Caspersen beach, near Venice, Fl. I'm from Maryland so I always get excited getting to chase around the anoles down here, but this definitely topped that! LolGreat sighting! We had similar luck down in Jacksonville, Fl last winter. Where was your sighting?
Love it! And super jealous you are in Florida! (Even though Maryland was confused today and we got up to 60 degrees lol)Greetings
We were just out walking the Florida coastal highway (A1A) near Flagler Beach in an area with some open over grown scrub lots, smaller cottages, motels, etc. and came across a nice adult Florida Gopher tort out having a snack. We got some pix as he walked back up into the scrub area along a path right to his burrow. It's always just so much fun to stumble across these guys in the "wild ".
Here's one pix for now.
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I can't help but notice that this tortoise's natural "substrate " is Florida sand. How is this not a danger to their intestinal tracts? We have long been taught here on the forums that this can be fatal. Where I live here in the Southern California High Desert, our habitat for our CDT's contains some decomposed granite, ie sand, and I have long been concerned as they have often dragged their food across their bowel and into the sand. Should I be worried when they awaken come Spring? We've had our old gal for nearly 50 years without a problem, but we rescued two new juvenile females this summer, thus my concern.View attachment 225469
Florida Gopher Tortoise on the Edge of His Burrow
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Gopher Tort Kicking Sand Back at His Intruder
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Gopher Tort Heading In to Safety of His Burrow
Yes...I heard it was super warm there today! But... No tortoise sightings I'm certain.
Here are a few more pix of Mr Gopher tort... He first stopped at the entrance of the burrow, and kicked some sand back toward me in an aggressive way i guess. He stayed like that 'til i stood up, and he scooted on further into the burrow.
Further on our way back to our cottage..we found a few more burrows, one with another tort half way out. I'll have to revisit again.
I can't help but notice that this tortoise's natural "substrate " is Florida sand. How is this not a danger to their intestinal tracts? We have long been taught here on the forums that this can be fatal. Where I live here in the Southern California High Desert, our habitat for our CDT's contains some decomposed granite, ie sand, and I have long been concerned as they have often dragged their food across their bowel and into the sand. Should I be worried when they awaken come Spring? We've had our old gal for nearly 50 years without a problem, but we rescued two new juvenile females this summer, thus my concern.
Where I live here in the Southern California High Desert, our habitat for our CDT's contains some decomposed granite, ie sand, and I have long been concerned as they have often dragged their food across their bowel and into the sand.