An UPDATE for anyone interested.
My two injured red feets are still hanging in there. The less injured one is nearly fully recovered. The badly injured one still has a ways to go, but he is able to move about on his own and is back to eating again.
I have been giving them carrot puree in their...
I use the type that is also called "hardware cloth" the holes are too small for them to get their heads through. I used to use it to build rat cages when I kept fancy pet rats, so I know it's rat proof. I have not had any pet rats for many years now, but they do make lovely pets. I hate what...
I think fully adult red foots are pretty safe from them. They often see rats as prey instead of being scared of them. Though I think there is a post on here somewhere where an adult redfoot had the fronts of their legs chewed up by rats. My poor red foots are juveniles though, and didn't have a...
I had no idea I needed to worry about this inside, or I would have done better. I feel really awful about this. Franklin, the Russian, was my first ever tortoise and the one that sparked my love of torts.
Yeah, we have fire ants too, but thankfully only outside, and the obvious hills make them easy to poison.
The only ants that come inside my home are the sugar ants, and luckily they don't bother the torts.
I will probably eventually upgrade to closed chambers, though I worry even those are...
I have had a horrible tragedy. I want to share my story so that some other people's tortoises might be saved.
This week, a rat, or possibly multiple rats, came inside my home and attacked my tortoises. My little Russian Tortoise died in the attack and one of my redfoots died shortly after...
I will point out something I have not seen anyone in this thread mention, which could be a very real problem for your babies. Spagnum moss, while commonly used with tortoises, CAN cause impaction when eaten, and this can cause issues, especially in babies. Regular soaks will help you determine...
I would do athlete's foot cream. You can buy it over the counter and it's really cheap too. The best method is to do daily soaks, and after the soak, dry the plastron and apply a light coat of the athlete's foot cream. It should not make burns worse, and the soaking will help rehydrate and heal...
I recommend not feeding live. I give mine Amzy River Fish which are dried and come in a convenient little jar you can keep around for regular treats. For a main diet, you should feed some pelleted turtle food and give the fish a couple times a week as a treat. Dried river shrimp are also a good...
I suppose if you do incubate them, then you can answer the question of whether or not the eggs are viable. I would keep all the resulting offspring though, and not allow them further breeding in the future. You could call them Elonged Foots lol
I think your basking light needs to be closer to where he's sitting on the rocks there as that looks like where he would bask. Make 100% sure your light provides UVA and UVB. There is a medication they make called 'turtle fix' which you might try adding to his water. Also, make sure you are NOT...
They do need some animal protein or they develop neurological disorders. You can try some lean boiled chicken or beef also. Mine are not crazy about boiled egg, but seem to like scrambled. They also like chicken and any bugs they can grab. Just try and get them some animal protein once or twice...
I tore his food up smaller for him for a while as I think he'd maybe injured his beak somehow. It went away on its own and he's been back to normal for a while now.
It was just a tiny scrape and has fully healed up now. I have since stopped all fruit treats and instead do vegetable treats occasionally, like squash and cucumber(only as a treat on top of their usual greens, not as a staple)
I got this guy back at the end of January. He was never soaked by his former owner and was being fed just kale and carrots. I have no idea what his lighting situation was like back then.
He has been recovering and doing well for me up until a couple of days ago when I noticed his chin seems...
The white powder could just be calcium powder if it easily rinses off. he looks dehydrated to me. Probably in bad need of regular soaking. If it's a reptile store that has him, you might want to talk to them about how important regular soaks are for these animals. They do not get all their...
I can't right now, as he doesn't belong to me yet. They've contacted me about me possibly taking him. I worry for his health since they're not even sure what species he is. Even if they decide to keep him, I'd like to help them make sure he's getting the care he needs.