10/29/11 Young Raccoons and Gopher Tortoises

     Today I brought my pet Florida Snapping Turtle to visit the hospital. Many of the volunteers there had never seen him. I took two baby Gopher Tortoises to a field to graze on native plants. Then I took two adult Gopher Tortoises to graze. Then I gave medicine to two cages full of mid sized Raccoons. I collected the day's cardboard for later recycling. At one point a wild Squirell ran up to me and stood on my shoe.

A Red Rat Snake Rescue

      I posted this also in my "Mother Nature" Blogger Blog. In recent evenings the air has been cool, which causes snakes to come out to lay on the still warm roads. I try to do my driving around then so I can rescue as many as possible.
     I passed this baby 8 inch Grey Rat Snake and had to go back for it after my mind recognized it for a snake and not a stick. I took it home, fed it on baby mouse, took it to work to show it to a lot of people and right now it is back at my house resting. I'd like to grow it to about a foot long then when it can defend itself better, release it.
     This is one of the wildest snake babies I've had. Although harmless, every time I pick it up, which is not often, it has a crazy fit. It spins around, wiggles like a worm and bites me over and over.
     One of the reasons I wanted to post this snake picture is because I didn't want Back to Nature to look like a turtle hospital. They work with birds, mammals, reptiles and anything else native. I blog mostly about turtles because that is my specialty.

A Mud Turtle Release

     This Mud Turtle was dropped off to the Wildlife Hospital. It was unharmed and quite actice. So right away they gave it to me and and half an hour later it was swimming in a clean cypress swamp.
     When I released it into the flooded woods behind my house I had to be quick about it. This was not because of the Mud Turtle, it was because of the cloud of mosquitoes that are active right now. Recent rain and flooding has caused the mosquitoe popluation of explode. It was all I could do to stay still long enough to take a picture.

A Softshell Turtle Release

     On October 8th I realeased this big Softshell Turtle into my swamp. It is from Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge and has a long scratch down it's back. The scratch may be from going under a fence. While in captivity it was pretty wild. But when I released it, it slowly took it's time. This enabled be to take several good pictures. Often my pictures are a blur or some animal's butt as they make a break for freedom.

A New Baby Gopher Tortoise

     Today I stopped in to check if a small Spur Thigh Tortoise had been adopet out. I was going to ask Dr. Pritchard if he wanted it. I did see a new baby Gopher Tortoise one of the volunteers rescued off a road. This one looks about four years old. It was of the dark variety I see sometimes.
     I also stopped in to observe the Box Turtles. It was sunny and hot and everyone of them was hiding.
     I picked up the days cardboard also.

Peninsula Cooter Rescue

     I was driving in to work early this morning and saw two Peninsula Cooter Turtles stuck on a road. One was already dead and this very large female was on the side. I swung my car around and went back for her.
     I was able to get to her in time, but her boyfriend didn't make it. I walked her over (in the same direction she was going) to a nearby lake and set her on the shoreline, where I took this picture with my phone.
     This is the first time I have used my phone to post a picture on the internet. I took the picture, then posted it on facebook, then from facebook to a desktop computer and lastly to this blog.

Softshell Turtle Rescue

     Over the last few days I finished a rough draft of the October BTN online newsletter. I took this over as the last one is a year old. I never though working with animals would push me to become more computer literate. I've learned how to save a document in several versoins of WORD. I've leaned how to save pictures in different levels of pixalation, both with my camera, my computer and now my "smart" phone.
     At the hospital I helped put up a tarp on the Screech Owl cage to prepare for a coming rain storm. I worked on a Armadillo's wound. Flies had laid eggs which now had become maggots. I delicately picked off every one with of them with tweezers after drowning them with mineral oil.
     In nature I see beauty and I see horror. Animal rehab is not for the faint hearted. Someone asked me one time, "What difference does it make if you save one turtle off the road?" I told them, "To that turtle it made all the difference."

     I was returning from recycling a car load of cardboard from Back to Nature when I spotted this 8 inch Softshell Turtle in the middle of Reasearch Parkway Road in Orlando. I drive down this road often, because I often see Penninsula Cooter Turtles trying to cross the road here. It was unharmed. :)
    (Three Days Later) This little Softshell Turtle stayed with me for a few days. It wouldn't eat live goldfish. On the last day, I took it to work and to an environmental meeting. Twenty or so people got a close look at it and took pictures. After that I put it into Lake Mills which is a nice clean swampy lake.

A New Armadilo

     Even though Armadillos are an exotic/invasive species the staff here are full of love for them too. I took this one out for a bug search in the grass. I put antibaterial lotion of some cracks in his shell. It was dragging its back legs but seemed otherwise able to move freely.
     I held (Izzy) a sweet Opossum for half an hour. The whole time it slept in my arms. I was eating a brownie and dropped crumbs on him. It did not seem to mind as I searched it's fur the the brownie bits.
     I took a baby Gopher Torsoise for a grazing walk. I know what plants it likes, so I look for a spot where the plants are and it is sunny. It started eating as soon as it touched the ground. Baby Gopher Torsoises seem to prefer tiny plants with round leaves. They only rarely eat grass.

A new baby Gopher Tortoise & Box Turtle Watch

     One day after we turned over our last baby Gopher Tortoise to a perserve north of us, an even younger one got turned in to us. I took this tiny baby to a sunny spot with the same round leafed plants I've seen other baby Gopher Tortoises eat. As soon as it hit the ground it started eating, continuing for half an hour.
     I took a load of trash to the dumpster and collected the day's cardboard for recycling.

     I stop in and observe the Box Turtle each day. Above is a picture I took of an Eastern Box Turtle. I don't handle them very often, like I do the Gopher Tortoises, Spur Thigh Tortoise and Red Legged Tortoise. I'm watching the Box Turtles to see what they eat, how much sun they like etc. I'm raising four babies so I'm interested in learning any lessons I can from this small colony of adults. I do know that babies hide more than adults do in the wild.

A Gopher Tortoise

     This little Gopher Tortoise was rescued by a Back to Nature staff from certain road crossing death. I later found out was captured right up the street from my house! So I took this one home and released it deep into my private forest. I know of only one other large Gopher Tortoise that lives there. Little baby tortoises have all been killed by "outdoor" feral domestic cats.
     Today I also took the other Gopher Tortoise out for a half hour free range plant buffet. I gave the large goat named Jennifer a back rub, I held the resident Oppossum for half an hour to keep it socialized. My car is packed with three days of BTN cardboard, which I'll take to a recycling center tonight.
     I got a good picture of a Green Anole. Even though I have many pictures of them, it makes me happy to get one more.
     (next day) I put the Gopher Tortoise under a canoe, where he could come and go, but feel safe. It was kind of an emergency den. The next day it was still there. So I soaked it in water for a few minutes to be sure it wasn't thirsty and set it out in the sun. I came back several hours later and it had not moved. So I put it back under the canoe. It has been cool so I think it just wants to dig in and wait for a warmer day.