I am new and need some Identification Help

[janx]

Can someone positively id this tortoise?

It doesn't look like the normal Florida gopher tortoises we are used to seeing. We're pretty sure it's not a gopher, but want to be 100% sure.

Showed up in a place where native tortoises normally aren't. (not sandhill/scrub area)

Caprice is bumpy, local native shells are fairly smooth.

Doesn't withdraw from people - like it's a pet? It will actually advance head towards you.

Seems to have no intentions of ever leaving porch where it was found.

 

[tortadise]

Welcome! That would be a gopher tortoise alright. Looks like he was in a fire or something.

 

[sibi]

Awww...I can't imagine that it's burned. If it were, wouldn't it hurt too much to even stick his head out?Where in Florida are you? Is it possible to give it a good soak and see if some of the blackness comes off? Please keep us posted. Don't know what you plan to do with it, but if it is burned, he needs immediate care. I would be willing to foster him until I can find a suitable home. Send me an email.

 

[wellington]

I would give him a soak in warm water for 20-30 minutes. Then I would try to find its owners, incase it was an escapee.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Oh bless him or her. Is there a possibility of someone having dumped him? Worse, did someone set him on fire to be evil and he just happened to find his way, maybe by scent, to humans, and your porch. Speculating, of course. Poor baby. The burns seem to be just on his shell which is why I wondered if someone threw fluid on him from above. People can be so wicked. Lives without souls, walking amongst us.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Janx, and welcome to the Forum!!

It probably has been someone's pet for a while. And rather than being burned or injured, it looks more to me like someone has dipped the tortoise in some sort of paint and that is wearing off now. I could tell for sure if I could see it in person. Can you lift off any of that golden color with a fingernail?

 

[Laura]

looks like shell rot..

 

[janx]

Thanks for the help. Some more information.

Neither the yellow, nor the black comes off. It appears to be simply the color of the animal.

Shell rot? What is that? (I'll google when I'm done here). Shell appears hard and intact. Animal appears healthy - clear eyes, not lethargic. Eats and uses the bathroom.

All the local gophers - Central Florida - we've ever seen - dead or alive - look like the one shown here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwssoutheast/5960563007/in/set-72157627247432666/
Shell is relatively smooth. Single color - some lighter, some darker. Coloring on babies vary. They are fairly common here. We have to be careful not to hit them with the lawn mower. There's about 50 acres of gopher habitat behind us and a large part of our back yard is scrub hill type habitat.

She was found at a friends in a typical cookie cutter neighborhood of manicured lawns. She's been on their porch a couple of days. It's not cold enough that she would be sunning herself for that amount of time. Had no interest in going in the grass or leaving. No neighbors are claiming a missing turtle. No one knows where it came from.

This girl has distinct bumps on top. They don't photograph well. Are there different subspecies of gophers?

This one really does not look like the local ones. Shell is taller, bumpy and the unusual coloring. The shell does not appear to be damaged, (newly) burnt (its not soot) or painted.

If this is a gopher, and a previous pet, what's the best approach? I picked her up because we thought she was not a gopher based on appearance and behaviour. Here it's illegal to mess with them. If I thought she was a gopher and didn't appear to need aid (which she doesn't), I'd have left her alone.

If she was a pet, can she survive in the wild? Things that seem to indicate she may have been - doesn't hide or even move away from people. Seems unafraid of people - will stretch neck out towards you. Appears to possibly react to the sound of the fridge door opening.

Thoughts on what to do next?

 

[Yvonne G]

The bumpiness is because someone had the tortoise from the time it was a hatchling and didn't care for it properly. They need a lot more moisture in their environment when they are babies and most people who don't know better keep them too dry...hence the bumps (called pyramiding).

You can trust Tortadise...it IS a gopher tortoise.

---

I'm not familiar with Florida's regulations regarding tortoises, but I do know that if you left this tortoise to roam freely, it would surely die.

 

[janx]

Thanks for the explanation for the bumps/pyramiding. That explains why it doesn't look like the others!

Well dieing is an unacceptable solution, so it can't be released.

I know it's illegal to keep, possess, molest, ect in FL - reminders at local parks and road signs. IF permits are available to keep them in certain circumstances as pets, I know I don't have it.

Anyone know who the proper people are to contact to get it into a place that is permitted to keep it? Who do I call? Animal control? Fish and Game? Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles? Seriously, I don't know who would be the right folks to contact.

I've no interest in it dieing, and no interest in breaking the law. Catch 22 - can't release, can't keep. Had I known it was a gopher, I would have left it where it was and figured out who to call to fetch it to some form of captive safety. Didn't look like a gopher, nor act like one - past pet - thought we were picking up a lost or abandoned pet store critter. Not a native illegally kept as pet.

 

[Yvonne G]

You can call a wildlife rehabber, but if you want to try to keep it, you can contact the department of fish and game/wildlife. The state one, not the national one.

 

[sibi]

I'm from Florida and I recently acquired a permit to have a tortoise shipped to me from AZ. Florida gophers are illegal to disturb or remove from its habitat; but in this situation, FWC Of Florida can be contacted and there will NOT be any consequences to you at all. I have a contact at FWC that I can call tomorrow. I'll let you know what you have to do.

 

[janx]

I really want to thank you all the identification help from all of you. I was honestly shocked to find out we had mistakenly rescued our friend from a gopher tortoise and not some non-native species like we thought. Really, glad for the education on pyramiding - learned something knew, so it was a good day!

I appreciate sibi taking the extra step to contact FWC, so we know what to do. The thoughts of having what I know is an illegal animal to possess, unintentionally, but still needed saved as it really does appear its been kept as a pet and trying to figure out who to call now was a bit confusing.

Again, thank you all.