Re: Help Identifying Tortoise Pic

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Posted by Dan on October 15, 2000 at 11:20:05:

In Reply to: Help Identifying Tortoise Pic posted by Marcia Pimentel on October 12, 2000 at 08:23:37:

Looks like a gopher tortoise to me, although I am not as familiar with the S.Florida ones. And there actually are tortoise police out there, and the gopher is listed as a species of special concern by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, plus it is illegal to possess one without a permit, unless you acquired it prior to the prohibition (about 1988). I would not suggest trying to keep it since they do not make good captives unless kept semi-wild in appropriate soil types. If the animal has not been in contact with other tortoises or reptiles in captivity, and is healthy (no runny nose, etc) I would suggest releasing it back to the wild as close to where you found it as possible. You may have to search for a patch of habitat which is why S. Florida gophers are in such bad shape. But keeping the animal "out of the gene pool" genetically kills it. Gophers need to stay in the wild and occupy as much of the remaining habitat as possible. The developers can still bulldoze the place with a permit, but if there are no gophers left, it makes it that much easier to pave over natural habitat.

Good luck!

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: Looks like a gopher tortoise to me, although I am not as familiar with the S.Florida ones. And there actually are tortoise police out there, and the gopher is listed as a species of special concern by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, plus it is illegal to possess one without a permit, unless you acquired it prior to the prohibition (about 1988). I would not suggest trying to keep it since they do not make good captives unless kept semi-wild in appropriate soil types. If the animal has not been in contact with other tortoises or reptiles in captivity, and is healthy (no runny nose, etc) I would suggest releasing it back to the wild as close to where you found it as possible. You may have to search for a patch of habitat which is why S. Florida gophers are in such bad shape. But keeping the animal "out of the gene pool" genetically kills it. Gophers need to stay in the wild and occupy as much of the remaining habitat as possible. The developers can still bulldoze the place with a permit, but if there are no gophers left, it makes it that much easier to pave over natural habitat. : Good luck!

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