Dear Members and Friends:

Our Winter meeting will be held on Saturday, January 22nd from 1:30 to 4 at the Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive, 95822. (weather permitting) We'll talk turtle and I plan on bringing in some Round Table pizzas. If you have a favorite, let me know. Chicken Garlic is my choice. Show us any odd turtle Christmas presents you may have received. If you have anyone awake for show and tell, please share. We'd love to hear how you are getting through the winter months with turtles or tortoises in the house.

Our Fall meeting was wonderful. Thanks to Father Dimitri for patiently conducting the numerous pre-hibernation checkups. It was a lovely day so the table was set up outdoors. Just Jim Jr. and Suzi had their wedding indoors. I am not sure how many of you witnessed the ceremony, but just like the wedding of Clyde and Claire in 1997, this one also seemed very solemn and real! Their quintuplets were on hand as well. Joy Cornette created a wonderful tuxedo complete with a bow tie for Jim and I made the bridal gown with a veil for Suzi. There was a marble bundt cake served at the reception. Everyone celebrated!! Sadly, a few days later, Jim cheated while on his honeymoon. Upon learning of her new husband's indiscretion, Suzi started to accept the advances of a young Hermann's tortoise but soon came to her senses and ran off to hibernate all alone for the winter. Jim is sleeping somewhere in the yard and I'll let you know how they are when they wake up in February or March.

Our 30th club anniversary meeting will be held on April 16th. There will be a special cake, well hidden, until the celebration begins. I had to beg for the date and the next meeting dates are tentative because the 'rules' are changing again at the library. I don't mind begging, pleading, crying or bribing, as long as we get our dates confirmed.

SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!!

Observations At The Bunker - A lot of sliders came in for adoption last summer (so what else is new?) Actually, as I write this, two more are coming in. I normally don't accept indoor pets in the winter since I have no indoor facility, but the weather has been so mild that I can acclimate them rather quickly. One thing became very clear. These turtles, when kept in aquariums, eat the gravel which is very obvious because once outdoors in the plastic pools, the pebbles suddenly appear all over the bottom. And there is only one place they could be coming from. Some are very colorful pebbles and others are larger rocks!! I'm not sure this is good for a turtle to eat and would advise anyone thinking of doing this not to. Gravel is a breeding ground for lots of 'things'; germs, bacteria, etc. and is very unhealthy. If you must use an aquarium, add no embellishments!

Last summer, many of the box turtles here learned a new trick which caught on quickly among the Bunker residents. I have a 'hotel' area alongside the regular turtle enclosure, sort of a 'summer camp'. Somewhere along the line one of the box turtles decided to climb up the cement barrier in between the two enclosures and slide down into the guest area. Soon a few other box turtles followed and then the Russians began climbing back and forth, then the Greeks and Hermann's. It's completely odd to watch this activity all day long. Back and forth they go, staying in the summer camp for awhile and then climbing back to their regular home often sitting in the sun to rest on the top. I have to be on guard tho since once in awhile, a box turtle will be found hanging from a toenail after slipping off the edge! For some reason, the only turtles I ever see in this predicament are the larger Gulf Coast box turtles. Some of them decide that they want to be out on the lawn and that's when they end up helplessly hanging. No tortoise or 3 toed box turtle ever gets caught. Maybe it is the shape of their shell? Of course once they drop to the ground, after exploring the yard, they climb back over the fence to get 'back home'. Tortoises are usually more cautious and won't go over a ledge. Have you noticed that? Turtles go head first off of anything they are on.

Honestly, with the mild winter except for a few nights in the 20's, not much is happening here. Everyone is behaving pretty well in the Greenhouse except for Blondie. Lately, she has been standing up with her front paws resting on the glass trying to get out probably thinking it is spring? I worry because she didn't lay any eggs last summer, but I see no sign of her wanting to dig. A few times I have taken her out but then I have to hunt for her later on and lift her up (which she hates - so do I) and put her back inside. Nobody else is doing this. They have all learned to stay on the Stanfield Heat Mat and not wander off as Darin did last year in the middle of a freeze. I am relieved not to be on my hands and knees rescuing any of them from the cold.

Brutus, the very angry Bell's Hingeback tortoise, is now in his new home in Santa Rosa. He is an 'only' tortoise, pampered and loved and won't die early due to an overload of stress. He was not happy the day he left. He let people know by purging his body on everyone and everything. He was also chasing one woman in the yard and the more she tried to get away from him, the more he ran after her with his mouth wide open. There was something about her shoes that reminded him of a tortoise, I guess. I would have loved to have kept him, mostly so I could write about him, but it wouldn't have been fair to him or the other Bunker residents. He needed a quiet forever home and he has it with Kari who will keep us updated as to how he is doing. So far so good, he is eating like a champion and is enjoying his new quiet life.

Hibernation lasted about a week here and then when the temperatures rose to about 50 again, that must have been a wake-up call because out came a bunch of box turtles and several tortoises for some sunshine and an occasional snack. I no longer worry. They know how to survive as long as we supply the right environment. There's always a few tho, who don't do what they should. In the rain this evening, not wanting to get my boots muddy, I took a broomstick and gently pushed a Greek tortoise back into his dry doghouse in the enclosure.

For those of you who have visited the Bunker, you may have noticed the size of my grapefruit tree. I planted it years ago. It 'was' a dwarf, however, it somehow grew very tall. Over the years I have had it trimmed but that only encouraged it to grow more. The numerous grapefruits grew as big as bowling balls and they would drop to the ground, breaking whatever was beneath them including several plastic wading pools with turtles in them. One day a rat fell out of the tree into the pool below. That did it. I called my favorite guy, Roberto! The tree had to go. And Roberto did an excellent job (as he always does, very reasonably) of taking it down and even grinding up the stump. It is such a relief to have that tree gone. Now I can plan a new turtle enclosure where it used to be!! The tree shaded half of the turtle pen until the afternoon hours. They had no morning sun. Now it will be wonderful. I can't wait for spring to start working on that area. Any ideas will be most welcome and any help too!!

This newsletter closes out 2010. I hope it was a good year for you and your family and your turtles and tortoises. It was a pretty good year here At The Bunker.

Thanks so much for your deluge of Christmas cards, many containing Dues Plus which certainly keeps the club going strong. Postage is not going up yet so that is great news since I need to buy almost 4000 stamps a year!! Your kind and encouraging words are greatly appreciated. Keep those compliments coming!!

Wishing you all the best in 2011. Thanks for hanging in there with me.