Winter 2009 Newsletter

Dear Members and Friends:

Our Winter meeting (Slumberama) will be held on January 16th from 1:00 until ?? at the Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive, 95822. You know the rules: We will cancel in case of heavy rain, wind or fog. If in doubt, call me to make sure the meeting is 'on'.

I am writing this newsletter in the middle of our big freeze, December 8th and 9th with temperatures in the low 20's and lots of snow and ice down into the lower elevations. I have been outside many times making sure everyone was under cover and added lots of extra newspaper on top of the box turtles and Greek tortoises in their doghouses. I didn't know what else to do. Please come to the meeting and share your expertise with us and tell us what you did to protect your shelled friends outdoors and also your plants.

Please bring a non-hibernating turtle or tortoise to the meeting for Show and Tell. You might be very interested in what I have to bring. I didn't even realize what she was when I first saw her. She looks very much like she was run over by a truck. Yes, she was kept indoors for the last 7 years, a typical 'apartment turtle' with a parrot beak, extra long nails and a very flat shell making her appear twice as large as she normally would be for her species. You can try to guess what she is at the meeting.

I was at a 'Dips for Dollars' gathering recently and I thought it might be fun to do a 'Desserts for Dollars' at our meeting. Bring a dessert (cookies, cake, brownies, etc.) and a dollar. You can vote for your favorite dessert and whoever has the most votes, wins the dollars in the jar. Are you in? Yes, we'll have our raffle too. Perhaps there are some turtle Christmas gifts you would like to donate? I do have two gorgeous cross stitched framed turtle pictures donated by artist, Susan Tomko. Thank you SO much for these beautiful pictures which will be enjoyed for years and years.

Our Fall meeting was heavily attended and enjoyed by everyone. Thanks for all of the delicious food donations. You are wonderful turtle/tortoise keepers and talented cooks as well. Michael and I conducted the turtle and tortoise pre-hibernation checkups and I think we did a great job. Dimitri would have been so proud of us. Craig Gifford brought a female Florida box turtle she bought at the September reptile show in Sacramento. The turtle is infested with bot flies. Has anyone ever seen these? We usually read about them but never actually see them. It is truly horrible, even worse than maggots and difficult to treat. She has gotten some of them out of the turtle and saved them in a jar for us to see. They are bigger and fatter than maggots. We are hoping they are all out but there is a danger of them being inside of the turtle eating away at the liver and kidneys and other vital organs. Time will tell and we wish Craig the best of luck taking care of this sweet little turtle.

SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!!

After the big freeze, I hope there are turtles to write about!! It's been an exhausting experience, trying to keep the residents safely covered. Prior to the freeze, many box turtles were walking about each afternoon as well as a few small Greek tortoises. I know it was wrong, but out of curiosity, I put some food out for the Greeks and they would eat it which I did not expect. I thought that perhaps they knew something I did not know, that it would be a warm winter. WRONG!! It didn't dawn on me that Fat Betty, the club meteorologist, had disappeared in October which was early for her.

Another clue was Just Jim Jr. and Just Jim the Jerk. When the Leopard tortoises went into the greenhouse for the winter, I released the naughty boys into the yard where they could not harm anyone with their relentless bullying. They usually patrol constantly, looking for victims to abuse, but this time they also went 'somewhere'. I know I sound quite casual about it, but there are a lot of doghouses in the yard and they usually find a suitable one to hibernate in or (gulp) under. They can't be 'put' anywhere because they will go through anything to get out and do whatever they please.

A very special girl here At The Bunker is 'Darwin', a completely deformed leopard tortoise. She's been here for 4 or 5 years and due to her deformities (apartment tortoise, folks, cooped up in an aquarium for WAY too long) she cannot walk properly, her body protrudes out from her shell exposing all of the parts which should be under cover. She is small but has put on quite a bit of weight and is like a little tank. Of interest, none of the males are interested in her. During the freeze, I kept a good eye on the greenhouse. Sometimes the tortoises decide to get off of the heat mat and then don't get back on it again. James is constantly off the mat. On one of my patrols, I went into the greenhouse and sadly noticed Darwin off of the heat mat. It could have been 9 hours since my last check. She was totally stiff and unmoving. I poked her and pulled on her legs and touched her face with no response at all. I gently placed her back onto the heat mat and resisted the temptation to bring her indoors. THAT is usually a fatal mistake because the sudden change in temperature is deadly.

A few hours later, I believe it was almost midnight, I went into the greenhouse again to check on her and she was still in the same place, unmoving and stiff. I felt bad leaving her there because I didn't like the idea of the other tortoises having to sleep with a dead one. I knew she would swell and smell really bad by morning but I left her there.

I went to bed feeling guilty, realizing I should have checked the greenhouse more often and decided I had caused her death. The next morning I reluctantly went out there but before going in, I looked in through the glass. Yep, there was Darwin eating a piece of cactus she hadn't finished the day before...........I went inside and gave that girl a big hug and told her not to scare me like that again. I'm very surprised that she didn't freeze to death. Has anyone else had this experience? I hope all of your turtles and tortoises survived the freeze altho we can't be sure until the springtime, can we? I was very worried about the Argentine Sideneck but noted that he was swimming about this morning with no 'floaters' visible. So far, so good.