Dear Members and Friends:

Our Spring meeting will be held on Saturday, April 19th, at the Belle Cooledge Library located on the corner of South Land Park and Fruitridge Road from 1:30 until 4 pm. It will be our 27th anniversary. I never dreamed it would last this long and be stronger than ever. Thanks for putting up with my 'dictatorship' throughout the years. The only complaint I hear is from people who want me to raise the dues. Since ¾ of the membership sends a generous dues 'plus', there is no need to raise the dues. Even those with only a few dollars to spend can 'belong' to the club and I can continue to enjoy receiving envelopes with two dollars in change from the little ones. Thank you all for your continuing support! You are the ones who keep the club alive and kicking!!

As long as we are on the subject of dues, I always try to send a thank-you note to all who send $10 or more. As the USPS continues to increase their price of stamps, the situation is becoming ridiculous. If it is ok with you, please share your email address with me and I will send my thanks via that route and preserve a good chunk of the dues plus each year. It only makes sense!!

Our winter meeting was held on a surprisingly sunny and mild day on January 19th. The meeting was well attended and even tho it wasn't a 'pot luck' meeting, many of you brought delicious salads and baked goods. Thanks so much and also for helping clean up. We had a wonderful raffle as well and thanks for all of your raffle donations. It's the highlight of each meeting. On that sunny day, who knew we would never see the sun again for over a month? Who knew that we would have to endure very un-Sacramento-like weather of 30 degree nights and not much warmer by day. Boy OH Boy, everyone had to listen to my whining about 'where's this global warming' and try to explain it to me.

But Spring is on its way now and we have to pay attention to what is happening with our turtles and tortoises. I don't have a speaker scheduled for the meeting and I hope some of you will bring your pets for Show and Tell. We'll also munch and mingle with lots of turtle talk and have a good raffle.

SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!!

Spring Hints: I certainly hope your turtles and tortoises came through the tough winter in good shape. Check them over as they come out of hibernation. By the time you receive this newsletter, most should be awake altho some desert tortoises do not awaken until May. Check everyone over as they come out of hibernation. Look for swollen eyes, swelling anywhere, oozing from any opening, lethargy and not eating. Most wake up just fine without any weight loss, but others need a boost sometimes. A warm soak helps and you should physically move your tortoise into the sunshine each day or close to it so he can choose what he wants to do. Don't leave him alone in the full sun until you know he is wide awake again. Some are totally awake right away but others may take weeks to resume their normal activities.

As a lot of you know, many of our pets do not survive the hibernation period. It is nobody's fault so don't kick yourself around too much. If you feel guilty because you didn't consult a vet, the truth is that by the time you see anything is wrong, it is usually too late to do anything about it. Often, they wake up and die soon after because they have no reserves left to survive. All you can do is try your best to keep them healthy and safe, this means cleaning up the yard, making it escape proof and getting rid of tiny rocks they love to eat, hair, pet fur, baggie ties, paper clips, plastic bags and other debris that has blown in or brought in on your shoes.

It's a constant battle, I know. The predators are everywhere. Rats are becoming more and more of a menace, especially in the 'north' area of Sacramento. The 'Norway' rats seem to be abundant there, but down in my 'south' area, I've only seen 'roof' rats. They don't bother the turtles or tortoises but love to eat leftover food, especially corn on the cob. Be ALERT at all times. Even if you've never seen a predator. They are there. You've just been lucky.

It was quite a long winter at the Bunker. On the twin bed in the upstairs bedroom were containers of desert tortoise hatchlings, young leopard tortoises, a pair of South American wood turtles I really like, a Greek tortoise who was found at a construction site in December and a Russian tortoise. Downstairs in the living room were tubs of red eared sliders. I try so hard to tell people there is no room at the Inn during the winter months but everyone has their sad story to tell as to why they have to give up their pet. Keeping them downstairs helps because it is colder than upstairs and they get kind of quiet, the poor little guys. The smaller luckier ones are up on a ledge by a sunny window.

Outside, two Greek tortoises refused to sleep no matter how bad the weather was. Ice, driving rain and wind didn't bother them at all. Each day, without fail, they would come out of their nice snug doghouse and sit and sit and sit. And each night, without fail, I would go out and pick up their wet cold bodies and dry them off and put them back into their doghouse. They are doing well at this time.

Last August, September and October, Blondie, the leopard tortoise, laid clutches of eggs, 10 or 11 at a time. When I see her scraping the ground with her back legs, I put her into the greenhouse so I have some idea of where the eggs are because once they lay eggs in the yard, they cover the nest so perfectly, you'll never find them. I was incubating eggs for other people so I had to set up another incubator (the drawer I used last year was not available at the time). I put the October eggs into the second incubator. In January, the August eggs began to hatch. But they seemed weak, some died soon after hatching and some, sadly, never quite made it out of the egg. This also happened to a clutch belonging to someone else who has a female leopard tortoise and Tarzan Jr. is the father. Only 3 of mine survived from the August clutch.

At the end of February, right on time, the September 29th clutch began to hatch and these are beautiful, large and lighter in color like their mom. As they were hatching, I peeked into the other incubator and to my complete surprise, most of the October 29th eggs were hatching a month early! I ended up with two deceased in their eggs but 9 were alive and kicking. I am assuming that the second incubator, being smaller, was warmer than the main incubator, causing the eggs to hatch earlier than expected. Depending on how robust they are, I'll probably have some to sell at the spring meeting. I guess you can say it was a very EGGCITING February at the Bunker!! The twin bed is overcrowded at the moment with the additional containers of hatchlings. I use an electric throw blanket set on low to keep everyone warm and sometimes I lounge with them along with the cat. It's fun to watch them.

The occupants of the Greenhouse, Blondie and her friends and Chester the Elongata and several male Russian tortoise guests had a quiet uneventful winter. Only Darwin, the deformed leopard tortoise, would not stay on the Stanfield Heat Mat. So every night I had to go out and crawl on my hands and knees to pull her out of the cold area and put her onto the mat. Now that it is warmer, she's on the mat every night. About a week ago, I spotted a Russian tortoise basking by the pond with the sliders. He had dug himself out of the greenhouse. If you remember, a desert tortoise did the same thing a few years ago. It's hard to keep up with these guys!! If anyone mentions the word 'vacation' to me, you'll see my eyes glaze over altho there could be a room waiting for me at the Funny Farm.

You'll be happy to know that Fat Betty has come out of hibernation as well as all of the Greek Just Jim's. I don't know what to name the new one from the construction site as his personality has not made itself known yet. He seems to be quite nice so far. I'm sure it won't last long.

I do hope all of your turtles and tortoises survived the winter and are doing well at this time.

Future Meetings:

July 19th - 1:30 - 4
August 16th - TURTLERAMA 11-4 (please come earlier if you are exhibiting)
October 18th - 1:30 to 4 Pot Luck included
January 17th, 2009 Slumberama 1-3