New tort owner

[pitsnherps]

Hello
I recently rescued my Tort from a situation where the person kept him in a closet with carpet and a light bulb for heat and I do not know if there was UBV.
He has seen my reptile vet and there is no shell damage that we can find.He had very teary eyes but the vet said with humidity that would clear up and it did.
He is currently in a 50 gallon with bead a beast subsitrate that is always wet . 150 watt heat bulb and a 10.0 ubv bulb I would like to get a mercry vapour bulb once I build a new enclosure though..
His enclosure is temporary He is almost 10 inches long from front of shell to back and weighs 3.5 lbs.
I want to build an enclosure for him one with sliding glass doors.
If somebody can post pictures and give me measurments that would be great.
He gets alot of excersise out of his cage so a huge is not neccessary and I would love to have an outdoor enclosure for him in the summer.I dont want a tort table as I dont think it would keep very humid for him.

As far as his diet is he eats Romaine,escarole,carrots,endive,little bit of bok choy,
Strawberry,mango,blueberry,alittle rapsberry .
Is there anything that I could find at the grocery store ?

[JustAnja]

Here are a few good food choice items for your Redfoot.

GREENS
The following greens are easily found in most local stores:

Romaine lettuce (occasional)
Red and green leaf lettuce (occasional)
Curly Endive
Escarole
Radicchio
Turnip greens
Mustard greens
Collard greens
Spring Mix
Cabbage (only occasionally)
Chicory

VEGETABLES

Zucchini
Winter squash
Pumpkin
Yellow squash
Carrots
Green Beans (only occasionally)

FRUIT

Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Plum
Pineapple
Blackberries
Blueberries
Cactus fruit (pads and fruit)
Papaya
Mango
Apples (remove seeds)
Bananas (only as a treat once or twice per month)

OTHER GOOD CHOICES (always make sure no systemic pesticides were used)

Hosta
Sedum
Mulberry leaves
Hen and Chicks
Ice Plants
Hibiscus (flowers and leaves)
Prickly pear flowers, fruit and pads (burn the spines off)
Dandelion
Cornflowers Plagiobothrys ssp
Forsythia (flowers and leaves)
Dayflower Commelina diffusa (flowers and leaves)
California Poppy
Plantain (not the banana type fruit….the weed plantago major)
Mallow (flowers and leaves)
Henbit
Rose (flowers and leaves)
Chrysanthemum flowers
Grape leaves

hawks bit

mulberry leaves and fruit

thistle

nasturtiums

wild rose flower and hips

MEAT OPTIONS
pinky mice
boiled chicken
shrimp
organ meat
boiled eggs

They will feed on various bugs when housed outdoors during the warm months as well.

Avoid Spinach, Bok Choy and Iceberg lettuce, Rhubard, beet greens.

[JustAnja]

Also if you can come up with a low sided 4ft stock tank used to water sheep you can use that for a tank for him. A setup with sliding glass doors would not be suitable as it would not provide good airflow. Here is one I setup for my redfoots when I got them in. Just cover one end and keep it wet, will hold humidity well.



I ended up using a partial sheet of shower board to cover half of the cage with instead of the boards in this pic.

[pitsnherps]

Thanks I forgot to mention
Radicchio
Spring Mix
Collard greens
I have added spring mix before from the Grocery store aswell.

[JustAnja]

pitsnherps Wrote:Thanks I forgot to mention
Radicchio
Spring Mix
Collard greens
I have added spring mix before from the Grocery store aswell.

Im not sure if they ship to Canada but I get orders in from http://www.reptileeats.com bi-weekly and Ive been very pleased with their foods. They do offer a forest tortoise mix that would be good for redfoots plus you can order extras to mix in with the mix.

[pitsnherps]

Thanks.
The enclosure I was thinking of making has vents on either side to have airflow and possibly peice of screen or wire at the top of the enclosure.
I do not know if I have room for a stock tank How much did purchase it for ?

[JustAnja]

I picked that one up for $55 I think. They are very reasonable. Its 4ft long, about 2ft wide and about a foot tall. Thats the very least amount of space you probably want to give a 10" Redfoot even if he gets lots of out of cage exercise. Good thing about these tanks is you can move him outside in it in the spring while you get an outdoor pen ready for him and move it in at night to avoid predators.

[cvalda]

Anja has given all sorts of good advice!

So I just wanted to say WELCOME! I'm glad you are given this tortoise a good home and taking the time to try to get things RIGHT for him! Good job!!!

[pitsnherps]

Thank you.
Well I will call the feed& supply store tommorow and ask about them .
Do red foots need hay or alphlfa ?

[cvalda]

Nope!!

Stick with the list Anja gave you!

You can also see a good "week at a glance" feeding schedule for RF's here:
http://www.redfoots.com/ydiet.htm

[Redfoot NERD]

Welcome pitsnherps!

You may want to read this..
http://www.redfoots.com/smf/index.php

There is a lot to read with answers to just about any Q? you might have.

And hay or alphalfa is nowhere in a redfoot tortoises life.

Terry

[pitsnherps]

Thanks