1. LANDSNAILS.org
2. About me

About me

I was born on 13th August 1982 in Prague, Czech Republic. I was a normal child at first, but it changed after I bought one copy of Akvárium Terárium journal when I was twelve. I was always interested in animals, but this journal woke up my animal craziness. At the beginning, I had only couple of aquariums with tropical fishes, but after approximately three years I became interested in keeping lizards too and brought home one pair of pythons (Python regius) and then a pair of green iguana (Iguana iguana).

I started my studies on Charles University in Prague, on Faculty of Science after finishing high school. My goal was to study lizards. For this I chose Ethology and ecology specialization. I decided for RNDr. Rehák Ivan, CSc. as the supervisor of my diploma thesis. I admired his articles in Akvárium Terárium for many years. After consultation about theme of my diploma thesis we ended up in turtles (not my favorite group till than). After I spent three years of studying Orlitia borneensis and the other turtles I was absolutely fascinated by them. I finished my studies with master thesis called The Turtle Orlitia borneensis: Biology in Captivity and Comparative Geometric Morphometrics. I started my post gradual studies immediately and finish it this year (2016) with dissertation thesis Shell shape variability in selected members of family Geoemydidae.

I acquired first snails (Lissachatina fulica) in the year 2007 with the goal to breed them and use their babies as a food for turtles. It never happened and soon I had some of the common species (Lissachatina immaculata, iredalei, reticulata). Afterwards my collection began to grow uncontrollably. I also started buying snails from imports and made my first web site (www.achatina.wbs.cz). I began travelling on expeditions to tropical Asia for the turtle and snail research. Soon my snails collection became major and it was far more important and bigger than other animals. I made this web site (www.landsnails.org) for a better presentation of my collection and share my experiences with snails of many species.

And now? I have above one hundred species, subspecies and forms of land snails in my collection, in absolute numbers about several thousand specimens. It is probably the biggest collection of this type in Europe, maybe even in the World. I have also other animals like 12 species of turtles (mainly from family Geoemydidae), five species of snakes (Eryx, Lichanura), four species of lizards (Tiliqua and Cyclodomorphus) and two species of millipedes.

And plans for the future? Many and many other species of snails.

Time is limited, but I am trying not only to work and feed my snails. If I can I like photographing, reading, writing, listening to the music, traveling, making sports...