Dear Members and Friends:

Our Fall meeting will be held on Saturday, October 23rd from 1:30 until 4 at the Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive, 95822. Father Dimitri will be conducting the pre-hibernation checkups, so please bring your pets along if you are not sure about their ability to hibernate successfully this winter. If your tortoise is already asleep, please do NOT wake it up and bring it to the meeting. Some will go into hibernation a little earlier if they suspect an extra cold winter so prepare to put more wood on the fire if yours is already asleep. Of course, some of you prefer to keep your pet awake and we can help you with that as well altho around Christmastime, you may wish he was hibernating and sparing you a lot of feeding, cleaning and worrying over whether he is eating enough. I know how stressful this time of year can be.

Since the meeting is so close to Halloween, feel free to dress your pet up for the occasion for a prize. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers and Show and Tell. I'm also planning a wedding for Just Jim Jr. and Suzi who recently became parents of quintuplets. (see back page) We did this for Clyde and Claire many years ago and I thought it would be appropriate to do it again for the new parents. I can't promise that Jim will be on his best behavior, but we can only hope he doesn't make a scene in front of everyone. I hope you can join in the festivities and have some wedding cake.

Our TURTLERAMA was a huge success and the day flew by very quickly. Instead of being very hot and uncomfortable as a day in August can be, the day was cool, windy and overcast. There were wall to wall people from before we were officially 'open' until well after we ended the event. It was difficult to get out of the library before they locked the doors at 5 pm. It was also difficult for most of us to get up from our displays to look at what everyone else had brought. I got a few quick peeks and want to thank (as best as I can remember) the following people for spending the day exhibiting and talking to the public about how to care for turtles and tortoises and answering many outrageously funny questions. Many thanks to: Chris and Ernestine for doing the plaster paw castings again in the Children's Corner; Craig and Corrine, Michael, who had his beautiful Aldabra on display, Sara, Anakin and Pepper, Robin, Doug and Diane, Terra, Dan and Robin, Nancy, Elaine and her big Sulcata, Chuck and his wonderful sliders including some albinos, Suzanne, Sharon Jones, Joy Cornette (who will be making a tuxedo for Jim) Erica and Mary also with a large Sulcata. Both Sulcatas were named Sweet Pea, by the way. Thanks to Shirley for tirelessly working at the sale table along with Tracy & Chase and thanks to Angie, Steve, Linda and others for the wonderful plants you brought. GREAT JOB!!

SEE YOU ALL AT THE MEETING!!

FALL HINTS and ADVICE: Please research to find out whether or not your turtle or tortoise naturally hibernates. The ones from Africa and South America do not and letting them sleep means you will never see them alive again. The non-hibernators include Redfoots, Yellowfoots, Leopards, Pancake tortoises, Hingebacks and Sulcatas. The ones who hibernate well are the Mediterranean species such as the Greeks and Hermann's and also the Russians. Box turtles, including theAsian species, do hibernate and do best outdoors all year but make sure you don't have a Florida box turtle. They do not hibernate. The Gulf Coast box turtles do extremely well in California, often seeking out water to sleep under perhaps to keep themselves as cold and wet as possible. Most water turtles successfully hibernate. Again, make sure you don't have an exotic species from a warm climate.

If you feel 'sorry' for your pet when that icy cold day comes along, please refrain from going outside and bringing it indoors. You'll kill it!! Stop and remember that they are wild animals and nobody brings them in from the wild and it is natural for them to sleep the winter away. If they had a good spring, summer and fall, they will do well all winter.

Regarding predators which we all fear, check out the Halloween decorations that are out there now. You'll notice a lot of motion activated and pretty frightening creatures in the stores which can be used to scare off predators in your yard. I bought a wonderful snake which shook, hissed and its eyes lit up red at any movement. It scared lots of humans as well. I was attracted to it by some screams at Walgreens!! The snake lasted two years and then the day came when I turned it on and it began to shake and then it began to smoke and never worked again! Its lifeless body stands tall tho, guarding The Bunker.

Can anyone remember a colder summer? I don't know about you, but I never uncovered my house air conditioner. People had their electric blankets on in July and August and were wrapped in their Snuggies in the morning. Some were burning wood in their fireplaces! I was carrying in baby tortoises every night which I don't recall ever doing in previous years. Maybe now and then, but not every single night! As I type, we are having summer-like weather at the end of September. I love it and so do the tortoises and turtles. I don't want to hear anybody complain!

If your turtles are not acting normally, it's due to the chilly summer. Blondie, the leopard tortoise, never did lay her August eggs. And now September is coming to a close and she didn't lay any this month either. A few times, she did appear to be making digging motions, so I carried her into the greenhouse so she could dig her nest in there and I wouldn't have to worry about her being outdoors all night long and fretting about a predator coming after her in that vulnerable position. Most times, she simply stopped her digging motions and went right to sleep. One time, however, she did complete a nest and around midnight, I noted that she was covering it up. So in the morning, in the intense heat inside the greenhouse, I began to dig with my little popsicle stick, I dug and dug, getting out perhaps a ¼ of a teaspoon of dirt each time. After awhile, I came to realize that I was digging into an empty nest......

I do have some rather startling news for you all. Those on Facebook already know. Just Jim Jr. has become the father of quintuplets!! They were born on September 1, exactly two months after the eggs were laid. The mom is a Greek tortoise Richard Speckner had given to me several years ago who was doing poorly. She did recover (her shell had become very soft) and she came back healthy and strong. Jim always goes after males of any species and any size but this spring I noticed him standing behind 'Suzi', perhaps thinking she was a male, a few times. When I saw Suzi nesting I was astonished and dug up the eggs and put them into the incubator but had no idea they would actually be fertile. So it was a very big surprise to see the hatchlings burst out of their eggs two months later. And they are so perfect! They were completely dry coming out of their eggs, no big yukky yolk sac or eggshell stuck to their faces, just clean and beautiful and hungry!! I never had Greek babies before and Jim has been here at least 20 years. I am smiling from ear to ear.

Last weekend, I received an email from my next door neighbor. I was not home that afternoon and she was quietly working in her yard. She began hearing a soft meowing coming from my side of the fence. It wouldn't stop. She became concerned since there has been a grey feral cat hanging around the neighborhood and she thought perhaps he was badly injured and lying there in pain. Or she thought it could be a kitten. She dragged a ladder over to the fence, climbed up and looked over and all she saw were two tortoises. No sick cat or kitten. When I was reading this note, I was a little concerned at first and thought I'd better go out and look but then the light bulb went off in my head and I started grinning and then burst out laughing. I know what that sound was. I hear it all of the time. It was Just Jim the JERK standing up in triumph behind one of the male leopards and squeaking loudly. The next day as I was rounding the corner, I could hear that sound again and this time I closed my eyes. Sure enough, it does sound like a kitten!! It's the only sound tortoises can make. A doggie squeeze toy makes the same sound. Try it, but do it slowly.

By the way, a new terrorist has arrived At The Bunker. He is named appropriately, Brutus. He is a male Bell's Hingeback tortoise, about 7 inches long, very sleek looking, beautifully marked shell. But I believe he is suffering from PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. You see, he has been in a classroom aquarium for WAY too long and now the sight of another tortoise sends him into a totally psychotic state with only murder and mayhem on his mind. He is in isolation and will be up for adoption soon, however, he MUST be an ONLY tortoise. He has even sent both Jim's running for their lives!! Now that is something!! Anyone interested?