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 Florida
Turtles: Land Turtles |
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 Florida
Box Turtle- The Florida Box Turtle is an attractive turtle that
has been used a a children's pet. It spends most of its time wandering
through woods, fields, and gardens, but it will occasionally soak itself
in water. A small to medium sized turtle, the Florida Box Turtle is one
of the well known subspecies of eastern box turtle. In both appearance
and color it is unlike its northern cousin the Eastern Box Turtle. It
can be quickly identified by the almost black background to its
elongated shell with the back of the shell flaring out. Box turtles have
a highly domed carapace (upper shell) and a hinged plastron (bottom
shell) that can be completely shut to keep out predators. These
characteristics contribute to this turtle's descriptive name, 'box
turtle'. The Florida Box Turtle feeds on different types of
invertebrates, insects and plant matter. This species of box turtle
seems to be very carnivorous even as adults. Males are slightly larger
on average than females, the posterior lobe of their plastron is
concave, and the claws on their hind legs are short, thick, and curved.
Males also have thicker and longer tails. Females' rear claws are
longer, straighter, and more slender, and the posterior lobe of their
plastron is flat or slightly convex. Males have red irises and females
have yellowish-brown irises. Gulf
Coast Box Turtle-
The Gulf Coast box turtle is larger than other box turtles, and
can reach up to 7 inches in length. They have a domed carapace (shell)
that is usually dark brown or black, with few markings (radiating yellow
markings may be found on juveniles, but these often disappear in
adults). The marginal scutes are often flared. The plastron is usually
dark. The skin is brown, but the males may have brighter or white
markings on neck and forelegs. This turtle is usually seen in moist
woods, often near streams. Because they are often seen when crossing
roads, it may appear that the turtle is a great wanderer, but in reality
the Gulf Coast Box turtle spends most of its life within the confines of
an area no larger than a football field. Female box turtles have the
unique ability to store sperm and fertilize their eggs whenever they
choose to lay them, up to six years after a single mating.  Gopher
Tortoise- The loveable, slow-moving Gopher Tortoise is famous
for digging underground burrows 10 to 35 feet long with "bedrooms" at
the ends. The burrows are found in sandy well drained areas through out
Florida. In good weather, the tortoise emerges from its burrow to browse
on low-growing vegetation, including leaves, grass and wild fruits. Over
seventy other kinds of animals have been found using the
state protected Gopher Tortoise burrows in various ways. These
include burrowing owls, raccoons,
opossums, gopher frogs, spiders,
insects, cotton rats, indigo snakes, and
rattlesnakes.When picked up the Gopher tortoise immediately pulls in his head into his shell and covers most of his face with his front legs. These front legs are large, flat and heavily scaled on their exposed surfaces, making identification easy. The name gopher tortoise is a reference to the pocket gopher, a small mammal which also creates lengthy burrows. Gophers, as they are often called are one of the original inhabitants of the coastal dunes along Florida's beaches. The Gopher Tortoise never stops excavating, and usually brings up some dirt every time it emerges from its burrow. The gopher uses his specially adapted feet to make the sand really fly when digging. The gopher tortoise grows on average to be about slightly less than one foot long and weighs about 29 pounds, though they have been found to be as big as 16 inches. The gopher tortoise is a rather plain looking turtle as far as colors go. They are either a dark tan, or gray. Their front legs are broad and flat, almost like a shovel. Their back legs look just like an elephant's legs. The top part of their shell is fairly flat, The adult gopher tortoise is a rather drab looking animal, which is in stark contrast for the brightly colored hatchlings. Gopher tortoises live upwards of 100 years. The gopher tortoise reaches sexual maturity between 12 and 15 years of age, when their shells are about 9 inches long. The gopher tortoise has an elaborate courtship that begins in the spring. They will nest between April and July. Typically, the nests are dug very close to their burrow openings, where a clutch of 4-7 eggs are laid. After about 80 - 90 days, the young hatch and will often spend the first winter in their mother's burrow. The gopher tortoise egg's are round and about the size of a ping pong ball, they incubate for about 80 - 90 days, The sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature of the sand or dirt where the nest is incubating, if the temperature is above 30° C (85° F), the tortoises hatchling will be females. Temperatures below 30° C produce males. Hatchlings are 1 - 2 inches long and grow about 3/4 inch a year. |
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