Geneva Area Turtle and Tortoise Society's free meeting on June 7

Because so many new members recently joined the club (88 families or individuals are current members), it's time for us to meet the newcomers. We'll introduce the new members at the June 7 meeting, and learn about them and their turtles and tortoises. Come to meet other soft-hearted owners of these hard-shelled reptiles.

Learning about the care, feeding, housing and breeding of turtles and tortoises from owners in the Geneva area is the best way to give our pets the benefit of everyone else's local experience. Peter and other expert herpetologists at these meetings can answer all the technical questions you may have. Other members can explain how they handled any unusual situations they encountered with their own turtles and tortoises.

The June 7 meeting will be held in the garden of club leaders Suzanne and Peter. It's in Nyon, about 15 minutes northeast of Geneva. There you can see twelve aquatic turtles basking or swimming with hundreds of fish in the two water-lily ponds. Ten terrestrial tortoises stroll throughout the fenced-in garden or in their enclosed 'tortoisarium.' Five baby tortoises will be in their indoor terrarium.

If the adults lay any eggs by June 7, they'll be moved to develop in Peter's home-made incubator, where the latest babies hatched out last year. He'll explain how you can make your own simple incubator, and how to regulate its temperature and humidity to be ideal for hatching the eggs of whichever species of turtles and tortoises you have.

You can also learn how to make insulated shelters so that tortoises can hibernate in Geneva-area gardens every winter, how to prepare ideal nesting areas in which turtles and tortoises can lay their eggs, see the wide range of ordinary foods that will keep your reptile pets healthy all their long lives, and learn many other ways to create an ideal local environment for them.

Visitors are always welcome at the turtle society's free meetings, so invite your interested friends, neighbors and children to come along. They can read full details of the June 7 meeting on the club's web site at http://turtles.meetup.... Details of all upcoming meetings are always in the site's 'Calendar' section at http://turtles.meetup.... Click on the title of each meeting to read its location and details, then click Yes, Maybe, or No to indicate if you can attend. If your plans change, you can always return to the meeting's description page to revise your RSVP.

Everyone can also instantly join the club for free right on its web site. Have your friends log on to http://turtles.meetup... to learn all about the club and how to navigate the site's many informative pages. If they like what they read, they can join the club by clicking the red link marked 'Sign up,' and can then attend all the free meetings.

Membership has its privileges. Everyone can read the current vote counts in the web site's 'Polls' section at http://turtles.meetup..., but only club members can register or change their votes on each question to affect the outcomes. The club is organized by Suzanne and Peter, but it's run democratically by members who vote on various topics to determine its management.

Everyone can view the pictures in the site's 'Photos' section at http://turtles.meetup..., but only club members can have photos of their turtles, tortoises, shelters, incubators, aquariums and terrariums posted there. If a member e-mails at least ten digital photos and captions to PeterSuzanne2@hotmail.com, Peter will create a new photo album on the web site for that member.

Everyone can attend the free meetings wherever they're held, but only club members can host a turtle society meeting in their own home. Meetings always take place on the first Saturday of every month, and occasionally on the third Saturday as well. Hosting is easy, involving little more than providing some snacks and drinks for those who attend. Peter and Suzanne always help the hosts before and during each meeting. Contact them to reserve a preferred date for a meeting chez vous before some other member chooses that date.

But first, be sure to submit your RSVP for the June 7 meeting in Nyon. Club leaders Suzanne and Peter hope to introduce many new club members to the oldtimers at this event. Everyone's welcome.