Our house survived a spurred tortoise

The tortoise, a foot long African spurred tortoise, Geochelone (Centrochelys) sulcata, had been dropped in the tortoise yard. In the morning we had no African spurred tortoise and didn't really want one, then in the afternoon we had one. Spontaneous turtle and tortoise acquisition had happened to us before, but this was our first unaccounted for spurred tortoise.

We weren't really surprised. Over the years, a fair number of feral examples of this big Sub-Saharan tortoise had been found in North Central Florida. But because of its burrowing proclivities it was a species that we didn't particularly want.

Yet here it was and it appeared to be in good condition, so we decided to let it stay for a while. It ate and it grew. 18 inches came and went. It ate more and it grew more. 24 inches! And it wanted more and more food. But at least it wasn't burrowing. It spent the nights in a big heated (when needed) tortoise house.

Then one day it didn't come out of the house to forage. Well, it (and we) were entitled to a day off. It didn't emerge the next day either. On the 3rd day it emerged wearing a huge pyramid of soil on its carapace.

Uh oh.

Time to check, but something intervened and several additional days went by. To check we had to move the big tortoise house and that was always a chore. When we moved the house, I deeply regretted that we had waited. The interior of the tortoise house was almost filled with the dirt from an immense burrow that went far back beneath the foundation of our house. Left to its own devices, it looked like the tortoise was headed for Sydney, Australia and our house wouldn't be far behind. The sulcata was unreachable. I'd have to await his next emergence, temporarily cage him, then check the burrow and somehow remove smaller tortoises that were assuredly utilizing this haven.

It took some doing, but a day later the big sulcata was surprised while eating, two smaller tortoises were removed from the burrow, and the hole was refilled. And our house still sits solidly on its foundation - I think. Did I mention that we no longer have any sulcata?

A spurred tortoise Geochelone (Centrochelys) sulcata meets and greets the world. Now 200 pounds, this spurred tortoise was found wandering the streets of San Angelo, TX 100 pounds earlier.

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.