Such a Softie...Apalone ferox

When I was a kid,riding in the car, I would beg my Dad to stop for turtles we saw crossing the road.

I mean, every time I saw one.

"Are you crazy boy? I'm going 65 mph and it's pouring!"

 It wasn't my current enlightened, "let's help it across the road" turtlephillic motivation though.

No, it was more the "Can I keep it? Huh? Can I keep it?" philosophy.

I was a just a tad reptile crazed from birth to ... how old am I?

So, ... the crazed part has mellowed, and I know not to bring every turtle home to my wild homestead, but I still get that "Oh boy, a turtle!" feeling when I see one as I drive along.

These days, when it's safe for both of us, I move turtles off the road (yes, in the direction they were going)...snakes too.

Recently I was driving on a 2 lane rural road that bisects an intermittent pond called, "Long Pond" when I spotted a big brown lump in the road.

Even from a distance, I could tell it was a huge softshell turtle. I assumed it had already been killed since it remained motionless as I approached.

I pulled over to look at it, and surprise! It was perfectly fine.

So being familiar with the long, lightning fast, bitey-ended neck of the softshell, I grabbed a piece of PVC pipe to shoo it off the road. I poked, I prodded, I spoke encouragingly ...

Well, she was having none of that. She engaged full braking mode and was not gonna move.

So I grabbed her from behind, held her way out in front of me to avoid that neck, and carried her off the road.

The video tells the story, complete with post turtle "rescue" elation.

Apalone ferox

Bears, Horses, and Diamondbacks

Bear and I went on a rare solo walk, sans Coquina yesterday. 

It's not that Keena wasn't welcome, she just happened to be napping after several days of having too much fun with Katy and Robert's dog, Doug.

It was supposed to be just an in and out short walk as I had deck work to do, but Bear put on his stubborn hat and headed towards the southwest corner of PFHQ.

So I followed.

When I caught up with Bear, I found he had led me to some kind of Equine United Nations summit.

There was a paint, a pony, a magnificent tall brown horse, and hidden behind that horse, a donkey.
When the horses, et al, saw Bear, they all came trotting over to the fence.

There were introductions.

The paint, a favorite horse flavor of mine was the most cautious, but it (he/she?) finally walked over to the fence for a closer look at the two strangers.

The huge brown horse was the ham of the bunch, leaning way over the corner fence post for some nose rubbage.

He even did a quick photo bomb when I tried to get a photo of the donkey.
What an Ass!

I was able to get this shot of the donkey when Bear distracted The Browninator with a little excited dog muttering.
Bearsy was pretty good for a dog who hasn't had much horse contact at all.
No barking, just some Lab talk.

After a little while, Bear's interest turned elsewhere and we headed along the fence and back to the house.

As we passed the diamond back terrapin sunning tank, Bear stopped and did a quick count.

Yup, two diamondbacks.
All is well.

"Terra" (top)

"Marina" (bottom)

DIAMOND(BACKS) ARE FOREVER ... I HOPE

This tiny baby Diamondback Terrapin was desperately trying to get into the school last week. One of our staff spotted him, nose to school door and legs a'going just before school started.

She swooped him up and sent him to me, at which point, I practically fell out of my chair.
A tiny diamondback terrapin!

He's so tiny, you would think he just hatched, and yet we are in early spring. I don't know enough about diamondback terrapin breeding (yet), but that seems like an early hatch.

I used to operate a sea turtle hatchery at Fort Matanzas National Monument and we always planned for 55 days gestation time. When I hatched Florida Cooter eggs several years ago, I found the same time span to be true for them too.

I can't imagine that diamondbacks lay eggs in the dead of winter, so this is probably a yearling from last year.

He's a pretty good muncher of pond snails. I have an abundance of them in my various ponds and tanks so he's eating well. I crush them between my fingers before dropping them into his tank and he goes to town on them.

Diamondbacks are an estuary species and for that reason, not often seen. I used to find them hibernating in the San Sebastion estuary during the winter when I was a kid, but that was a while ago.

This one is going to spend some time as an ambassador of his species and help me educate kids about his clan.

This little guy needs a name, so I'm open for suggestions.

