Well, it has finally happened. My husband Ryan, who works at a Broward County Park, has finally brought home our first "park pet"- a 40 pound African Spurred Tortoise!
Here are some interesting facts:
The Sulcata is the third largest species of tortoise in the world, and is the largest of the mainland tortoises. Adults are usually 18 inches in shell length, and weigh 70 to 100 pounds. Specimens with 24 to 30 inch long shells weighing 150 pounds are not unknown. They grow from hatchling size (2-3 inches) very quickly, reaching 6-10 inches within the first few years of their lives. An adult sulcata will need a great deal of space. Several web sites list the record size between 230 lb and 240 lb.
Sounds a bit too big for our back porch and yard to me!
FYI- A "park pet" is defined by any exotic species that is dropped off at a park by a pet owner who feels they can no longer care for the crazy animal that they bought in the first place, so they decide to set them "free" in the "wild". Problem is that these animals are usually exotic and will out compete the native species. So, as a naturalist, Ryan has to remove them from the habitat and find a suitable home for them. As you can tell, since the tortoise (who we are affectionately calling Godzilla) is at our house, Ryan is having a hard time finding a new home for him.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Spurred_Tortoise).
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6 comments:
Wow Jaime, that is amazing! Putting the tortoise next to your sofa really shows some scale.
I have a funny story for you. I grew up in the Mojave Desert in California and our house was the last one before the vast desert. One day our siamese cat vanished for the entire day. We were so worried about him but late in the day he showed up in our yard...he was "herding" a desert tortoise!!! We tried to keep it in our yard but it dug under our fence to escape, lucky tortoise. I sure wish I had a photo of it, but my family was not into photography.
Wow! When I heard 40 lbs I knew it was big, but to see the photo is something else. Where do you keep him?
That picture is from the park office. Right now we are keeping him on our back screened-in porch, but that is not going well. He keeps trying to dig out and is getting pretty rough with the screen door! Ryan is trying to decide if our backyard can provide a good habitat for him, and if so, then we have to reinforce the yard so, as debby pointed out, he doesn't dig under our fence, get out, and start terrorizing the neighborhood! He is really cool though- very people friendly. If you walk out on the porch, he'll walk right up to you, albeit slowly!
Jaime....What a great story! I wish we have room for him here at the Sherman Library. The children would LOVE him!
Are you feeding him veggies? Would Miami Metro Zoo take him?
What a great house guest to have!!
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