baby red foot from Palm Beach, Florida

Hello, my name is Sarita! I have a 14 month old baby red foot!
I called her Tere. I don't know if she's a female but we all call her that my mom gave her to me as a 21st birthday present when she was 4 months! I did notice that since it started to get a little cold here in Florida she slowed down so I recently got her another lamp, a bigger tank, new substrate, and treats!
I wanted to ask, what kind of plastic plants can I put in her enclosure? and I want to make her a little house but I don't know what material to use, lots of questions about diet and baths! any help I can get would be great!!
I know I'm just a beginner and probably have been doing everything wrong but I've been trying to educate myself and recently discovered this website! I am so in love with her, she loves when I take her outside to play in the grass and for some reason LOVES my dog!
I would love to hear some advice and tricks to make her happy!
it's a pleasure to be part of this community, thank you in advance for all your help.
this is a Picture of Tere!

Welcome!
Have you checked out our caresheets yet? A picture of your enclosure will help. Some questions as well. What size of enclosure? What are the temps and humidity? What are you feeding? What type of substrate? What kind of bulbs? How are you providing uv? Some starting points. You will hear much caution on keeping your tort away from your dog. We see a lot of sad stories about dogs attacking torts, even after they got along fine for many years. I am assuming from the pyramiding you have an open top enclosure and aren’t soaking regularly. Please answer the above questions and the pic will help us help you. You’ve come to a great place for info

Melis said:

Welcome!
Have you checked out our caresheets yet? A picture of your enclosure will help. Some questions as well. What size of enclosure? What are the temps and humidity? What are you feeding? What type of substrate? What kind of bulbs? How are you providing uv? Some starting points. You will hear much caution on keeping your tort away from your dog. We see a lot of sad stories about dogs attacking torts, even after they got along fine for many years. I am assuming from the pyramiding you have an open top enclosure and aren’t soaking regularly. Please answer the above questions and the pic will help us help you. You’ve come to a great place for info

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thank you for answering!! the enclosure it's usually at 83 degrees, the humidity is around 54 and yes, I didn't know about the open top or pyramiding until recently but I've been working on it (morning soaks and I mist her enclosure once a day because I'm afraid to it more), I use coconut coir mix! I was thinking maybe I can make half that and half Cypress mulch? but I figured I would ask first. When I got her, the breeder gave my mom a
Daytime Incandescent Health Bulb so I got her another one of those. let me know if that's ok or if I should change it. she has a coconut where she hides and she likes it but I want to give her more hiding places is that okay?

Welcome!! You’ll get tons of great info here. Post pics of your enclosure, is it indoors or outside, and do you use UV lighting at all? Cypress and coir are fine btw just keep it moist. Most put mulch over the coir cause it’s less messy so no worries there. Redfoots need stable temps in the 80’s all the time and prefer shady areas. They’re one of the few torts that can handle fruits and protein so imo the most fun to feed!!! You’re in an awesome climate for a Redfoot btw I envy you Florida keepers.

daniellenc said:

Welcome!! You’ll get tons of great info here. Post pics of your enclosure, is it indoors or outside, and do you use UV lighting at all? Cypress and coir are fine btw just keep it moist. Most put mulch over the coir cause it’s less messy so no worries there. Redfoots need stable temps in the 80’s all the time and prefer shady areas. They’re one of the few torts that can handle fruits and protein so imo the most fun to feed!!! You’re in an awesome climate for a Redfoot btw I envy you Florida keepers.

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hello! thank you for answering! She is inside for now, she's small and I'm always afraid to leave her out. The bulbs I have say they provide UVB should I trust it? and it is pretty messy but she loves it! should I put live plants instead of plastic ones to keep her moisture up? and I want to cover the top of her enclosure but what material would be safe for that? thank you for your help!!

Pictures of the lights and cage will help with suggestions.

Welcome, we’re glad you’re here!

Your tortoise doesn’t love your dog, I’m afraid. For starters, tortoises don’t “love,” period; they’re not built that way. If the tortoise is constantly approaching the dog, it more likely sees it as a threat and is trying to bully/scare it out of its territory. Even if neither of those things were true, tortoises are basically chew toys for dogs. Even the best, kindest and best behaved dogs cannot be trusted around small tortoises. (By small, I mean smaller than a sulcata.)

This is usually hard for dog owners to hear but as mentioned above, we see too many dog attacks to not speak up about it.

RosemaryDW said:

Welcome, we’re glad you’re here!

Your tortoise doesn’t love your dog, I’m afraid. For starters, tortoises don’t “love,” period; they’re not built that way. If the tortoise is constantly approaching the dog, it more likely sees it as a threat and is trying to bully/scare it out of its territory. Even if neither of those things were true, tortoises are basically chew toys for dogs. Even the best, kindest and best behaved dogs cannot be trusted around small tortoises. (By small, I mean smaller than a sulcata.)

This is usually hard for dog owners to hear but as mentioned above, we see too many dog attacks to not speak up about it.

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hello, thank you for your message. When she's out and my dog is around I am always with them and always make sure everything is okay. maybe she doesn't love him but I like when they nap together on my lap, it's very cute!

Hello Sarita! Greetings from North Florida, and welcome to the Forum!

@ZEROPILOT lives in your part of Florida, and he has a wealth if experience and knowledge about redfoot tortoises.

RosemaryDW said:

Welcome, we’re glad you’re here!

Your tortoise doesn’t love your dog, I’m afraid. For starters, tortoises don’t “love,” period; they’re not built that way. If the tortoise is constantly approaching the dog, it more likely sees it as a threat and is trying to bully/scare it out of its territory. Even if neither of those things were true, tortoises are basically chew toys for dogs. Even the best, kindest and best behaved dogs cannot be trusted around small tortoises. (By small, I mean smaller than a sulcata.)

This is usually hard for dog owners to hear but as mentioned above, we see too many dog attacks to not speak up about it.

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So true. All of it.

Pastel Tortie said:

Hello Sarita! Greetings from North Florida, and welcome to the Forum!

@ZEROPILOT lives in your part of Florida, and he has a wealth if experience and knowledge about redfoot tortoises.

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As for the UVB...If you have one that screws in like a light bulb...You should swap it out to a strip florescent like this. I actually have one I don't need if you are near Sunrise 33322

For heat. Use a small CHE (A ceramic heat emitter)

As far as plastic plants go, they are hit and miss.
Sometimes a baby will try to eat them. Sometimes not.
So if you place any in your enclosure, keep an eye on them.

Welcome!

ZEROPILOT said:

As for the UVB...If you have one that screws in like a light bulb...You should swap it out to a strip florescent like this. I actually have one I don't need if you are near Sunrise 33322

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That’s very nice! Thank you! I actually have one like those, I’m going to change it! I’m going to get her one of those CHEs tonight because the temperature here in Florida is dropping and my room gets super cold! Thank you again for your advise!