Advice please.

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
I agree with Zovick let her settle in. I think your tort is still adjusting. If she's eating something I don't think you have to worry yet. If she stops eating all together for a few days then maybe there's something going on.
 

mark1

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
1,932
Location (City and/or State)
ohio
there are better sources on this forum for redfoots than me , but i did keep them for probably 10 yrs , 30yrs ago ..... i kept them and fed them like i did my box turtles ....been my experience they don't eat like i see folks feeding leopard tortoises or sulcatas , or russians ....... they eat more like eastern box turtles ...... you say she ate a pinky mouse yesterday , so she is eating ...... offer her unripe bananas coated in something like vionate (vitamin powder) mix in diced up greens or softened mazuri , get some low protien canned dog food , shred the greens and mix them in it along with the mazuri , start out with a little and gradually add more ........ they also do make canned plant based dog foods , natural balance is one ....... personally i wouldn't move her in and out until she really acclimated , on a regular schedule ...... baby turtles are very skittish , they stress easily , what they do most of the time is hide ...... as long as where they are hiding is moist and proper temp , i'd let her hide ......... hopefully someone like zeropilot comes along to advise you ...
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
I agree with @Tom s assessment. And now hearing your lighting, I believe you don't have any ambient lighting that is adequate. A UVB bulb actually gives off fairly poor ambient lighting. As a portion of a T5HO is generating heat, and over 40% as UV, the rest is all the visible light generated - and that light is about 7000k in color temperature. You need good, balanced light. I know redfoot tortoises like less light, but I believe the way to do that is to provide as close to natural sunlight as possible and then provide hides and shade with plants. Tortoises are very visual and sensitive to light and light content.

I would add some good LED lights. Look for ones rated at 5000k and 90+ CRI.
Dump the black bulb. It heats with near IR. A CHE heats with mid and far IR. Much more gentle.
Add an incadescent basking bulb. Not as much for "basking" for a redfoot, but for adding the longer wavelenght red spectrum to the overall lighting.

Do these things and watch your tortoise improve!
I don’t have a UBV bulb.
I have a 36inch long T5 12% UVB tube.
But I will swap the black basking bulb for a CHE.
 

Markw84

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
5,041
Location (City and/or State)
Sacramento, CA (Central Valley)
I think I saw it on the red foot care sheet 15-45 mins everyday.
But as she is over 100g now (weight is 107g)
Is it still every day or every other day?
I’m not home so can’t take a peak at care sheet. Signal isn’t great
I bathe young tortoises 45-60 min every day. I have found that it is not just the hydration from the bath, but almost more importantly the exercise from a long bath that really stimulates proper development and growth and overall health. Especially for the much more active tortoises and the large tortoises that need a lot of muscle and bone development.

The first 20 min or so of the bath, the just spread out and enyoy the soak. But after that they tend to get more active as they start scrambling about the tub. That is what I like and call the tortoise treadmill. After decades of doing short and sporadic baths, I saw a definite difference in babies with this as their routine. In eating, activity and overall development. It started more by circumstance than design as with more babies and tortoise to take care of, it just took me longer to get the water changed, food dishes cleaned and new food prepared - which is what I do when they are out of the enclosure in the bath.

Be sure the tub you use is large enough for them to move about in. I use a tub that is at least 5x the length of the tortoise. Keep the water in the 85° - 95° range as we are also using this to ensure they core body temp is at optimal level when returned to their enclosure.
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
The fluorescent T5 12% uvb tube (bulb) is exactly what I was referring to and quoting statistics for.
So are you saying the T5 UVB tube is no good?
sorry I just want to clarify.
the UBV Tube I have is 36inch in length. The enclosure itself is 4 foot by 2.
do I still add LED lights along with the UVB or swap?
 

Markw84

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
5,041
Location (City and/or State)
Sacramento, CA (Central Valley)
So are you saying the T5 UVB tube is no good?
sorry I just want to clarify.
the UBV Tube I have is 36inch in length. The enclosure itself is 4 foot by 2.
do I still add LED lights along with the UVB or swap?
NO not at all. T5 tubes are great! They are the best UVB options in my opinion. However, they are not a total lighting solution. The are for ADDING UV to the total lighting. You need to add the rest of the light to your enclosure.
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
NO not at all. They are the best UVB options in my opinion. However, they are not a total lighting solution. The are for ADDING UV to the total lighting.
Ok so I need to get LED?
Im walking through countryside at back of town so I can always detour and pop into store and take a look
 

Markw84

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
5,041
Location (City and/or State)
Sacramento, CA (Central Valley)
Ok so I need to get LED?
Im walking through countryside at back of town so I can always detour and pop into store and take a look
@Tom always pastes in a nice short piece about lighting giving 4 elements. That's what we are talking about here. You have 2 of the 4

Heat - you have a black bulb - I would recommend CHE
UVB - You have a great UVB bulb - the fluorescent T5
Ambient Light - you do not have the basic "middle" part of the lighting spectrum and the light is too dim. The LEDs will add that. (I know redfoot like less light - but you need to start with daylight and add shade to do that naturally.)
Basking Light - you do not have that. (Again, I know redfoot don't bask much, but you need to add the longer, red part of the spectrum to be more natural. Also, part of that is near IR which is bad in excess but SOME is needed for best environment.
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
@Tom always pastes in a nice short piece about lighting giving 4 elements. That's what we are talking about here. You have 2 of the 4

