I found these two last week in my yard and this morning saw one the size of an army helmet go in my neighbors yard.

I think they're colonizing.

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fltsfshr

 

one could postulate that a tortoise is not moving so quickly that you didn't have time to go get a camera.....

 

^Yeah, I was expecting pictures.

 

 

That's not a gopher it's an ornate box turtle. They are called turtles but are actually closer to the tortoise family and don't swim. Hence the long digging claws. They don't get much bigger than that either. Yes, I'm a dork when it comes to tortoises. I've had several, to include a red foot that is growing like a weed.

 

That's what I thought but it's not, it's a young gopher tortoise. Either that or Mom adopted two of them.

I odn't think the ornate box turtle is indigenous here. That's what I thought it was at first until I saw the big ones.

I'll get a pic of one of the big ones. They have no striated markings


fltsfshr

 

I could be wrong. The juveniles do have brighter markings similar to ornates that get duller as they get older. Ornates are also known as Florida Box turtles. Don't let FWC see you messing with them. $ fines since they're protected.

 

See how the rear flares out a bit on the smaller ones that is exclusive to the Ornate/Eastern. They can also tuck their head feet and tail in at once making themselves almost impenetrable.

 

When i was a kid we had a colony of the Gopher Tortoises (Highland Terrapin's ) near our house, i remember my dad would plant strawberrys near their holes and they would eat the blooms