Winter Tortoise

[Second Hand Pat]

Look who I found outside today...one if my resident gopher tortoises. It is plenty cold outside today.

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1789_zps7afbd9fb.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1790_zps84ad4e83.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1791_zps210f3e00.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1792_zpsb871c4ef.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1793_zps2bf59ced.jpg

I was not too close but he still made a beeline for home.

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1794_zps269bd12f.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1795_zpsa15073aa.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/DSC_1796_zpse29596d1.jpg

[nc0gnet0]

Way cool, I have a soft spot for turtles/tortoises. Girlfriend always thinks I am nuts when I pull the car over to the side of the road to move a turtle off the road.

Rick

[Second Hand Pat]

I do the same Rick but some does hubby. We have a breeding colony of gophers on the property. This particular one I have known since it was a subadult.

[brewmaster15]

Beautiful Pat, Gopher Torts are some of my favorites!...but you already know that!.:)

hey BTW... for us Northerners...Define "plenty cold outside":o

-al

[Second Hand Pat]

Sunny in the 50s Al...but pretty cold for a tortoise to be out I thought and he was munching on something.

[TNT77]

50s Pat? I would love the 50s right about now.

[Second Hand Pat]

Tara, you got hammered here recently right?

[TNT77]

Not as bad as some places. But I hate working outside in this cold of weather. I miss fl alot right now lol.

[Second Hand Pat]

Especially if it is a wet cold and with wind...time to stay inside.

[brewmaster15]

Sunny in the 50s Al...but pretty cold for a tortoise to be out I thought and he was munching on something.

See that shell color Pat.. in sunny weather its probably bumping up the internal temp quite a bit when its chilly.. and then when its hot....it changes its tactics to early morning late evening out and about.:)

al

[Second Hand Pat]

That sounds about right Al and fits my observations on these guys. I have about a dozen burrows around the property. No sure how many gophers but enough for breeding as we did see the little ones in the summertime.

[TNT77]

Especially if it is a wet cold and with wind...time to stay inside.
That would be nice. But a farm full of horses keeps me outside longer than I wish this time of year. I love it in the summer though.

[Second Hand Pat]

Tara, how many horses to you have? Only two here.

[TNT77]

Tara, how many horses to you have? Only two here.
Have 25 at the farm I work at and 2 of my own at another place.

[Niblet]

Oh how fortunate you are to have a colony living comfortably at your home! We have leopard tortoises...too cold to winter outside up here. I adore them!
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae261/franceshaskins/leopards/Happyfamily.jpg

[Second Hand Pat]

Fran, those are just plain cute. The gopher tortoises I have here are a wild, native tortoise to Florida.

[Second Hand Pat]

Have 25 at the farm I work at and 2 of my own at another place.

That is a lot of horses to care for Tara.

[Bill63SG]

Way cool, I have a soft spot for turtles/tortoises. Girlfriend always thinks I am nuts when I pull the car over to the side of the road to move a turtle off the road.

Rick

Guilty of the same.After 22 years of marrige,if she thinks Im nuts,I no longer hear it.I just think its cool when I move the woodpile I find a toad underneath.

[Second Hand Pat]

Bill, you want toads. I have toads especially in the summer time. They have fun on the front and back porches eating all kinds of bugs.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Way cool, I have a soft spot for turtles/tortoises. Girlfriend always thinks I am nuts when I pull the car over to the side of the road to move a turtle off the road.

Rick

I have done the same thing a few times and cars behind me get nuts, horn blowing, yelling. I don't care.

[Sandy Clay]

My husband and I were out on the golf course a few summers ago. There was a little turtle walking across the green headed for the road! Well, needless to say, I carried this turtle for 8 more holes of golf and then we took it out to a local park with a pond. So, the little guy got a new home. Not sure where it had been or where it was headed, but, I just didn't want to see it killed on the road. Yep , I'm a turtle nut too ;)

[Second Hand Pat]

Here in Florida I see the water turtles killed on the road all the time especially in the spring when the females go hunting for a nesting site. :( My back yard is a nesting site for the water turtles in my lake.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

My back yard is a nesting site for the water turtles in my lake.

Once you get your backyard pool/aquarium going, you can put in a ramp for the turtles to go swimming with da fishes.

[Second Hand Pat]

Jeff, that is what the lake is for :) Besides the large softshell turtles like to eat fish :(

[Sandz]

Great pics Pat! I love the different native wildlife we have here. I have about 100 different toads/snakes/tortoises on property all year. I live adjacent to a small pond with red eared sliders that I believe were released by a bad pet owner... Its a special treat to go out at night and have a treefrog lump on you lol.

[Dogvet06]

Pretty cool! Can't say I've ever seen a tortoise in the wild


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Second Hand Pat]

Great pics Pat! I love the different native wildlife we have here. I have about 100 different toads/snakes/tortoises on property all year. I live adjacent to a small pond with red eared sliders that I believe were released by a bad pet owner... Its a special treat to go out at night and have a treefrog lump on you lol.

Sandz, I love the little native florida green tree frogs. A couple of years ago my place was invaded by the cuban tree frog which is a much larger, grey/brown frog...and they eat the little green guys :( Recently I have been noticed more of the native frogs so that makes me happy.

[Second Hand Pat]

Pretty cool! Can't say I've ever seen a tortoise in the wild


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Jaimie, growing up hunting with my dad we would find the florida box turtles and I kept several as pets. I have not seen one of those in years.

[Disgirl]

We have lots of box turtles here Pat, I save many each year from the roads. When our kids were small we had an enclosure in our yard with several in it. After a few years we released them, quite far back in the woods. Would you believe that a few of them returned to our yard looking for the enclosure and the foods we fed them. Their favorite food was live caterpillers we would catch for them. They were a centipede I think, shiny black with yellow markings. Do you have those?
Barb

[Second Hand Pat]

Barb, we have centipedes but not like you describe. Barb, you are close to the coast right. I grew up on the coast also and could be that box turtles do not live in the center of the state where I live now. Funny that your turtles returned...homing turtles.

[Niblet]

I belong to this tortoise forum. I would love to go see this breeder!
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-20408.html

[Second Hand Pat]

Now that is a tortoise WOW

[Sandz]

Sandz, I love the little native florida green tree frogs. A couple of years ago my place was invaded by the cuban tree frog which is a much larger, grey/brown frog...and they eat the little green guys :( Recently I have been noticed more of the native frogs so that makes me happy.

Yeah I cant stand the native anoles being run out by the mexican brutes... they are just not as pretty! I miss seeing all the green anoles everywhere. Breeding project for pat?! lol

[Kingdom Come Discus]

I belong to this tortoise forum. I would love to go see this breeder!
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-20408.html
Those guys are huge!!!