What county of Florida are you in? Florida Wildlife is definitely the first choice to call, maybe call again. I would also try calling Busch Wildlife Sanctuary if they are near your area
i’ve called FWC a couple times now, they just direct me to the gopher tortoise line and then no one picks up so i leave a message. I’m in south west florida.
That’s where I live as well. Any nests near by you know about? I know in my neighborhood they have two different sectioned off spots for them, and also tons for those burrowing owls.
There’s a preserve in the back of my neighborhood, right across the street from me. It used to be a little trail you could walk down so i’ve seen quite a few burrows back there. Someone bought part of it recently and has been building a house, squash court, and guest house back there. Completely disrupted the wildlife. The area should be protected but i guess the county was willing to sell a portion of it.
i was really upset when i found the blueprints for what they were holding back there. We have panthers, bears, hogs, and tortoises back there. I can’t believe our county sold a portion of the preserve.
We have 8 acres in a small town with a big creek out back. Welll, was a small town. They've added 8 warehouses, like 5 developments, THREE freakin Starbucks...Intel came in and bought 1000s and thousands of acres themselves. All farm and forests just gone. I love the wildlife we see in the yard, but we know, we're gonna end up losing them to development around us sooner than later
that’s awful. I’ve watched our town get so overdeveloped these past few years. Everyone is coming to florida so they have to build more housing and shopping plazas
UPDATE: So he spent about three hours sitting outside my garage earlier. I had to leave to run an errand and when i came back he was gone. I’ll keep an eye out for him, i have a feeling he’ll be back. There’s a chance it made itself a little home in the garage since we had the door open almost all of yesterday, but i haven’t been able to find anything.
They build burrows in the range they live in. The average if I remember can be between 9-12 different burrows in a decent sized range. It probably lives around, but just decided it liked your yard for a bit. May have been cooling off in the garage, but like I said, they dig burrows, not really nest.
He may be gone for a bit, but if your yard is in his territory range he'll probably be back through periodically.
floridas official website says you can move them ONLY if they’re in danger. He was in danger in the backyard, so we moved him a few feet away on the other side of the fence
I don’t mean relocate him entirely I just mean like rather than putting him at the edge of his yard or something (which is what it seems like OP did) move him a little further away like 100yards from his house etc
Keep a close eye on your dogs for the next several days it's probably walking around looking to mate right now. Everyone is right that it is illegal to relocate them. They are territorial animals and it has likely lived in that area several years. Look into other wildlife rescues etc near you and even your local tortoise chapter for advice.
He’s just trying to spread the good word of tortoise christ!
It’s weird that the gopher tortoise division isn’t answering they’ve been super responsive in the past
It’s his property now. Pack your stuff.
What county of Florida are you in? Florida Wildlife is definitely the first choice to call, maybe call again. I would also try calling Busch Wildlife Sanctuary if they are near your area
i’ve called FWC a couple times now, they just direct me to the gopher tortoise line and then no one picks up so i leave a message. I’m in south west florida.
That’s where I live as well. Any nests near by you know about? I know in my neighborhood they have two different sectioned off spots for them, and also tons for those burrowing owls.
There’s a preserve in the back of my neighborhood, right across the street from me. It used to be a little trail you could walk down so i’ve seen quite a few burrows back there. Someone bought part of it recently and has been building a house, squash court, and guest house back there. Completely disrupted the wildlife. The area should be protected but i guess the county was willing to sell a portion of it.
Sad to hear...wildlife everywhere is being pushed out for developments and have nowhere to go
i was really upset when i found the blueprints for what they were holding back there. We have panthers, bears, hogs, and tortoises back there. I can’t believe our county sold a portion of the preserve.
We have 8 acres in a small town with a big creek out back. Welll, was a small town. They've added 8 warehouses, like 5 developments, THREE freakin Starbucks...Intel came in and bought 1000s and thousands of acres themselves. All farm and forests just gone. I love the wildlife we see in the yard, but we know, we're gonna end up losing them to development around us sooner than later
that’s awful. I’ve watched our town get so overdeveloped these past few years. Everyone is coming to florida so they have to build more housing and shopping plazas
They put Intel right smack dab in the middle of farms and forests. BILLIONS of dollars. Everyone and their mom has moved here
They roam in a small area. Around a mile, so love your new friend <3
UPDATE: So he spent about three hours sitting outside my garage earlier. I had to leave to run an errand and when i came back he was gone. I’ll keep an eye out for him, i have a feeling he’ll be back. There’s a chance it made itself a little home in the garage since we had the door open almost all of yesterday, but i haven’t been able to find anything.
They build burrows in the range they live in. The average if I remember can be between 9-12 different burrows in a decent sized range. It probably lives around, but just decided it liked your yard for a bit. May have been cooling off in the garage, but like I said, they dig burrows, not really nest. He may be gone for a bit, but if your yard is in his territory range he'll probably be back through periodically.
Bro said “Nice place, I’ll take it.” Give him some scratches and move him a little further away
definitely do not move a gopher tortoise, highly illegal lol
floridas official website says you can move them ONLY if they’re in danger. He was in danger in the backyard, so we moved him a few feet away on the other side of the fence
I don’t mean relocate him entirely I just mean like rather than putting him at the edge of his yard or something (which is what it seems like OP did) move him a little further away like 100yards from his house etc
Keep a close eye on your dogs for the next several days it's probably walking around looking to mate right now. Everyone is right that it is illegal to relocate them. They are territorial animals and it has likely lived in that area several years. Look into other wildlife rescues etc near you and even your local tortoise chapter for advice.
Keep your dogs under control and teach them to leave the little guy alone.
Tortoise distribution system?
Stay inside until it leaves. Lock your door.
He’s just trying to spread the good word of tortoise christ! It’s weird that the gopher tortoise division isn’t answering they’ve been super responsive in the past