Dear Members and Friends:

Our Spring meeting will be held on Saturday, April 16th at the Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive, 95822 from 1:30 until 4 pm. This will be our 30th anniversary meeting and any thoughts about the club; past, present, and future will be greatly appreciated. We have outlasted Oprah, Regis and the Space Shuttle program. We've done a lot of good for the turtles and tortoises, unfortunately, our work is not done and is somewhat more of a challenge due to the mis-information out there on the 'Internet'. And it's always the turtles and tortoises who have to suffer because of it. So let's keep educating as many people as possible, ok? It's now 2011. Believe us when we say: AQUARIUMS ARE FOR FISH!!!!

Before I continue, I am convinced that there is a serial food thief at our meetings. At our crowded Winter meeting, (which took place on a 70 degree day in January), I had four pizzas brought in via Round Table. One was my favorite, Chicken and Garlic, and I noticed a lot of you choosing that one over the cheese and pepperoni varieties. I took ONE little piece and began to eat it but since everyone was talking to me, I decided to put it aside so I could eat it later or definitely on the way home. I 'hid' it on the kitchen windowsill with my other belongings behind the table in the front of the room. The meeting ended around 4 and even tho we still had an hour to stay in the room, I noticed all of the 'stuff' being carried out and placed into my station wagon as I spoke with some members outside. When I finally had a moment to eat the pizza, it was nowhere to be found. I searched throughout the meeting room and then I searched my car, looking through everything. NO PIZZA!! Did someone eat it? Did someone throw it away??? I was hungry and furious!!! Whoever you are and you have to know who you are, all I can say is: YOU OWE ME ONE!!!

Now that I got that out of my system, back to turtle talk. As usual, a lot of sliders are coming in for adoption and I'll bring some to the meeting so please consider taking a few for your pond. If you filled out an adoption form, it's always wise to check back with me frequently. Sliders and Russians are usually available, others, not so much.

TURTLERAMA ALERT: We will be having our Turtlerama on July 16th instead of a meeting. The library staff has scheduled adult reading programs for every Saturday in August so I thought it would be better to have the show instead of our summer meeting. Of course, we can have an abbreviated meeting that day as well but I don't see how we can have our raffle. Any ideas?

SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!!

The Dept. of Fish and Game commissioners FINALLY did the right thing by deciding not to issue any more permits to the Oriental markets to sell turtles and frogs for food, only to overturn their own decision soon after when someone proclaimed that it was their culture to eat turtles. This means that more and more turtles will be taken from the wild in Alabama, Louisiana, etc. and many will be released in our waterways joining the thousands out there multiplying every day. Is it better to be hacked to death (bringing good luck to someone) or swim freely in Folsom Lake? This decision seals the fate of our native California pond turtles and the red-eared slider will be listed as our State Reptile.

As the warm weather approaches, try to stay one step ahead of your pets. Clean up the yard, especially small white rocks and pebbles that tortoises seem to enjoy eating; look for bits of plastic lying about, animal and human hair/fur, pins and needles (I stepped on one barefoot in my own yard last summer and was ashamed of myself). Don't leave your dogs alone with your turtles or tortoises. Always better to be safe than sorry. If you can, install an alarm to warn you of raccoons in the night. BE ALERT!! Give your pets a calm quiet environment. I was recently asked by a teacher for a desert tortoise for her classroom. Can you imagine anything more cruel than to have a tortoise in an aquarium in a busy classroom. That's what sent Brutus, the African Hingeback, over the edge. He is fine, by the way, living a leisurely life with a kind family who are giving him the best life possible. Thanks Kari for taking him in.

It was an uneventful winter. We didn't have much ice in Sacramento as we did last winter, therefore, most of the Russians, all of the Greeks and a few Hermann's decided not to hibernate at all. On any sunny day or any day it was 50 degrees, they would come out to bask and since they were going back into their shelters around 3 pm, I was not worried. Everyone looked great. Most of the box turtles did hibernate including the naughty 'Obama' who is a Gulf Coast box turtle whom I found submerged head down in the Reeves turtle pond last winter. He was unharmed and since he never did that again, perhaps he had some memory of the event? He has moved himself into the Reeves and Wood turtle enclosure but I do expect him to move out once the weather warms up for good. Gulf Coasts Francois, Joyce and Oliver decided to climb out of the enclosure and hibernate near the fence in the NW area of the Bunker. Of course, I had no idea until they emerged a few weeks ago along with Suzi and an unidentified Russian female.

The Greenhouse residents are anxious to get out but I hesitate to let them out until all danger of cold nights are over. 50 degrees is what you want to watch for. When the nights don't go below 50, it's safe to leave your tropical tortoises out all night, but make sure they are in a shelter. Some of them seem to sit and sleep wherever they might be as darkness approaches.

Newlyweds Jim and Suzi are awake and ready to enjoy a long hot summer. Last summer was way too chilly. Their quintupets have been indoors all winter and are doing well, growing bigger and stronger. They eat romaine lettuce, thawed out peas and corn, grass and clover and dandelions from outdoors and an occasional monkey biscuit. They have a little soak about once every 10 days but don't like that too much and scramble to get out. Blondie, the leopard, did not lay any eggs last summer so I didn't have a pile of hatchlings to take care of which made my life easier this time.

Speaking of peas and corn, if you feed these items to your pets, please clean up the leftovers before they dry up because they become as hard as rocks and could be eaten by mistake and be harmful.

Diane Petrillo from the Connecticut Bunker recently asked if Fat Betty had any weather predictions. Fat Betty, our club meteorologist, won't reveal her secret formula for weather forecasting, but is warning everyone not to plant their tomatoes too early because because we are in for another cool spring. Summer, however, will be above normal across the USA and very muggy in the Connecticut area.

News from Michael's Bunker in Turlock: 4 box turtles hatched last September. One was a runt. He started feeding them worms, snails and slugs. The runt ate the most. Eating eating eating all of the time, so much so that he is now the biggest! Recently Michael switched over to soaked Pedigree dog food. Well, three are eating it but not the runt named Button. He walks around watching the others eat but turns up his nose at the dog food. Then he sits next to the glass watching Michael and his wife and stares at them as if to say, "Hey, where are my worms?" He also knows that the worms hide under the water dish and keeps pawing the edges to find them and once in awhile he scores. Michael thinks Button has a higher IQ than the others. What do you think? I agree. Some are smarter. His shell is normal which indicates that he is not over-eating.

KIDS ON THE WATER: We've been invited by Kendra to participate in the Kids On The Water event at Miller Park Marina on June 3 from 10 until 2. We could give a presentation on turtles for 40 minutes to one hour and we could do this several times if anyone is interested. Of course you could bring a few live turtles to show and tell the kids about. Let Me Know so I can tell Kendra. There are plenty of sliders down at the marina alongside the native Pond turtles.