Recent content by EKLC

It is important that we keep an eye on this case, and make sure they don't slip through the cracks. As minors I worry that a slap on the wrist is all they will get. I hope this goes viral enough that there is pressure for action from the courts. I will definitely write my representatives...

I was driving along a rural highway in Ocala, FL today and saw this gopher tortoise in the grass. I pulled over to make sure she wasn't trying to cross and got a few shots. She was furiously eating grass when I came upon her, and then ran off to her burrow, which she had to cross a barbed wire...

We are a rehab facility, so we release them back where they came from when they can fend for themselves.

Someone found these two in their yard (with dogs) and the one on the right has some swelling due to ant bites. I brought them to the rehab center that I volunteer for, and they're doing fine.

miami FL, greatest tortoise weather in the continental US :)

Some universities offer a zoology major. You can take courses in herpetology and volunteer with professors who do field work with herps. Zoos also offer internships and volunteer oppurtunities. State and federal governments employ herpetologists to conduct studies on native and invasive...

Sounds like she's doing a pretty good impression of a gopher tortoise. They come out every so often in the winter to raise their body temps with some basking. I imagine packed into the sand down there, with no wind, they hold onto the heat pretty well.

I want to petition to have sulcatas officially renamed to be "sulcata giant tortoises" so people don't randomly buy the cute little babies in the pet stores

it is about $700 for a 10' x 7' sheet

I did it a few years ago, so if you are looking for another method that's free: 1. Install a VNC server on your laptop with the webcam (I used tightVNC) 2. Install the VNC client on your phone or work computer 3. Use a free dynamic DNS service so that you don't have to worry about your IP...

second one is either chamberbitter or longstalked phyllanthus. Both are in the spurge family and are not edible

They will sprout in the coir, but you will have to move them to real soil, or they won't have nutrients to grow

It would make sense that tortoises would have a superior spatial memory and planning ability to other reptiles, as they need to avoid getting stuck in places, and can't reverse mistakes very quickly. Good find

There is an article about cudweed killing cattle via nitrate toxicosis. But that may be more of a ruminant thing. It's in the compositae family which has some winners (dandelions) and losers (wedelia), so I wouldn't feed it, but wouldn't worry about it growing sporadically in your yard for a...

yea the closest match I see is Shiny Cudweed (gnaphalium spicatum)