Itty Bitty Box Turtle

When she walked in the room, I knew this would be a tough negotiation. We both wanted the object in her hand, but her eyes were telling me I was going home empty handed.

Still, I had to try.

The thing, so tiny, so perfect ... like a diamond only bigger, differently shaped, not pure carbon, not crystalline, not transparent, not inanimate ... okay, maybe not literally like a diamond.

Precious though.

Precious like a diamond.

She wanted to know what it was, what it ate, how should she care for it ...

I answered all of these questions gently, but always with a ... "You can give it to me, I'll take care of it here in the classroom where you could come visit it."

Her eyes turned steely.

She wasn't going to bite.

How could she defeat me?

It's elementary my dear Watson.

In the end, I gave in to my opponent, a sweet fifth grade girl, smaller than my Labrador BEAR.

One of the benefits of working at a unique, wonderfully tiny school like Cedar Key School isthe fact that we are pre-K through 12th grade, so you have contact with kids of all ages.

And when you are the science teacher ... they bring you stuff... cool stuff like the baby Florida box turtle below.

You can see why I made a determined effort to become the owner of this little bit of Chelonian charisma.

In the end, this little boxer went home with the young lady who found it, along with as much box turtle care advice as I could throw at her in our brief meeting.

I'm hoping she will drop in on me again with an update and maybe, just maybe, ... on "show and tell" day in her class ... bring him by for a visit.

I can hope.

'Cause you know ... "Hope springs Eturtle".

(seriously, I slay myself sometimes)

GoPro BurrowCam

On these 10 wooded acres that we call home, there are somewhere between 7 and 10 gopher tortoises that also call "our" place home.

They have been here since the last ice age and we, well, our St. Augustine rooted family brags about being in Florida for the past 250 years ... which always seems pretty impressive until the gophers drop their ... "since the last ice age" bombshell.

That always ends the discussion ... I try not to bring up generational timelines anymore when I am chatting up a gopher tortoise.

It's a dead end street.

Speaking of dead ends ...  consider the scene below.

In the photo above, we see a gopher burrow that has been dug into by some nongopher critter.
The entrance, which should be a nice semi-circular, domed opening barely bigger than the gopher who made it, has been dramatically enlarged.
Also, at 3 places along the length of the burrow, the ceiling has been breached by holes that break through to the tunnel below.

The day before I took this photo, all was well. It was a perfectly normal, active gopher burrow.

When I discovered this dramatic change, it was late in the day, but a dead gopher not too far away from this disturbed burrow got me wondering about what was inside that burrow now, and how were the other gophers on our property doing?

The unfortunate dead gopher was a mystery, young, maybe only 3 years or so, with hardly a mark on him except for a puncture through his carapace.
A puncture about the size of a canine tooth.
While demons from hell neighbor's cats do cross PFHQ, uninvited dog traffic is nil and Bear walks on a leash with me, so I doubt a domestic dog got this gopher.

I did suspect coyotes though.
They are abundant here, yipping like crazed hyenas on moonful nights ... this past week was loaded with moonful nights.

It seemed to me that I should be able to take a little looksee in that burrow.
After all, I had a 3.5 pound human brain on me, a GoPro video camera in the house, and a workshop full of odds and ends.

With all of the possibilities bouncing around in my brain like a pack of coyotes on an electrified trampoline, I headed to the workshop.

I pondered a moment and then quickly rigged up a "burrowcam" which I christened, "EXPLORER 1".
To a 10 foot piece of schedule 40, 1 inch PVC pipe, I attached a small block of 1"x2" wood.
Next, I took one of my extra GoPro adhesive camera mounts and adhered it to the wooden block.
After that, I ziptied a small, but bright flashlight to the device.

With no view finder, my AWESOME little GoPro Hero camera couldn't tell me what it was seeing in real time. That would have to wait until I could hook the camera up to my laptop.

At least I could peek in the burrows and see if the gophers were okay.
Or, would I see the green glow of coyote eyes staring back at me?

Only time would tell.

Gopher burrows are fairly straight affairs, which is a good thing since the one inch PVC pipe was not going to turn any corners.
My goal was to get in and out pretty quickly, with minimal disturbance to the burrow occupants.

Once the camera and light hit a wall, a curve, or a dead end, I would just retrieve EXPLORER 1 and move on.

