I am now starting to find hatchling gopher tortoises in my enclosure at school (Jacksonville, FL). I found one empty carapace with remnants of fresh flesh on it. I do not know if a bird got to it first, or if it was ants. I will be researching the ant species I have found in the enclosure very soon. I found 2 live hatchlings on Thursday and hope to find more.

One question I have is, is there a known, safe way to get rid of the ants that does not harm the tortoises? I have 1.5 adults in the enclosure (approx 1000 sq ft)and 2 adult box turtles in one adjacent enclosure and 2 young Burmese mountain tortoises in another adjacent enclosure.

Feel free to reply on the forum, but please send me your response personally as well. I am sometimes unable to get on the forum while at school, but do check email regularly.

Thanks,
Mike Monlezun
Sandalwood Herpetology Club

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