Ahhh! What is that?!

[ChooksinChoppers]

I want to feed them a tortoise friendly Christmas snack. Carrots?

I would say lettuce might be more their choice?

 

[Debbie292d]

Are you sure this post shouldn't be in the Predators forum?

That sure is cool! I'd love to see one that big here, but they'd all be hibernated by now, even if there was one.

 

[Debbie292d]

I want to feed them a tortoise friendly Christmas snack. Carrots?

A little zoo around here feeds theirs pumpkins and squash, as in whole, and they just demolish them. I have no idea what else though.

 

[azurbanclucker]

I want to feed them a tortoise friendly Christmas snack. Carrots?

If they're wild please do not feed them anything. Their diet is a lot of grasses and wild plants, and adding things like carrots or fruits can introduce too much sugar. . This can cause them gastric distress and mess with their digestion. They're protected in Florida as a threatened species and are best left alone. I know the temptation is great, but it's really better to follow the "leave only footprints, take only pictures" mindset here. They will be OK.

Maybe lettuce? @azurbanclucker has tortoises

I have sulcatas. They're a bit different than a gopher tort. In general lettuce has zero nutritional value to a tort, unlike terrapins and turtles. Dark leafy greens are great for captive torts, but iceberg is useless.

 

[azurbanclucker]

A little zoo around here feeds theirs pumpkins and squash, as in whole, and they just demolish them. I have no idea what else though.

Again, please do not feed wild tortoises. Captive specimens under proper care are a whole different ball of wax.

 

[azurbanclucker]

I would say lettuce might be more their choice?

Neither. Don't feed them. If you're going to do it anyway, DARK leafy greens. Romaine, collard, spinach, stuff like that. Don't feed them iceberg or cabbage.

Tortie here is eating a mix of timothy hay and alfalfa. If you want to throw a bale of that out, it's ideal tort food.

 

[azurbanclucker]

Where do they come from ... where do they go? We live on a pretty big acreage with other tenants spread around and farms surrounding the whole property. They always come from the dirt road side of us and through our little 1/4 acre spot, across the dirt driveway entry and off into the woods so yeah maybe they have a secret community back there OR they might take a different way going off the property and circle round? and they don't really stop and eat certain plants but take a bite or two and keep going... fascinating really. They seem very aware of us so we try to keep our distance as they are protected and it's against the law to disturb them.

They will cover miles in a day looking for food, and if they find reliable sources, they'll do a grazing loop. That way, they end up back at their burrow to hunker down for the night Then they start over the next day. You're on their established route, so that's probably why you always see them coming from one direction.

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

At least that's one critter going by your chickens you can just have a good laugh at! We have snapping turtles that go through our property into the creek

 

[SourRoses]

I know the temptation is great, but it's really better to follow the "leave only footprints, take only pictures" mindset here. They will be OK.

Oookay, I'll be good

Thanks for the info! I worried about them when it was hot and hadn't rained for a while. Do you think they could use a supplemental water source on the route? Or is that just another kind of interference? Across the main road in there is a huge subdivision being built... Just seeing the mounds of bulldozed sand made me feel bad for the poor tortoises.
It reminds me of my childhood turtle Shelly who we found as a quarter sized hatchling on a construction site. She was so far from the nearest pond we weren't sure what to do and took her home. Her coloring was a bit different, I finally identified her as a Peninsula Cooter. Had her for years until she was killed by cold / my mistake.
She liked it when "we"(mom) caught live grasshoppers that she could bite in half while they wriggled.

Your Tortie is majestic!

 

[SourRoses]

I'd love to see one that big here, but they'd all be hibernated by now, even if there was one.

I saw a really huge one when we first moved here, about the diameter of a muck bucket (the only reference I can think of). Since then it's been medium ones.
I don't know if the pictures taken through the window make it clear, but the chicks aren't that big, about 6 1/2 weeks old and hanging out in their 8x8 'ish run.
So yesterday's visitor was somewhere around 1 1/2 - 2 ft, I guess.