Baby red foot!

[lindsera]

Hi everyone,
I'm new here and I wanted to show off my new baby.

"Phil from California" is his name (inside joke) he is an 8.5 week old red foot.

I've got his basking spot about 88 degrees and about 75 on the cooler end of the tank. I soak him every evening and I hand feed him some in hopes that it will help with bonding. ;-)
Otherwise I keep fresh kale, carrots, grapes, squash available all day.

The only thing I am struggling with, is keeping the humidity at the right level to prevent his shell from pyramiding.

I live in North Idaho and I mist his enclosure 2-3 times per day and I can only get the humidity up to 40-45%. His bedding is organic potting soil and I will be getting some peat moss to help.
Any suggestions or tips?

Thank you- Lindsey

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome.
A closed chamber is what most of us use.
It's an enclosure with the top mostly or completely closed off with the light dropped down and inside.
Redfoot don't need a basking area. An all over temp from 80 to about 86 is ideal.
UVB light from a strip florescent. Not a compact, coiled bulb. And humidity of over 70-75%.
Avoid bright lights and keep a shallow water bowl close.
A lot of us use a layer of Orchid bark covered by a layer of soil.
Pour water into the corners and the bark absorbs the water giving off humidity, but leaving the top layer reasonably dry.
Sitting in the wet all the time makes for shell issues.

 

[Alex Z]

Hi everyone,
I'm new here and I wanted to show off my new baby.

"Phil from California" is his name (inside joke) he is an 8.5 week old red foot.

I've got his basking spot about 88 degrees and about 75 on the cooler end of the tank. I soak him every evening and I hand feed him some in hopes that it will help with bonding. ;-)
Otherwise I keep fresh kale, carrots, grapes, squash available all day.



The only thing I am struggling with, is keeping the humidity at the right level to prevent his shell from pyramiding.

I live in North Idaho and I mist his enclosure 2-3 times per day and I can only get the humidity up to 40-45%. His bedding is organic potting soil and I will be getting some peat moss to help.
Any suggestions or tips?

Thank you- Lindsey





View attachment 209650

Hi Lindsey!! Beautiful reddy...grapes and kale are no no for this species..tell us about your enclosure, any pics of it??

 

[lindsera]

Hi there. From what I've read and what the breeder told me, peeled green grapes, kale, squash and portobello mushrooms are a huge part of their diet. Was I told wrong?

 

[Alex Z]

Its to acidic for them..ernest johnson on youtube goes into more setail...hes been breeding rfs for over 50yrs...

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hi there. From what I've read and what the breeder told me, peeled green grapes, kale, squash and portobello mushrooms are a huge part of their diet. Was I told wrong?

I don't feed a lot of grapes. But I do feed kale, squash and white button mushrooms. Mine don't like Portabellas. Go figure.
Redfoot can and do eat a very wide variety of foods. Don't feed a lot of any one thing and you'll be o.k.
Up to 50% fruit is what Mr.Johnson suggests, and what I do for the most part this time of year. (Because I read that early on and it stuck with me) Hes a good guy. But not what I'd consider to be the leading authority on Redfoot. Nor does he claim to be.
Feed things like figs, etc. Lots of hibiscus leaves and flowers. Some Mazuri tortoise chow. Some cactus.
Mix it up.

 

[TammyJ]

If I put hibiscus flowers in the enclosure, they will make a big dash for it before anything else, even opuntia cactus! The leaves too but not so much as the flowers. Pumpkin vine flowers are a great favourite too. For fruit, they love mango and pawpaw (papaya) the best.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

If I put hibiscus flowers in the enclosure, they will make a big dash for it before anything else, even opuntia cactus! The leaves too but not so much as the flowers. Pumpkin vine flowers are a great favourite too. For fruit, they love mango and pawpaw (papaya) the best.

A side note...
If you keep your tortoises outdoors like I do. Come back and pick up any pits or uneaten sappy, very sweet fruit like mangoes because it will quickly attract ants