Dear Members and Friends:

Instead of our summer meeting, we'll have our TURTLERAMA on July 16th at the Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive 95822 from 11 until 4. At the Spring meeting, many of you kindly signed up to either exhibit or help help that day. Can you please email me or phone to confirm that you will still be able to help? Thanks a bunch. The more exhibits we have, the better the show will be. Please consider bringing your pet, even if you cannot stay the entire day, in order to help other people take care of their pets properly. Our biggest enemy these days is the 'Internet' and all of the absolutely terrible information available which is so harmful and completely stupid. We have to keep getting out the correct advice. The future of all turtles depends on us and other clubs devoted to saving these creatures for the next generation before they are all gone.

This will be our 30th TURTLERAMA and the best one ever. The 'real' Just Jim and Suzi will be on hand to help you if you need any assistance setting up or breaking down displays or need anything. There are always snacks and drinks in the meeting room kitchen for our exhibitors. Don't hesitate to ask or have someone sit in for you while you take a break.

Our Spring meeting was terrific. I really love how crowded our meetings are and how much fun! There's always something interesting and informative going on and lots to snack on and drink. I brought Chester, my old Elongata to the meeting since I've had him about 30 years and he was old when he arrived. He didn't hesitate to demonstrate what he had done in a nursing home many years ago to the delight and disgust of all present. It depends on your attitude. We can always count on Chester to do something gross with very little provocation. No cake was harmed during the meeting!! Thanks to one and all for being there.

SEE YOU AT THE TURTLERAMA

SUMMER HINTS

Often, a box turtle's eyes seem to be sealed shut. Before calling a vet, give the turtle the "AQUA-TREATMENT". Simply keep the turtle in shallow water, up to its nose, for 24 to 48 hours. Most of the time, they are dehydrated and certainly don't need any antibiotics for that. Water is the secret remedy.

With all species, if only one eye is closed, this usually means that the turtle has an injury or an irritation from rubbing it. If both eyes are closed and swollen, the turtle could be sick. Soak as above for a few days and also apply some ophthalmic ointment that you might have around for a human or a pet. It should clear up before too long.

Enjoy your pets throughout the summer. It's so much fun to sit back and watch them go through their day. How lucky we are to have them in our care and teach us how to slow down.

A week ago, I wrote this column and when I looked back at last summer's newsletter, it was almost exactly the same. Of course the 'weather report' comes first, complaining about how cold the winter was and how it lasted until June. The only thing different was the fact that hailstones were bouncing off of the tortoises shells on this June 1. It is all over now and our warm days have returned altho the ocean breezes at night can make things darned chilly.

It's amazing to see everyone come to life as soon as the temperature reaches 70 degrees. The higher it gets, the more active they become, every turtle, tortoise and box turtle responds to heat. But none as badly as those Greeks, Just Jim Jr. and Just Jim the Jerk and assorted Russian male tortoises who began running amok with their mouths wide open preparing to bite anything in their path. I've never seen a group this angry. I was forced to get busy and build them a prison. It has worked out beautifully altho once in awhile, one or two escape. I know when they are out because I can hear the shells banging and banging outside. I can never go anywhere for very long! I don't know what I'll find when I come home and I never want to see anything terrible.

In my haste, and lacking any other space, I built the prison where I had planned to put in a mud and musk habitat. It was where the grapefruit tree was. They are currently in a child's wading pool which they seem to like very much, however, if they want to breed, there is nowhere for them to lay their eggs. So I'm considering re-doing the original area I had built for them. They had to leave when the Reeves turtles staked their claim to that little pond and moved right in, pushing everyone else out. Our club Facebook page has proved to be a lot of fun and very educational. I imagine some people might find it annoying to have all of the Facebook comments showing up in their email boxes. It was a Facebook 'upgrade' but I think you can disable that if you want to. Sometimes the conversations get very lively. I do like the new format because I don't have to click on and off of Facebook all day and night to find out if anyone has anything they need help with or new information to share.

Which reminds me to tell you not to feed goldfish to your turtles. There is an enzyme (thiaminase) in goldfish that can cause neurological problems. The enzyme is present in most saltwater fish. It's the same enzyme which is found in smelt so don't feed those either. What is safe? Minnows, mosquito fish, rosy barbs. Better to be safe than sorry. I remember buying smelt for the turtles a very long time ago but they smelled so bad that I had to stop and did switch to minnows which I got at the local bait shop. My thought is that you never want to feed your pets anything that will draw in the predators at night.

Thanks to Nancy Ghoshal for going to the Free Fishing Day to help with the accidentally caught turtles and to Elaine Martinez for going to Miller Park for their event and to Michael Rajkumar for bringing displays to the animal event up in his neck of the woods. You guys are wonderful!

The Fall meeting will be held on October 22 all afternoon at the Belle Cooledge Library. We'll be doing free pre-hibernation checkups and answering all of your questions and there will also be a pot luck, so bring your favorite dish to share.