Sliding the camera into the burrow was a bit of a "deja vu" moment for me.
Substitute a bamboo pole for the PVC pipe and a large wire hook for the camera, and you would have a gopher pulling pole.
Growing up in St. Augustine in the 1960's and 70's, a device like that was a common sight in the bed of any pickup truck and the gopher stew it provided was traditional backyard cookout fare.

I like the camera concept much better.

I love my resident gophers and manage the areas around their burrows to keep the forest back and provide the sunshine and forbs they need to remain here. A little meadow burning and tree trimming is all it takes to give them the open space they need for gophrolicking.

I checked 4 burrows with the burrowcam.
The dugout burrow and another had just enough of a curve that the pole dead-ended.
The third burrow sloped down and then up a little and the pole dead-ended again.

Those videos show burrow tunnel and then ... plunk! A sand wall.
Not too exciting.

But the 4th burrow was easily navigated by EXPLORER 1 and it contained a healthy, fat gopher.

EXPLORER 1 came back from it's mission in great shape.
Just a little sand here and there.

I see great potential for this little prototype "stick it where you don't want to go or can't fit" camera setup.

I'm thinking "culvert cam", "dark scary hole cam", "big scary toothy fish cam", "rattlesnake cam",  ... the possibilities are mind boggling.


Here's the burrowcam video that bore fruit ...

Goodbye Gopher

Happier days.

For years, the gopher above was a regular, but not everyday sight as I left for work or returned home.
It lived about a half mile down from my mailbox, along my quiet country road.

I have stopped to shoo it off the road and back into the grassy shoulder about a dozen times, almost always in the late afternoon as I headed home from work.

My usual shooing plan involved pulling over into the tortoise's lane, stopping close to the gopher, and chastising it for being on the road ... complete with wagging, nagging finger.

For this, I would get a hiss and a gradual turn back to the shoulder.

Then, I'd head on to my driveway.

Here are the trails made by the daily foraging of this gopher. It's all right next to the road. I'm actually standing on the road to take this picture.

This is very close to the giant diamondback rattlesnake location which I posted about a few weeks ago.

No mystery there ... diamondbacks are just one of over a hundred species that use gopher burrows as a refuge.

If you follow the main trail up to the fence line, at the edge of a cutover piney wood, you can see the burrow entrance.

The white sand around the front is from tunnel excavating and is called an "apron".
Often this where a gopher will lay her eggs.
For reasons that will become clear soon enough, I'd like to think there are some small round eggs incubating there right now.

A few days ago, a flock of vultures flew up as I approached the gopher's territory.
"Let it be an armadillo", I thought as I slowed for a look.


It wasn't.
It was my gopher, crushed by a tire and dead.

This is an extremely quiet,isolated area with almost no traffic ... I think this was most likely an unintended death.


I know plenty of good people who still run over snakes (I said "good", not "perfect"), but for the life of me, I've never heard anyone say they purposefully run over turtles.


It could have been a case of distracted driving, texting, makeup adjustments, or a big log truck unable to safely swerve ... whatever the reason, I bet it was unintentional.

Goodbye, Gopher.

Whatever the reason, I'll miss the wonderful old lump of a reptile who made me stop and "shoo" on so many rides home after a long day in the classroom.

I wish I could have been a little bit earlier on this particular day.

If I squint real hard and try to see the bright side in this, there is a pretty sweet burrow left gopherless now, and just waiting to be claimed by a new tenant.

Perhaps one day soon, I'll turn the corner on to my road and find another stubborn gopher in need of a good chewing out.

I'd like that.

Shameless Teaser for tomorrow's post:

PHOTOS OF ZICK!

What To Do If You Hook A Seaturtle

 What do you do if you accidently hook or snag a seaturtle while fishing in Florida?

The good news for both you and the seaturtles is ... it probably won't happen.

But, it might.

This young sea turtle swam too close to one of our lures and snagged a flipper. We were not able to remove the hook from his tough scaley, skin while he was in the water due to his efforts to swim away, so I used the dip net to lift him in to the boat for the 10 seconds Denny needed to pop the hook loose.

In no time this little guy was back in the water hunting the grassflats and avoiding the tiger sharks who hunt him.

The FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) has specific guidelines for dealing with a hooked seaturtle. It turns out that we unknowingly followed them by applying common sense along with a sense of urgency in getting the turtle back into the ocean quickly and with minimal stress.

The actual guidelines can be found here.

Snagging a turtle is a pretty rare event, but if you are out there often enough, it could happen.

Check out the link above for more information.

Anyone who thinks turtles are slow has never seen a sea turtle kick it into high gear.

Watch the short video below to see what I mean.

Gopher Mowpher? No Sir!

Mrs. FC was mowing around the house and garden area last week, when she stopped suddenly and called me over.

I was cutting brush along a fence line with my new, uber sweet kukri machete when I heard the mower stop and her call to "Come Quick!"

My first thought was, "Oh, she must have another carnivorous katydid up her pants ... what are the odds of two in a week?"

(WHAT? ... I didn't tell you about the carnivorous katydid?  One morning her truck would not start, so we had the hood up and jumper cables connecting it to my JEEP. While we leaned on the truck and peered at the engine the way people do in that situation, she began to hop around clutching the leg of her nursing scrubs, while shouting, "Take my pants off! Take my pants off!"

It was pretty funny (and unexpected) so I guess I must have been standing there in shocked amazement, because she took matters in to her own hands and flipped her waistband down long just enough for a big brown carnivorous katydid to hop out.

This was one of those times when it's especially good that we live way out in the country without neighbors. 

 Her truck never started by the way, and she headed off to work in my JEEP with a pretty unusual start to her day.)

On this day, it was not another katydid attack, but rather a young gopher tortoise who happened to be directly in the path of the mower when she spotted it.

WHEW! 

That was close.

Good job, Mrs. FC.

This guy has no concept of how lucky he is.

First he lives here, where we love his company and even manage parts of the property just for his benefit.

Second, we don't mow very often so the chances of a bad blade encounter are small to start with. In fact, due to the horrible drought which broke last week (after I wrote about it), we have mowed exactly two times this year.

Third, Mrs. FC happened to be paying close attention as she mowed.

This little guy might be last year's tiny yellow gopher I posted about at the time.

He's too big and past that hatchling yellow stage to be the motorcycle rescued gopher from a month or so ago.

Because it was nearby, I placed him in the runway to G-5's (Gopher #5) burrow, expecting him to scramble into the safety of the cool darkness.

He did not.

So I nudged him gently.

Unfortunately, due to the extreme slope of G-5's burrow entrance, when I nudged him he tumbled out of sight into the dark tunnel.

ARRRRGHHHHH!

What if he was in there on his back?

Sometimes they can right themselves, but sometimes they can not and it is a slow death if they can not get back upright.

I peered into the darkness, but could not see him.

DANG IT!

I dashed back into the house, grabbed the bazillion candlepower boat spotlight and returned.

At the top of the burrow, I put myself in a prone position so I was leaning upside down over the burrow entrance.

When the very powerful spotlight fired up, there was the little gopher, right side up crawling towards me.

I think I may name this one LUCKY if he decides to stick around PFHQ.



Flippin' Out



Don'cha hate mornings like this?



"Hey, watch out for turtles on your way in. It's like a turtle migration this morning."
She called after only a few minutes on the road, I was still walking Bear and had not left yet.
Sweet!
I was hoping for lots of turtle shots on the way in to work after getting that phone call. It has been all work and no play this week and I was short of fresh photos for PF.
Plus it had rained nicely last night ... FINALLY ...and I figured the critters would be on the move this morning.

As luck would have it, all I found in 20 miles was this poor musk turtle, upended and waiting helplessly for the first predator or big truck to come along.

I was in the other lane when I saw him, but there's not much traffic on this piney-woods road, so it wasn't a big deal to wheel the JEEP around and check him out.

I was dreading a cracked or mushed shell, but he seemed fine.




I suppose he was just tapped by a spinning wheel and sent spinning earlier that morning.

He was frisky and snappy, all good signs to me.
I left him in a roadside ditch with instructions to avoid the asphalt in the future.

This is the second turtle conference I have had this week.

A few days ago, a gopher tortoise was at the road edge, and just about halfway on to the asphalt. It was in the opposing lane on a quiet two-lane road so I pulled the JEEP over until I was in front of the gopher.