Heat - you have a black bulb - I would recommend CHE
UVB - You have a great UVB bulb - the fluorescent T5
Ambient Light - you do not have the basic "middle" part of the lighting spectrum and the light is too dim. The LEDs will add that. (I know redfoot like less light - but you need to start with daylight and add shade to do that naturally.)
Basking Light - you do not have that. (Again, I know redfoot don't bask much, but you need to add the longer, red part of the spectrum to be more natural. Also, part of that is near IR which is bad in excess but SOME is needed for best environment.
The T5 kit I have is UVB and UVA 12% tropical.
wouldn’t that cover the ambient light?
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
@Tom always pastes in a nice short piece about lighting giving 4 elements. That's what we are talking about here. You have 2 of the 4

Heat - you have a black bulb - I would recommend CHE
UVB - You have a great UVB bulb - the fluorescent T5
Ambient Light - you do not have the basic "middle" part of the lighting spectrum and the light is too dim. The LEDs will add that. (I know redfoot like less light - but you need to start with daylight and add shade to do that naturally.)
Basking Light - you do not have that. (Again, I know redfoot don't bask much, but you need to add the longer, red part of the spectrum to be more natural. Also, part of that is near IR which is bad in excess but SOME is needed for best environment.
Trying to find link to the one I have on MARP website. One sec
 

Markw84

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
5,041
Location (City and/or State)
Sacramento, CA (Central Valley)
The T5 kit I have is UVB and UVA 12% tropical.
wouldn’t that cover the ambient light?
Read back to my post originally. The T5 HO 12% bulb has an extremely high color rating of 7000K - 8000K. Over 40% of the "light" it puts out is UV Less than 55% is visible light. IF you were ever to put one next to the same size and wattage tube that is a 5000K daylight HO tube, you would see it is about 1/2 the brightness. The output of the tube has been manufactured to put out the very short wavelenghts of UVA and UVB. It is not at all a good "overall" light. But it is the best for adding the needed UVB for our tortoises.
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
Read back to my post originally. The T5 HO 12% bulb has an extremely high color rating of 7000K - 8000K. Over 40% of the "light" it puts out is UV Less than 55% is visible light. IF you were ever to put one next to the same size and wattage tube that is a 5000K daylight HO tube, you would see it is about 1/2 the brightness. The output of the tube has been manufactured to put out the very short wavelenghts of UVA and UVB. It is not at all a good "overall" light. But it is the best for adding the needed UVB for our tortoises.
Ahhh ok I get you.
sorry being tired don’t help.
mill certainly look into the LED lights. She has plenty of hides aswell as damp area.
thanks for the help.
I appreciate it
 

zovick

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
3,388
I think I saw it on the red foot care sheet 15-45 mins everyday.
But as she is over 100g now (weight is 107g)
Is it still every day or every other day?
I’m not home so can’t take a peak at care sheet. Signal isn’t great
Well, if it were my tortoise, I would soak it each morning for 15-20 minutes, then place it in front of its fresh food for the day and leave it alone till the next day when I would repeat the process again. If it ate all the food I had given it in the morning, I would add new food throughout the day as needed. I believe in keeping food in front of them all day every day. This regimen allows the tortoise to develop a routine for each day and does not overly stress a new animal.

Also, to answer your question, soaking daily for 15-20 minutes is preferable to doing so less often, especially in the first couple of years of the tortoise's life . Soaking every other day even if done for longer periods than 20 minutes does not work as well, IMHO.
 

Mumsmad123

New Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
17
Location (City and/or State)
Reading, Berkshire, England
Yes I did that this morning.
she just walked away.
I’ve given fresh since. And added the Mazuri (it’s hard to get in uk but I’ve managed to get some shipped over from America. (Costs more but she’s worth it)
She had a sniff of everything and again toddled off. I think maybe she still settling in. Or she’s just a fussy tort. I’ve had her for a week. Her poop is normal. She’s peeing. Eyes and nose clear.
Hi, you can get the Mazuri on Ebay. Good luck with your Tortoise.
 

Zoeclare

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2020
Messages
700
Location (City and/or State)
Uk
I've seen mazuri on ebay so I ordered some but when it came it looked like this, this doesn't look like the tortoise formula at all, to me it looks like the 'leaf eating primate' formula! I cross referenced the ingredients and they are pretty similar but this one has apple in it and also vitamin C, I do sometimes give Nitro a cheeky piece of satsuma but I'm not sure this formula would be a good idea long term
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0761.JPG
    DSC_0761.JPG
    2.6 MB · Views: 4

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
Actually now that I think about it Mazuri is available over there but it's called Nutrazu.
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
Actually now that I think about it Mazuri is available over there but it's called Nutrazu.
Yeah that’s all I can find. And it doesn’t have great reviews. And ingredients are slightly different. I have ordered 4KG from America that should last a while I only giver her 3/4 pellets soaked in water couple times a week.
 

Mystic_Queen (Llaria)

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
1,186
Location (City and/or State)
England,
I've seen mazuri on ebay so I ordered some but when it came it looked like this, this doesn't look like the tortoise formula at all, to me it looks like the 'leaf eating primate' formula! I cross referenced the ingredients and they are pretty similar but this one has apple in it and also vitamin C, I do sometimes give Nitro a cheeky piece of satsuma but I'm not sure this formula would be a good idea long term
Is that the natrazu or what ever it’s called?
I did look at it And the ingredients are slightly different. And doesn’t have good reviews. Which is why I’ve ordered mazari and had it shipped from states
 

New Posts

Top