Things were anything but slow at Turtlerama.

It's true that the namesakes of the 30th annual festival weren't exactly burning rubber, but activity was nevertheless bustling.

Hundreds turned out at the Belle Cooledge Library in South Land Park to learn about tortoises and turtles.

The festival, put on by the Sacramento Turtle and Tortoise Club, continues each year because there's a need for it, said Felice Rood.

"We can't stop, because the stupidity continues," she said, bluntly.

People improperly treat the reptiles as aquarium pets, when they really belong outside.

"Artificial lights are for plants," read one of her informational signs.

There was a lot to learn:

• Sulcatas, a popular species, can grow to 200 pounds, no matter what they tell you at the store.

• Common plants – even weeds such as purslane, dandelion and plantain – contain calcium needed by tortoises, according to Dan Goemmel of Concord.

• Though fans don't seem fussy on the terminology, tortoises are generally found on dry land while turtles can be found in water. Both are reptiles.

• The reptiles do carry salmonella, said Tracy Meeks, but people require only normal hygiene such as hand-washing to stay healthy.

• They can climb. A 10-day-old Russian tortoise no longer than your thumb had to be plucked to safety after climbing several body lengths up the side of its cage.

And they do, indeed, do some things slowly.

Marsha Guzzi of Carmichael – who has rabbits and one map turtle – asked a man selling Russian tortoises how long it takes to breed if you put a male and female together.

"A couple of weeks?" she said, surprised by his answer. "See, it's 10 minutes for the rabbits."

She and Ellen Hagerty keep a female rabbit and a male turtle in the yard, but no, they don't do tortoise and hare racing.

"We were hoping to have fuzzy-shelled tortoises," Hagerty joked.

To Rood, though, educating people about the reptiles is a serious matter.

Improperly housing them results in deformities.

She also worries about species that are endangered by off-roading and others that are eaten.

Rood often ends up as the rescuer of found or discarded turtles and tortoises.

She's central to the club, acknowledging herself as "dictator."

A benevolent one, who doesn't twist arms to make others run for club offices and keeps dues at $2, which might explain why there are nearly 1,000 members.

For more information on turtles, tortoises and the Sacramento Turtle and Tortoise Club, see Rood's website at www.turtlebunker.com.

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