Dear Members and Friends:

Our Winter meeting will be held on Saturday, January 25 from 1:30 until 4 at the Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive, 95822. I always called this our 'Slumberama' because there's not much to talk about in mid-winter but you've all asked me to continue the winter meetings - so here we go again. This is YOUR meeting. Bring one of your non-hibernating pets to the meeting for some good Show and Tell. Be a show-off. We'll all love hearing about your special turtle or tortoise; how long you have had it and its activities, habitat and appetite. Also, why don't we have a bake-off! Bring a turtle/tortoise shaped food item for everyone to admire and eat. I know what I'm bringing but I'm not telling you what it is. There will be a prize for the most creative and tasty reproduction of a turtle. Come to the meeting and enjoy. Melissa Kolb Aipia will be on hand to give a talk on first aid.....and/or 'How to start succulents from seed'.

Regarding our future meeting dates, well, when the librarian we liked retired, mass confuzzzzion has prevailed and I have been unable to secure the rest of the dates but hopefully it will be done by the time this meeting is held. I'm getting a little tired of going to their website several times a day; going into the library and not getting answers, etc. etc. and being told that the person I need to see is 'on the phone'.......'in a meeting'. Hey, this is a very popular and important club!! We bring a lot of people into the library which they like to see and I hope we can continue having our meetings there.

The Club had a great year and this one will be even better. The Facebook page continues to grow and be very informative and entertaining and sometimes aggravating. Everyone seems to be an expert, including me and often this brings on a lot of friction. I'm certain that 'Lee' (short for 'leeches' folks) whom I wrote about on Facebook came from the new Korean market in Rancho Cordova as well as another turtle, the same size, who was run over - no pet turtles are running through the streets of Sacramento at the end of December and I've never seen a turtle with leeches before and I've been rescuing since 1975!! Something STINKS. And it was disgusting! (Animal Control delivered them.)

** SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!! **

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

A few short weeks after the meeting, you'll start to see your hibernating turtles and tortoises again. Some species wake up sooner than others such as the Greeks, Hermann's and Russians. Others are slower to wake up such as the California Desert tortoises. I'm sure you have some that have been awake all winter outside. Well, you are not alone. Most of our members are living in California, where it does not get as cold as it does in their turtle's natural habitats. I can't imagine them being above the ground in Ohio or Oklahoma City where there are sub-freezing temperatures quite often. They are deep down until spring. Out here I call it 'half-hibernating' which, truthfully, is not that good for them but they seem to survive. It's best never to force anyone INTO hibernation or force them OUT of hibernation. Mother Nature's rules apply here. Our pets have their own built in time-clock. Nobody really knows for sure what triggers all of this activity, it is simply in place. Regarding the turtles and tortoises you kept indoors for one reason or another, when you can go outside wearing a light sweater - it will be the right time to begin putting them outdoors again, longer and longer over a two week period until they are acclimated and then let the fun of spring and summer begin again! Enjoy.

So far, so good, the days are moving along. I don't have too many patients in my amateur hospital and have kept 'most' of the unwanted sliders with their owners until springtime or until they can't stand it any longer and beg me to take them in. These are turtles in fish tanks who can't go out until it is warmer because they will die of shock. Most of the people donating their pets don't realize that they can and should live outdoors all of the time!! "WHAT?" they say!! "That's not what I read on the Internet". So some things never change and anyone doing rescues knows what I am talking about.

I currently have a very old Eastern Box turtle in my care, at least 70 years old. At her home in Concord, CA, she quit eating some time ago and became a recluse, not moving much and had seemingly lost her will to live. The owners somehow found me and drove her here for my evaluation and decided to leave her with me to see if I could get her to eat again. (I'll bet they thought they would never see her alive again....) Her name is Loekie (LowKey) and her shell is very dark and very smooth from age. It was a daily struggle, giving her warm soaks, long soaks, short soaks, indoor soaks, outdoor soaks, soaking with others, putting her in with others who were good eaters, getting her to keep her eyes open became a daily chore. I tried all kinds of foods, good food, bad food, terrible food, red food, yellow food, wiggly food, crawling food. NOTHING! Feeding at night didn't work. Playing music did not help. Eventually, as summer went along, she took a bite of a strawberry. Then one day she bit at a piece of watermelon, a week later, half heartedly tried to bite a worm. Mostly she slept. And slept and slept.

The summer went by, her owners came to visit and were pleased with her appearance; somehow she looked good, her weight had not gotten less, but she was so darned lethargic. Summer turned into Fall, the days became shorter and cooler, and the nights became longer. I decided to bring Loekie indoors for the winter because being outdoors in her condition would be the end of her.

It began slowly, very slowly. A transformation was taking place right in front of my eyes. She seemed to be 'coming to life'. She began walking around and suddenly, she began looking for food!! Huh? So I gave her a piece of banana. She ate it immediately! Knowing the picky eaters love hamburger meat, I gave her some ground round and once again, she ate the whole thing. Of course it is not the best diet, but I will give her whatever she wants to eat and have expanded her diet to include other fruits but have not tried the worms yet. I will very soon. She is living in 'the drawer' by a sunny window and I am very pleased with her activities and am wondering if perhaps she has her seasons mixed up? What do you think? Some memory loss, perhaps?

Meanwhile, the Bunker remains the nutty place it always was. The only additional load is the fact that I am typing approximately 125 letters a day mostly to our Facebook Friends. I am happy to be able to help so many people all day every day.

Otis and Olivia, the limbless sliders, are outside in a kiddie pool not really hibernating, but doing ok. I cover them well at night so they never will be harmed by raccoons again. They are joined by Shelly who has the shape of the bowl she was raised in. The Bunker is quiet now. Turtles in terrible shape arrive via Animal Control. I take them in with a smile because it would be useless to be any other way. Thank you ALL for standing by me and cheering me on and sending Dues PLUS when you can. You are all so terrific!!