Gators, Tortoises, and Snakes at Briggs Boardwalk

We see and sometimes hear a number of reptiles at Briggs. One reptile that gets everyone’s attention is Smiley — our name for our resident American alligator. Smiley obligingly uses the edge of the pond in front of the viewing platform as a nursery for her babies.

Smiley pulling away from her nursery below the viewing platform on the walk. (Courtesy Richard Brennan, Briggs Volunteer)

Here is Smiley approaching the nursery below the platform and giving us a look. If your are standing on the viewing platform, Smiley is about 12 feet below you and about 10 feet out in front of the platform.

Smiley on guard duty over her babies giving us the glare that means “Don’t come any closer to my babies!” (Courtesy Ron Abbe, Briggs Volunteer)

Smiley’s babies are really small at this time. Alligator hatchlings are about 8 to 12 inches at birth and may grow on average as much as a foot a year for the first five years. Thereabouts the babies lose the stripes that provided camouflage for them.

The mother usually kicks her babies out of her territory around a year or more after birth. At that time, the babies start competing with their mother for food. Besides, the mother alligator also must tend to her next nest and the new hatchlings that follow.

One of Smiley’s babies (Courtesy Joe Shaykewich, Briggs Volunteer)

Alligator eggs and babies make nice meals for shorebirds, raccoons, raptors, snakes, and of course, daddy alligators. Mommy spends a lot of time protecting first the nest, then the hatchlings, and then the young gators from these predators. When she senses danger, she may roar to frighten away predators.

Make sure your sound is on and at its highest level. Then click on this link to hear Smiley utter a “purr.” The male bellows that I’ve heard are much louder than Smiley’s soft purr. Nonetheless, I keep thinking about the movie Jaws every time she purrs.

Please don’t feed alligators — or any other wild animals for that matter. Alligators that are fed by humans will be attracted to humans for food. If the gators are approaching humans on a golf course or other populated areas, they will usually be removed and may even be killed to avoid harm to humans. Thus, the expression: “A fed alligator is a dead alligator.”

Gopher Tortoises

We often see gopher tortoises at Briggs Boardwalk, usually on the side of the road. We would see them more frequently in our scrub habitat but the saw palmettos afford them lots of cover.

The tortoise is a colony nester and lives in burrows that may reach 30 or so feet long. Some burrows have been found that are much longer. The female may use a shallow burrow nearby for laying her eggs or she may use the sand mound in front of her burrow.

A mature gopher tortoise chomping down some grass and Mexican clover (Courtesy Joe Shaykewich, Briggs Volunteer)

The tortoise above was spotted at the edge of the parking lot in front of Briggs Boardwalk. It was about the size of a typical adult — 10–12 inches long from the front of the top shell (the carapace) to the back of the top shell. The tortoise can weigh from 8–15 pounds and can live from 50–80 years in the wild.

Tortoises usually do not wander far from their burrows. Last year, there was a controlled burn at Briggs in the area of their colony. The tortoises scampered into their burrows. They are relatively fast moving — not that they could actually beat a marsh hare.

Many creatures — it is estimated that as many as 350–400 insects, snakes, burrowing owls, small mammals and other creatures — escape fires, the heat, and predators by temporarily sharing the tortoise’s digs.

Unfortunately, the female Burmese python has taken a liking to gopher tortoise burrows to lay her eggs and to incubate them. The female tightly coils her body around her pile of eggs. This often blocks the tortoise from getting out of its burrow. A possible result: the tortoise dies a slow and awful death from dehydration and starvation.

Tortoises usually live in sandy habitats such as scrub, pine flatwoods, and beach dunes. Florida lists the gopher tortoise as a threatened species. Unfortunately, they are often injured or killed when cars run over them. Do your part to protect these animals. When you leave a beach parking area, please look under your car first to make sure that there are no tortoises hiding there from the sun.

If you see a gopher crossing a road, pull over, and when traffic permits, place the tortoise on the other side of the road — in the direction it was heading. Otherwise, the tortoise will just turn around and head back across the road again.

If you are not sure whether the animal is a tortoise, do not place it in a body of water. Gopher tortoises are land animals and do not make good swimmers.

Snakes

We have also seen more snakes than usual. Below are pictures of the yellow rat snake, the ribbon snake, and the black racer. Each of these snakes are common to south Florida and excellent neighbors — helping to keep the rat, mole, lizard and other pest popultations under control. If you find them in your yard or elsewhere, let them be. Unless you threaten them or step on them, they will make a beeline for the hills when they see or hear you approach.

Photo on left courtesy Ron Abbe, Briggs Volunteer. Photo on right courtesy of Bob Slater, Briggs Volunteer

A black racer moving as swiftly from the sight of us as it can.

There are many other types of reptiles and amphibians at Briggs Boardwalk, but those will be the subject of other stories.