I am pretty sure these eat Aloe, have any in your area?

• Deer
• Possums
• Rabbits
• Rats

Possums are common in urban/developed areas of Los Angeles. In Venice, I had them eat my papayas and passion fruit. I'm in Westchester now, where they are somewhat less common. I've never seen deer or rabbits in L.A., but I did see deer in residential Paso Robles, in people's yards in the middle of the afternoon.

I can't grow Aloe barbadensis (vera) in the ground here. Gophers will find them and eat them. Gophers have also eaten my A. grandidentata. The rabbits and squirrels leave the Aloes alone. I am surprised my tortoise doesn't touch the Aloe in its enclosure.

Does that explain the uprooting, though? Maybe some critter likes the roots- are those getting chewed up?

Gophers eat from the bottom up. Roots go first. Sometimes you get an aloe with a core drilled in it and can see down into the tunnel.

Could gophers have done this?

BEFORE

Yep 100% gophers could have done that. They eat the root system, but luckily your Aloe should reroot again. Keep it in some mix out of direct sun because a rootless plant will burn much easier. It‘ll take about a month for roots, so no water till then.