In case of development system/phase, I would suggest to have:
error_reporting(E_ALL);
Thanks guys. I am working right now to try and find / import the databases. Reading into the site a bit more it seems it was coded using CAKEphp with an MVC framework. I still (barely!) understand what that means so I’m doing some more digging right now. Gotta love the learning process 
Anyone have any idea where I might find the databases 
I’ve been through every folder … ) lol. I have no idea what the extensions even look like for a mysql db
I doubt the database will be within your site root folder. I do not even know where it is
Does your site have a control panel ?
If you look at your pages they must be connecting to the database and so will either have the login details on the page or be including a file with the connection details.
Even if you do not have a control pannel and you can find these login details you can download the database.
The file should have something like:
$host= 'localhost';
$username = 'a_username';
$password = 'a_password';
$database = 'a_database_name';
The file could be above the root folder e.g. the same folder as your www or public_html folder.
what a dunce - I totally forgot the site uses CPANEL so I can access that… time for more digging!
OK… I can get to PHPMyadmin for the production DB (I’m so nervous in there, haha). I can just export out of there and then import to the phpadmin I have on localhost?
Whatever you do not select “Drop” 
It would ask you to confirm anyway so as long as you do not confirm you will not do any harm.
A quick simple way - you can play with the options later once you have your data safe.
In phpmyadmin select the database you want to export on the lefthand side.
Select the Export tab at the top of the page.
Leave everything as default and select the go button.
This will create a page with all the table structure and info.
Copy this information and paste into a page and save.
Do this with all your databases.
On XAMPP go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ and on the first page create your database with the same name.
Navigate to the database then click the sql tab.
Copy and paste the table details and info into the sql box and press go again.
There are other ways to do this but this is a simple safe way. You may get errors depending on the different versions/setup etc.
Your login details by default for the XAMPP database are:
$host= 'localhost';
$username = 'root';
$password = '';
$database = 'what ever database you have just created';
You still need to find where your login details are on the local version of the website and need to change them to above.
There is more to do but this should get you up and running.
Good deal - i know what those are anyway , I changed the root password the other day for xampp and had to go to the config file because I couldn’t get into phpmyadmin on localhost anymore. learning experience…
I can’t play with it again until later tonight but I’m sure all be back for more help. I really appreciate all your input!