Sulcata Tortoise

Sulcata Tortoises are the largest continental land tortoise, they will grow to over 2 feet in length and can weigh over 100 lbs. Needless to say, this "little" guy needs a lot of space!  Their dietary requirements are also quite particular, they require calcium, mineral and fiber supplements to ensure a healthy digestive tract. These animals are very strong and very stubborn and they require walls made out of concrete to keep them in one area. Lincoln will have a lot of free roaming space very soon to accommodate his growth. If you want to know if a Sulcata tortoise is right for you and to see what it takes to properly care for this animal, download this PDF informational brochure by clicking here. Above article is courtesy of www.sulcata-station.org, a web site that also has extensive information about these beautiful tortoises for further reading. A great article and photo journal to understand better how Sulcata tortoises grow big and grow big fast can be found here at http://www.anapsid.org/sulcata2.html, the author of this article is Melissa Kaplan.

Gopher Tortoise

Crush is our resident Gopher Tortoise, he was placed here by the Florida Department of Fish & Game when the Sarasota Bradenton Children’s Zoo closed.  He was one of many gopher tortoises at the zoo when it closed – they were there for rehabilitation.  Some were native to Florida – others were native to Texas.  It is difficult to tell the difference, although we believe Crush is a Florida gopher tortoise.  We are one of very few facilities in the state of Florida to have a permit to keep a gopher tortoise in captivity.  By law, when a gopher tortoise is taken in for rehabilitation, they can only be released in the exact location where they were found, to prevent cross-contamination by mycoplasma (causing an upper respiratory infection in tortoises called mycoplasmosis).  Since an “animal rights group” had broken into the zoo and stolen all of the veterinary records and many of the native animals, we had no way to know which tortoise Crush was or where he came from.  He would have been euthanized if we were unable to take him, since he could no longer be released.  For more information go to the US Fish and Wildlife Service website here.