Redfoot tortoise reduced appetite and humidity problems.

[Riyac]

About a week ago I gave my Redfoot a mixed salad of radicchio arugula endive and collard greens and some papaya. It was bigger than what I normally feed, and since then she has only eaten small amounts of fruit and shows no interest in any kind of greens or leaves. Pretty much only papaya and watermelon. In addition to this she seems a good amount less active and more lethargic. She has also been having some trouble pooping but did poop a little bit in baths twice this week. My thought is that my husbandry is off as I’ve been having trouble with this. My humidity in my house is so low so even with a fully closed chamber enclosure with a shower curtain and foil over the lamps the humidity only stays above 70 when my reptifogger is on I also pour water on the edges of the enclosure a couple times a week. My temps are around 77 ambient and 86 ambient on the warm side with 93-95 degree hotspots available. I feel as though my temps are ok but my humidity could use some work. But I am concerned there is an underlying condition.

edit: also any suggestions for humidity increase would be appreciated

 

[method89]

post some pictures of the enclosure. A closed chamber should be able to hold humidity for days.

sounds like she might be backed up. I would up the length and number of baths you give her to see if gets things moving

 

[Riyac]

post some pictures of the enclosure. A closed chamber should be able to hold humidity for days.

sounds like she might be backed up. I would up the length and number of baths you give her to see if gets things moving

here is the enclosure. I am currently giving her about 30 minutes baths at 90-95 degrees every day or twice a day. In addition to about 30 minutes or more that I just let her walk around the yard. I was doing this before and she would actively graze right now she immediately looks for a shaded area and pulls her legs in her shell.
Right now I have a tube uv light rated for 10 on the box.

 

[Golowry]

For humidity I would recommend getting a reptifogger, I had the same issue with humidity and as soon as I got one of those I have had no problems keeping humidity. As for the only eating fruit your tortoise is on strike haha, if you give them too much fruit that is all they are going to wait to eat, they’re like baby’s with candy. I would suggest only offering greens for a couple of days to a week, your tortoise won’t starve themselves and eventually they will start eating the greens and once you get them to regularly eat the greens I’d suggest only feeding fruit maybe twice a week. Hope this helps!

 

[Golowry]

here is the enclosure. I am currently giving her about 30 minutes baths at 90-95 degrees every day or twice a day. In addition to about 30 minutes or more that I just let her walk around the yard. I was doing this before and she would actively graze right now she immediately looks for a shaded area and pulls her legs in her shell.
Right now I have a tube uv light rated for 10 on the box.
View attachment 304302View attachment 304303

Also is the heat mat your only source of heat? Overall tortoises did better with overhead heat with a high ambient temperature. What is the temperature of your enclosure?

 

[Riyac]

Also is the heat mat your only source of heat? Overall tortoises did better with overhead heat with a high ambient temperature. What is the temperature of your enclosure?

I have heat lamps over where the foil I got the heat pad as supplemental heat for the cold side because it was dropping to around 72 and winter is coming soon so early preparation, but yah I have heat lamps too. Thanks for checking

 

[Riyac]

For humidity I would recommend getting a reptifogger, I had the same issue with humidity and as soon as I got one of those I have had no problems keeping humidity. As for the only eating fruit your tortoise is on strike haha, if you give them too much fruit that is all they are going to wait to eat, they’re like baby’s with candy. I would suggest only offering greens for a couple of days to a week, your tortoise won’t starve themselves and eventually they will start eating the greens and once you get them to regularly eat the greens I’d suggest only feeding fruit maybe twice a week. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the suggestion I actually have a reptifogger but I only turn it on a little bit because I’m scared of respiratory infections so I just put the tube closer to the ground over some fake plants and I’m going to leave it on more now. I usually feed mostly greens and leaves and such. And fruit once or twice a week or mixed in with greens. I feed protein about every 10 days or so. Usually she is pretty good with eating everything when I mix it and she wasn’t eating anything for around 4-5 days so I offered watermelon and papaya and she took some. I’ll try to only offer greens for another week or so and if she doesn’t eat I’ll probably call a vet. But let’s hope it’s just she is backed up and being picky lol. Thanks again for the fast responses

 

[Golowry]

Thanks for the suggestion I actually have a reptifogger but I only turn it on a little bit because I’m scared of respiratory infections so I just put the tube closer to the ground over some fake plants and I’m going to leave it on more now. I usually feed mostly greens and leaves and such. And fruit once or twice a week or mixed in with greens. I feed protein about every 10 days or so. Usually she is pretty good with eating everything when I mix it and she wasn’t eating anything for around 4-5 days so I offered watermelon and papaya and she took some. I’ll try to only offer greens for another week or so and if she doesn’t eat I’ll probably call a vet. But let’s hope it’s just she is backed up and being picky lol. Thanks again for the fast responses

it seems like you are Doing everything fine, I have the reptifogger come on 15 minutes every hour (my enclosure is pretty big) and as long as the enclosure is warm enough you shouldn’t have problems with respiratory infections. Those happen with high humidity in low temperatures.So Id just say to raise humidity as your tortoise could be a bit dehydrated from the low humidity and continue with the soaks. If it continues you could try soaks in carrot juice as well to get some nutrients on your little guy, hope everything works out ok!

 

[Riyac]

it seems like you are Doing everything fine, I have the reptifogger come on 15 minutes every hour (my enclosure is pretty big) and as long as the enclosure is warm enough you shouldn’t have problems with respiratory infections. Those happen with high humidity in low temperatures.So Id just say to raise humidity as your tortoise could be a bit dehydrated from the low humidity and continue with the soaks. If it continues you could try soaks in carrot juice as well to get some nutrients on your little guy, hope everything works out ok!

Thank you! Happy to have more of a sense of reassurance I’ll take your suggestions and hopefully all goes to normal. Thanks again.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

95° is extremely warm for a Redfoot.
But it sounds like a digestion issue caused by a very fibrous meal and improper temperatures.
Without digestion the food will just sit there. And make the animal sick.
You mentioned different temps. But a Redfoot needs an ambient temp of between 80 and 88.
I aim for 82 to 84.
This makes digestion easy and life comfortable for them. They aren't a high temperature needing tortoise.
Something is upsetting digestion. I'm just guessing at what that might be.
Right now, I'd offer something very wattery... Watermelon, Cucumber, Aloe...
These are all foods that can cause diarrhea. And might get things flowing

 

[Riyac]

95° is extremely warm for a Redfoot.
But it sounds like a digestion issue caused by a very fibrous meal and improper temperatures.
Without digestion the food will just sit there. And make the animal sick.
You mentioned different temps. But a Redfoot needs an ambient temp of between 80 and 88.
I aim for 82 to 84.
This makes digestion easy and life comfortable for them. They aren't a high temperature needing tortoise.
Something is upsetting digestion. I'm just guessing at what that might be.
Right now, I'd offer something very wattery... Watermelon, Cucumber, Aloe...
These are all foods that can cause diarrhea. And might get things flowing

Ok, I will try to make the temps more consistent throughout basically the overall temperature is in the 80’s except the coldest part of the enclosure. I have noticed it to be somewhat difficult to avoid hotspots using the lamps. Underneath the plants and half logs I have it’s more like 83 at the hot end. But on top of the logs which is closer to the heat source it gets very hot. I have a probe thermometer in the middle closer to the heaters. And use a temp gun to measure the rest. I have been feeding some watermelon past couple days.

also how do you heat your enclosure perhaps there is something I can change to maintain an ambient temp in the 80’s through the entire enclosure

 

[method89]

CHE's or radiant heat panels. when put on a thermostat they will provide even uniform heating