I pointed a finger out the open window of the JEEP and said, "NO!" while shaking my hand the way you do at toddler (or a dog named Bear) who is reaching for something dangerous.

The gopher looked up at me, hissed, and turned around towards its burrow high on the road bank.

I drove on.

Mission accomplished.

The parental finger wag ...
I still got it, baby.



Gopher Urine and Motorcycles

I am pretty sure that I own the only motorcycle in the state of Florida that has had a gopher urinate on the seat.
It's a long story.
Well, no ... , it's actually a short story, but I can probably make it long if I try.

It all began at a 4-Way Stop  in the middle of 4 peanut fields being worked by big tractors.
I was heading north on Raptor Red, just gunkholing and looking for whatever might come my way.

I had assumed I would get more than 3 miles from the house before something interesting did actually come my way.

I was wrong.

I am used to this.

As I reigned in Raptor Red and pulled to a stop at the 4 way intersection, a bit of movement in the road caught my eye.

This tiny guy was crossing the two lane blacktop. He was leaving a field with one big tractor chewing up the ground and heading to the next field where another tractor was working the peanut crop.
Now here was a problem, ... a dilemma if you will.

The infant gopher was heading out of one dangerous place, across a dangerous road, to another dangerous place.
He was also a protected species.

A pick-up was approaching the intersection.
It was time to act.

I leaned over from my perch upon Raptor Red and scooped the baby gopher up and into my windbreaker pocket.
Not a perfect carrier, but I was still close to home and the gopher colony back at PFHQ.
Once I got turned around, I could ride one handed and keep one hand on the jacket pocket.

I swung the bike out of the intersection and headed back home.

In the rearview mirror, I saw the truck reach the intersection. It seemed to pause longer than needed at an empty 4-Way stop in the country.

The driver pointed out something in the road to his passenger.

I felt my pocket.

Empty.


I did a U turn and headed back to the 4-Way.

The truck drove on.

When I pulled up to the 4-Way stop, the little gopher lay on his back,legs kicking, seemingly none the worse for wear after his short fall from Raptor Red.

I thought about the truck as I scooped him up yet again.

What kind of people stop, look at an upside down tortoise baby in the road, and then go on without at least righting it or moving it to the side.

I pondered this as I drove home, one hand on the throttle, one hand on the tiny gopher wiggling in my jacket pocket.

I may have rolled through a few stop signs due to my one-handedness.

Back at PFHQ, home to at least 7 wild and free gophers, I warned the new guy about the neighbors cats who trespass here when Bear is inside. My advice was to share G-5's gopher burrow and not stray too far from the entrance.
He seemed to listen.

I showed him the entrance and he took it from there.
I hope to see him again and if he decides to stay and make his own burrow, it looks like he will be G-8.

What?
Oh, the gopher urine. Yes, well after releasing him safely, I returned to Raptor Red to head out once again.

One of the dimples in the leather seat was filled with liquid ... the one just below where my jacket pocket would be.

I reached into the pocket.

It was soaked.

As were my jeans beneath it.

Oh well, who could blame the little guy.

It was quite a morning for him.

Bear Finds A Gopher. I Mediate.

Between worrying about my baby girl, Katie who decided to spend this weekend on an overnight wild cave adventure in Raccoon Mountain, TN, AND cleaning house for a Game of Thrones Series Premier medieval feast, AND worrying about my other baby girl Emma driving back to USF at 11:00 pm after the series premier ,  ... I did find a little time to do some wildlife management and transplant some datil peppers.

 The picture above was taken a little earlier. Bear thinks he's a German Shorthair Pointer whenever he gets a scent of gopher tortoise. The burrow that he is investigating so intently is now known as G-5. I had been wanting to ID my active gopher burrows for some time and this weekend, I made it so.

 G-5 is not your typical gopher burrow entrance. The usual entrance is simply a semi-circle slightly larger than the gopher's shell. This one was excavated by Bear months ago when the armadillo he was chasing dashed into the gopher burrow.
So now the gopher who lives there, "G-5", has a long sloping driveway down to the main entrance.

