This is the characteristic dome-shaped burrow entrance of a gopher tortoise. Inside, it's about 72 degrees and moist, even on the hottest Florida day. Also inside you could find the rare gopher frog, a host of snakes, beetles, BIG wolf spiders, mice, and of course the gopher.
8 comments:
I have seen a lot of not-so-rare rattlesnakes come out of those holes. It's good situation for gopher and snake. The gopher builds (digs) the home the snake lives in and the snake is a live in security guard.
I'm sure the rattlesnakes have benefited from the ban on taking gopher tortoises. They didn't really have much chance when the taking the gophers had guns.
That was me...
Are you sure that's not a Hobbit hole?
72! No matter how hot!! Maybe I should look into digging a hole to live in during the summer. On second thought, I wouldn't want to live with the other creatures.
How do all those creatures get along together? Seems to me that the snakes would want to eat the frogs and mice and maybe snack on the turtle, too.
Anonymous Kevin,
I know I am possibly encouraging diamondbacks by having gophers, but in 19 years,we have had only 2 diamondbacks and one coral snake. The coral we relocated, the diamondbacks did not cooperate. We do have indigos which eat rattlesnakes, so it all equals out.
Swamp,
The hobbit hole is in an old oak...I'll have to get a photo.
Hick,
I would imagine that there is some "tenant eat tenant" going on in there. The gopher doesn't have much to worry about from any of those freeloaders.
Indigos are great snakes and they are REALLY rare. I try to leave the rattlesnakes alone, but sometimes there is only one way to deal with them. As far as encouraging diamondbacks goes, they eat a lot of things you don't want around. As long as they are away from the house and dogs they are ok.
Kevin,
If only the rest of Floridians had the same snake attitude...
Yeah, most of my friends think they are all venomous and the only good snake is a dead snake. I told them I'd be glad to catch and relocate the snakes.
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