attend meetings. Answering the simple introductory questions on their personal Profile page will let other members know the new member's specific interests. When members know one another's interests, conversations and advice flow much more easily at club meetings.
Members who have similar interests can write to each other by e-mail, with neither e-mail address being revealed. We dislike spam as much as anyone does, so members' e-mail addresses are never shown. But one member can write to another member by clicking on the little envelope symbol next to that member's name, with no chance that a spammer can see either e-mail address.
The Photos section includes separate albums of over 200 captioned pictures of turtles, tortoises, box turtles, and newborn hatchlings to help identify the many species and sub-species. In other albums, members can upload any number of photos of their own chelonians for others to admire, as well as pictures of their aquariums, enclosures, shelters, gardens, ponds, incubators, etc. Members with many photos can get their own individual albums on the web site.
The Messages section features Peter's informative tutorial articles, his complete alphabetical lists of every known species and subspecies of turtle and tortoise by scientific name, by common name, and by taxonomy, plus his list of links to 600 other informative web sites about turtles and tortoises. It includes club members' questions, answers, and articles as well.
The Polls section lets registered members vote on any questions up for discussion at the time. The votes are calculated automatically and the results are shown instantly as more members add their votes. Only one vote per member gets counted, but you can always revise your vote if you change your mind, then instantly see the new results.
The Files section contains road maps and travel directions to each of the locations where the Society meets. These include our group tours of public facilities like Protection et Récupération des Tortues in Chavornay, Switzerland, and Le Village des Tortues in Gonfaron, France. Those maps and directions can be printed by anyone for the drive to the events. But the maps and directions for meetings in Society members' homes and gardens can be downloaded and printed only by registered members of the Society. The Files section also includes Peter's published illustrated articles and other informative material.
The Share Meetup section lets you promote our club in many ways. You can add a turtle society badge to your MySpace or blog site, print promotional material to post on bulletin boards or distribute to friends, and easily send an e-mail message at once to all your friends who should learn about the Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society. Just insert all their e-mail addresses where indicated, add your personal message, and click Submit. None of the e-mail addresses will be stored, so again there's no chance of spammers misappropriating any of them.
The Society's leaders are always eager to get feedback from members and visitors to this web site. You can send Suzanne and Peter questions and suggestions by clicking on the link marked Contact me under their photo, which is on every page of this site. You can decide whether or not they should see your e-mail address before you click Send; you'll still get a reply. If you prefer, you can call them in Nyon at 0041 22 362 03 60. They look forward to getting both positive and negative feedback, and to hearing from everyone interested in turtles, tortoises, and the Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society.


Peter releases three young turtles in one of the ponds. They share food with goldfish on the feeding platform.
This web site's entire contents are copyrighted, 2005-2007, by Peter Kacalanos.
See more stats