Dear Members and Friends:

Our Slumberama meeting will be held on Saturday, January 21st from 1 until 3:30 at the Belle Cooledge Library (South Land Park & Fruitridge Road). Not much happens at this mid-winter meeting when everyone is asleep or wishes they were. Of course, there are turtles and tortoises awake indoors for the winter months for many reasons. If you have any tips to share, we would be very interested in hearing about them. I have many hatchling tortoises indoors in boxes and had to be very creative in order to keep them warm and not have high heating bills. I use an electric 'throw' blanket on an empty bed and that is their source of heat. It is set on "low". It's not perfect but it's the best I can do. Any other ideas would be appreciated. My cat also enjoys lying on the warm blanket. Me too, sometimes.

If the weather is bad on Jan. 21, we will cancel the meeting. 'Bad' means foggy, windy and rainy. If in doubt, please call me, ok? Also, our April 22nd meeting will be our 25th Anniversary. If anybody has any good ideas about celebrating, please let me know and if you don't, then it's up to me to surprise you. So where did the last 25 years go to?

Our Fall meeting was wonderful. Many of you had your turtles and tortoises checked out by Father Dimitri. I do hope they are enjoying a restful hibernation if they were given the ok. Bobbi Bartley, myself and Michael Rajkumar were standing by to help but Dimitri had the last word. We owe Dimitri a huge THANK YOU for not only patiently doing all of those checkups but getting up to give us a hibernation lecture as well. What would we do without you??

Thanks to all who brought food for our pot luck. Everything was delicious!! No leftovers!

SEE YOU AT THE SLUMBERAMA

Mid-Winter Tips: Start planning your tortoise pen improvements ASAP because, believe it or not, within 6 weeks, those cute little box turtle faces will be peeking out of the ground wondering if it's time to get up. When the trees start blooming in Sacramento, it's time. If you spot any babies, please bring them indoors, but not all at once. They hatched outside and are used to the cold. It's not safe to leave them outside because the parents could eat them; birds can carry them off and worst of all, you could step on them. You never want to hear that crunch and if you do, you hope it's a little branch or an acorn. Repair your fences - this is something I need to attend to. Remember, if your turtles and/or tortoises can see the other side, they will want to go there! That's just the way they are. You have to stay one step ahead at all times.

Regarding Hurricane Katrina, we have club members, John and Pat Martin who live in Slidell, Louisiana which was devastated due to the flood waters. I was so relieved to get a letter from them a few weeks ago. They told me what happened to them when the 7 foot high wall of water flooded their home. I will read the entire harrowing letter to you at the meeting. I will tell you that they had 67 turtles and tortoises before the flood waters hit and now only have 6. The 6 were the African Sulcatas who drifted off in a large tub. The largest, Sidney, weighed about 85 lbs. Stacy was about 40 pounds and the other three, Sandy, Suzy and Sherry weighed about 20-25 pounds each. They were found two months later - still in the tub - and apparently in good health in spite of having lost some weight. John & Pat survived the hurricane, but then the water came. If you'd like to send them a card, please send it to me and I'll forward it to them.

(Someone else's for a change)

I WISH I HAD A MOVIE CAMERA

During the hot summer months, turtles become very active and display a good deal of energy. This is especially apparent when I enter one of my caged areas to feed my turtles. As I throw trout pellets into the water, several turtles led by the Japanese Reeves leading the pack, tend to forget all about eating and prefer to chase me around the pond. I have to wonder if they get anything to eat since a number of other turtles are eating the pellets. Apparently they must because they always seem to have plenty of energy to chase me around.

Anyways, I decided to have some fun with them a few days ago and started walking back and forth from one side of the square pond to the other. I did this about eight or ten times and they were still chasing me back and forth as fast as they could possibly swim or walk. Some of them were on the wooden walkway which is about a foot wide and I had to step over them to walk back to the other side. This did not deter them in the pursuit of me. If I stopped, some of them would crawl up my leg and one in particular would bite my pant leg. I am sure that I could win first place if I sent a video to "America's Funniest Home Videos". Put my turtles to work and earn some money. Not a bad idea! This is only one of several peculiar episodes that occur every summer with my crazy turtles and I still need to get it on film!!

Another interesting tidbit about turtles is their ability to distinguish between their keeper and other people. They tend to show no fear of me, but let another person enter the back yard with me and they all take cover. This tends to make it difficult to film them so I'm sure a blind would be needed to get some really good video of them in action. Maybe someday!

The above was written by Marvin Bennett, President of the Turtle and Tortoise Club of Florida in the September 2005 issue of their newsletter, "Turtle Tales".

Marvin's last paragraph certainly applies to what happens At The Bunker all of the time when 'strangers' come to visit. ALL of the water turtles dive in and stay down until they are certain it is safe to surface again. As we peer into the pond, their cute faces appear slightly below the surface and they swiftly back down again with a clap of their front paws. When I am alone, sitting by the pond, most of the turtles let me pet them. The box turtles don't seem too affected by strangers and although the tortoises might appear to not be aware, I can see them slowly retreating (especially the Leopards) while breathing so heavily that they wheeze. People often ask if they have colds and I have to tell them that they are being 'inspected'. Some species, like the African Sulcatas and the Russian tortoises will run to people hoping for some food to appear.

The residents of The Bunker and myself hope you had a very nice holiday and have a Happy and Healthy New Year. Thank you all so much for your lovely cards (many with dues PLUS) and words of encouragement. Without all of you, there would be no club. THANKS A MILLION!!