 I had some old lattice trim that I removed from the house perimeter last summer so I used it for my gopher burrow marking posts. I marked 7 active burrows in a short walk and I ignored all burrows that did not show undeniable evidence of excavation or skid tracks.

 Even though everything has greened up and the best burning time was a few months ago, I was still able to do some micro-burns near G-5's burrow to encourage nutritious sprouts and new growth. You can just make out the green stake marking G-5's burrow off to the left of the picture.

 Palmettos love a good burn and this one had a wide crown of dead fronds that shaded out gopher food plant growth as well as providing excellent rattlesnake hiding cover.
Nothing against the rattlers, but Bear is a very private pooper and he likes to tuck in to the bushes to "get busy".
I always worry when he does that around palmettos since rattlers are so fond of resting among them. Burning the dead fronds away makes this spot a little less cozy for the big diamondbacks.

On one Bear walk this weekend, I spied the elusive G-7 gopher ... about 100 feet in front of us. He had sensed us first and was making a bee line for the safety of his huge burrow.

Unfortunately, Bear spotted him at almost the exact same time.

I had Bear on a 30 foot training lead and it was all I could do to hang on as he raced for the tortoise. He got there first of course.

Poor G-7 simply stopped and tucked in all his parts. Bear was all slobberized and droolslingy by then. G-7 is one huge gopher, but Bear picked him up in his ginormous jaws for a moment before I got there.

I grabbed Bear by the collar and we did this circle dance around the gopher for a while. I wish you could feel the power in this dog.

He's pretty amazing when he gets into "inner wolf" mode.

He's pretty irritating too, since while in wolf mode,, he apparently goes deaf to the sound of human voices.

G-7 is a large male gopher who I never seem to catch out of his burrow, although the evidence of fresh excavation work is always present. I was thrilled to find him out even if he was not crazy about our encounter. The video shows that eventually, G-7 did make it back to his snug home. 

It also shows that Bear was able to refocus on the orginal task of trail running and sniffing stuff.

So, now that my gophers have names like G-1, G-2, etc, I will introduce you to individual tortoises as we cross paths this year.

Like reality TV, only without any drama at all.

Turtle Cat

Long time PF readers (you poor souls ... thank you!) know this turtle. It's been a while but we PF regulars have followed this turtle and it's siblings from when they were eggs in the sand back in 2006.


Curious newbies may want to search this blog under "baby turtles" to see how things have unfolded.

The two turtles I retained are doing fine in a livestock tank pond out in the garden. I have lost track of the others as they are free, although I did have two pass on to turtle heaven through two different events.

I do still get occasional updates on one of the turtles that went to live with a (then) very little boy who's Aunt works with me.
From time to time I get long updates on the turtle who lives in their kitchen and has apparently stolen everyone's heart.
They talk of him in the same affectionate way other people discuss their dogs and cats.

They are a reminder for me to take a chance once in a while and ignore your gut feelings. The fact is that four years ago, when that little boy's Grandma (she works here too) asked me for one of my turtle babies, I really was afraid I was sending it to an early demise.

The truth is exactly the opposite, their turtle is thriving and keeps outgrowing aquariums while he continues to charm his owners.

This caterpillar was found by my students on an outside class expedition a few weeks ago. We talked of raising it, and then decided to release it.

Pretty neat markings.

I have not bothered to look it up, because:

a) It's not a fish.

b) I am only mildly interested in the answer.

c) I have you.

PS:

I have not forgotten about the Bear video I hinted at previously.

It is coming.

Mud Turtle ... I Think.

Cute scutes!

This little turtle was down at the soggy, but not deep pond the other day. I snatched him up for a few embarrassing ID type photos and then released him.


I never did get a photo of him arching his surprisingly long neck back and over his carapace while trying to get a bite of me.

It was impressive.


Nice nails.

The sharp end.

These turtles eat small aquatic critters, like snails and crawfish.

Apparently it likes poo too.

One web site had this statement about mud turtles ... "It is sometimes seen feeding on manure, which accounts for it being referred to as the "Cow Dung Cooter".

There are better nick names out there, for sure.

"Cow Dung Cooter" makes "Mud Turtle" sound positively poetic.

Now I must come out of my shell and go back to painting the house.

Enjoy YOUR Saturday!