Last year he emerged on March 5th. This year the dirt piles tell me he is busy but he has not come out yet. I am worried about him.
This is the top half of a dog house buried in the hillside for the desert tortoise. He hibernates here but has not come out yet. The pile of dirt covering the entrance completely appeared the first week of March. I have since removed some of the entry dirt so he can see daylight if he is near the entrance, but he has not been seen at all. Should I get busy and dig him out?
Last year he emerged on March 5th. This year the dirt piles tell me he is busy but he has not come out yet. I am worried about him.
That is gopher back fill.....I would get down there and slowly remove the dirt and do it with a hand shovel....I know what picture shows...when the CDT renovates its burrow, the apron of the entrance is always cleared as they dig from within....in other words, they dig a bit, then clear that dirt out and push it to the outer edges of the apron....then continue to do so until there is a noticeable berm around the half moon....what you are seeing is a tortoise that began brumation and then their whole was hijacked by gopher...who back filled the half dome as they remodeled the burrow for their liking....
That tortoise needs to be rescued.
Did you get him out alright?
I wonder if the gopher activity out front scared him into going in even further?
SUCCESS !!!
It wasn't easy. We excavated as much as possible finding no evidence of tortoise or a tunnel in there. This gave us no option but to dig out the entirety the dog house from the hillside. After removing the whole doghouse and shoveling and raking all loose dirt away, things were looking pretty bleak. We dug up a gopher skull. That was a little disheartening seeing as things are dying here. It did not look promising at all of finding him alive. There was no visible tunnel anywhere. Nothing to do but dig more, and more, and keep going farther back. Finally the dirt seemed to loosen and those gorgeous legs eventually appeared. When the toes got moving and we could see he is alive was such a thrilling moment !
He peeped out took a few steps and seemed to smile (ok maybe that's my imagination). He seemed relieved even though he looked like a walking mound of dirt. So wonderful to see that walking mound of dirt! It was just past sunset so he looked around thinking why the h did you wake me up at bedtime. He decided to just stay there. We left him with food and water for when he is ready. We will bring more in the morning in case the rabbits and gophers eat it all tonight.