Front Yard Tortoise

[Second Hand Pat]

This guys lives in a borrow about 50 feet from it's correct location. It is actually quite large 15 inch in length and eight inches wide. About 30 lbs altogether. The other residents is Blaze the cat and Belle the lab.


http://youtu.be/beV-Ky1fquM

The tortoise is outside it's borrow. About 10 feet from the property line.

http://youtu.be/NT3vGkGT-XQ

Yup, need a good mow, the afternoon rains have been furious.

[Bill63SG]

And I was happy to find just toads in my back yard over the weekend.

[dpete9]

That is so awesome. I have to say we are a bit jealous. Wish I lived somewhere that we could have a "yard tortoise"

[Disgirl]

Really great Pat! You must enjoy seeing him everyday. We have a front yard rabbit.
Barb

[Second Hand Pat]

And I was happy to find just toads in my back yard over the weekend.

Only toads Bill. Too much wildlife here to list.


That is so awesome. I have to say we are a bit jealous. Wish I lived somewhere that we could have a "yard tortoise"

Pete, this tortoise is wild and is protected in Florida. They are gopher tortoise and we actually have a breeding colony. Sometimes Belle will bring me a new hatch-ling.


Really great Pat! You must enjoy seeing him everyday. We have a front yard rabbit.
Barb

Barb, I do not see any rabbits around here to much. May not be enough cover for them with the hawks and all.

[brewmaster15]

Pat,
I'm so Jealous! Wish I had them here in CT..Gopher Tortoises are one of my favorite Turtles!

-al

[jimg]

I bring my red foots on the lawn every few days for sun and fun, does that count as a front yard tortoise too?!!!

[Second Hand Pat]

Me too Al, I feel lucky to have a breeding colony. If only I could keep them from digging borrows in my septic mound. :)

[Second Hand Pat]

Absolutely Jim, bet they love the sun.

[jimg]

Absolutely Jim, bet they love the sun.only for a few minutes then they run for shade!. I just read up on the gopher tortoise, their something, just read they can burrow 10 to 40' nice looking too. we used to have a lot of box turtles here but now we hardly ever see them.

[Second Hand Pat]

I miss my box turtles. Use to keep them as a kid.

[brewmaster15]

I miss my Box turtles too..I grewup with them as Pets and always had them in the yard. Very hard to find now in CT.. Can't keep them as pets as they are listed as special concern now....it was inevitable.. loss of habitat and habitat fragmentation coupled with an amazingly strong Home Range sense...Most Box turtles live in an area the size of a football field...and if you move them..They will try to get back to it....put a house or road there..and they will still try to stay.

Box turtles were our only terrestrial turtle here , Wood turtles are mostly terrestrial but even more rare and protected.... Thats why I have my Red footed torts from South America. Which I like very much, but still...I miss my box turtles.

-al

[nc0gnet0]

My GF always thinks I am nuts when I stop the car, pull over and grab a box turtle from off the road and set him on the other side safely from oncoming traffic.

Rick

[Second Hand Pat]

I do the same Rick. Turtles do not stand a chance otherwise.

[shoveltrash]

that is so cool! off to Google Gopher tortoises :)


My GF always thinks I am nuts when I stop the car, pull over and grab a box turtle from off the road and set him on the other side safely from oncoming traffic. +1
although once I stopped to move a BIG turtle (I mean this sucker was a good 3ft long), and ended up getting chased back to my car, running - native to this area, a quite aggressive breed of snapping turtle!!! :laugh:

[Second Hand Pat]

Trish, I want a video of that. You were lucky to escape with all your fingers and toes. Cool but mean turtles.

[Second Hand Pat]

I did a little reading on the Florida box turtle. Apparently Florida has it's own subspecies with a darker shell then the eastern version. They are protected today but are being raised in captivity. As a kid I went bird hunting with my dad and we would find them at the edge of a cypress head. A cypress head is a low spot generally filled with shallow water from time to time having cypress trees filling in the low lying areas. Cypress heads are generally surrounded by pine flatlands which were fairly open. The turtle seemed to like to be right above the waterline.

[strawberryblonde]

What an awesome site to see in your own yard Pat! The best we do out here is a family of what was once domestic rabbits. The darned things used to have it good with my former cat and dog because the cat loved them (he was NOT a mouser) and the dog was too old to chase them. They'd hop right up and nibble on the yummies at the edge of the deck with babies in tow.

Nowadays they've gotten smarter and stay away from my young dog and 2 cats. Ok, well they probably wouldn't get much flack from one of the cats, but the other one loves to hunt in the backyard and often brings me robins and chickadees. LOL

[Lenin]

Reminds me of a rainy night I my kids told me that there was a turtle in the middle of the street when it was raining, I didn't want it getting killed so there I go, grabbed the turtle place it in the driverside where you place your feet, when I got to the small lake we have here the damn thing go under the seat and I couldn't get it out of there, it had big claws and I didn't want to get scratched, after 15 minutes, again it was raining I finally got it out of the seat and placed it on it's way to the lake.

[shoveltrash]

Trish, I want a video of that. You were lucky to escape with all your fingers and toes. Cool but mean turtles.yah me too!!!!
lemme tell you, that big snapper was FAST. don't ever think that all turtles are slow!