The Deluge Continues…

A record number of turtles and tortoises came into the rescue during January even though we are closed during the winter months.  How many you might innocently ask?  Taking a deep breath, she replied 47!  Yes - you read that number correctly. 

Sadly, when we had the heavy rains, two beautiful red eared sliders ended up on the beach in Malibu.  A very nice man picked them both up (they were a half mile apart) and gave them first aid.  Being fresh water turtles, the salt water just about kills them.  While the female was in pretty good shape, her mail counterpart was a mess. He was a beautiful old melanistic slider (they turn blackish as they age).  He was bleeding top and bottom of the shell and his beautiful long nails were broken.  He had a head injury that was bleeding, and was very light in weight.  We treated them with fresh water soaks, and kept them in the hospital on heating pads.  It was obvious after one day that Madam Red Ear might be able to join the healthy turtles in the ATR pond.  But our guy was failing rapidly.  He refused food, floated to the top of the water and just appeared to be miserable.  He did not make it and joined the others on Turtle Hill, our burial ground - 100 years from now, someone is going to find 1000 turtle shells there.  The Madam made it five days, and then she too died.  We always read "Over the Rainbow Bridge" during our burial ceremony.  It never ceases to make two silly old turtle rescuers stand there blubbering like babies.  Each day, we fall in love with every new turtle that comes in.

We also took in a matched mom and dad pair of beautiful California desert tortoises some insensitive idiot left in a box in an alley.  A good Samaritan brought them here.  Looks like someone dug them out of hibernation and dumped them.  There also are seven hatchling red eared sliders who came in at various times of the month.  Can someone tell me why we cannot get animal law enforcement to stop this illegal and sad trade in tiny turtles?  They come from Chinatown, swap meets and two came in as a "baby gift" for someone with some bamboo in the water for good luck or some such rubbish.  Of course the new mom freaked out and thought that salmonella would blow through the air up her nose and the baby's and it would croak.  So we took them and now the salmonella is blowing up my nose…

On a happier note, sort of, we placed 24 Calif. desert tortoise juveniles from Hemet and a wild aggressive desert tortoise from under a deceased lady's house.  Then there is Soup the Leopard tortoise.  His "mother" is ill with a brain tumor, so Soup came to live at "LeopardLand."

There are a lot of new mouths to feed and sick ones to care for.  The generosity of our members never ceases to amaze us and allows us to continue this important work.  We are very grateful. Thank you.

Hibernation Update

We get lots and lots of inquiries about the best way to hibernate and just general info about it.  Here are some of the basics, but you can also get good info off the internet if you go to the Tortoise Trust site: http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/safer.html (we have switched ISPs and are about to start changing our site every day!). Our basics are these, however:  Do not allow any of your California desert tortoises to hibernate outside - it is too wet.  Soak them first to get the poop out.  Make sure that they have voluntarily not eaten for a couple of weeks.  Shred newspaper into a box (we like the banker's boxes from office supply stores best).  Put the tortoise on the newspaper and throw some more shredded stuff on top.  Cover (with air holes please).  Put him in the coldest room of the house or the garage if you do not have rats. Touch the back foot once a month to make sure all is well, and make sure that you do not hear wheezing or feel wet.  When the scratching doesn't stop it is time to get up. 

Hibernation usually takes place from October/November through April/May - but it is different with each tortoise.  Some people like to hibernate their tortoises under the couch or bed.  Box turtles cannot be hibernated in boxes because of the dryness.  We hibernate all our box turtles outside (we have dry dog houses and leaf piles for them).  Water turtles hibernate under water.  Ours have been slow to go down this year, and are still sunning themselves in February!  When they all wake up make sure that you soak them thoroughly.  Some will not eat for a week or two and that is ok.  But if not eating continues or you see a runny nose, please go to the vet.

Donations Are So Important!

Robert Sanoff just sent us 10 heating pads.  Bless you!  So we are flush on those for awhile.  And we got a bunch of Baytril from our good friends at Bayer.  But we do need some other items.  Ready?  This is a long shot…our media directories are five years old.  If anyone has last year's and wants to give them away…also we always need towels, syringes (new please J), antibiotic ophthalmic ointment, stamps, q-tips, veterinary small surgical towels, Lexmark black and color cartridges for the Z11 printer (we just bought a new computer) or cartridges for the HPIII laser printer. If you'd rather make a monetary donation, VERY GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED, here's what your money does:

$10 - buys stamps                                         $100 - buys a standard vet bill

$25 - buys two boxes of syringes                    $250 - buys electricity for a month

$50 - buys worms for two weeks                     $500 - buys food for a month (in the summer)

$75 - buys food for a week (in the winter)       $1,000 - buys a serious vet bill

More than $1,000 buys a lot of help for the turtles, helps us with education, media outreach, building and maintenance, veterinary care and so many other things.  I read recently that if you would rather give stock shares instead, then you do not need to pay tax on the gain of the shares that are contributed, even though the deduction is based on the fair market value of the shares given to ATR - what a deal! No matter what you give - one dollar or $100…it helps!  We so appreciate that you care.

Some Annoying Reminders

·        No matter what kind of turtle or tortoise you have, always wash your hands after handling them.

·        We over-promised and did not get our shirts and videos done. Yet.  So we are returning your money until we do.

·        Do not release any turtle or tortoises back into the wild if it has been sick with anything.

·        Never feed raw chicken or hamburger to turtles.  Never feed meat or meat products to vegetarian tortoises.  Think about it this way - what do they eat in the wild.

·        All turtles should live outside unless they are too small or too sick.  Too small?  Put Need more info on turtles. 

·        Join the Turtle Homes group, which we moderate. Go to www.yahoogroups.com and search turtle - it will take you to turtle Homes. Then sign up. 

·        From our friends in Syracuse Herp. Society - do not freeze a sick animal to euthanize it - the blood crystallizes before the animal is dead.  This is very painful.  Vets can euthanize a very sick turtle easily.