Brumation for red foots that live outside?

[Tommy333444]

Hey, in the future i want to let my soon to be pet red foot live outside in a 100 square foot area im going to build for it and im wondering, do i let it brumate over the winter or do i provide it with heating during the winter? Taking it inside is possible but there simply isnt a lot of room for an adult here to live indoors for a few months. Of course i wont brumate it artificially indoors i know thats not good.

 

[mojo_1]

Hey, in the future i want to let my soon to be pet red foot live outside in a 100 square foot area im going to build for it and im wondering, do i let it brumate over the winter or do i provide it with heating during the winter? Taking it inside is possible but there simply isnt a lot of room for an adult here to live indoors for a few months. Of course i wont brumate it artificially indoors i know thats not good.

Redfoots are a tropical tortoise so they don't brumate. He needs to be kept at 29°C in temp and 84% humidity.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello and welcome!

Redfoots aren’t a species that brumate, that would kill them.
They’re from warm humid tropical rainforests, where temperatures stay pretty stable year round.

If your climate isn’t naturally in the 80-86F range during the day, outdoors isn’t going to be ideal. If it’s warmer than that range, please provide lots of shade and only adults can live outside full time.

If you’re getting a hatchling, you’ll need to house them indoors in a closed chamber set up for at least 3 years, maybe longer depending on their growth rate, the enclosure size will still have to be pretty big as they can grow quite fast and need lots of room to roam.

Please feel free to check out these two threads, I think you’ll find them useful to read through, they’re quite similar but there’s some slight differences when taking age into account🙂

Young red foot/ cherryhead set up

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...

tortoiseforum.org

Housing older red foot/cherryhead

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to go over an example of an appropriate indoor red foot/cherryhead enclosure. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure(especially the size these guys get!) I understand being from the uk myself, that some climate’s make it...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is good to go over too🙂

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tommy333444]

Hello and welcome!

Redfoots aren’t a species that brumate, that would kill them.
They’re from warm humid tropical rainforests, where temperatures stay pretty stable year round.

If your climate isn’t naturally in the 80-86F range during the day, outdoors isn’t going to be ideal. If it’s warmer than that range, please provide lots of shade and only adults can live outside full time.

If you’re getting a hatchling, you’ll need to house them indoors in a closed chamber set up for at least 3 years, maybe longer depending on their growth rate, the enclosure size will still have to be pretty big as they can grow quite fast and need lots of room to roam.

Please feel free to check out these two threads, I think you’ll find them useful to read through, they’re quite similar but there’s some slight differences when taking age into account🙂

Young red foot/ cherryhead set up

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...

tortoiseforum.org

Housing older red foot/cherryhead

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to go over an example of an appropriate indoor red foot/cherryhead enclosure. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure(especially the size these guys get!) I understand being from the uk myself, that some climate’s make it...

tortoiseforum.org

This one is good to go over too🙂

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Thank you! That's very informative. Do you reckon a 4x1.5x1.5 will do until Its big enough to live outdoors? I can get bigger but I already have this terrarium on hand. The outdoors area is going to be netted so that no predators save for maybe rats could get to it. Im hoping that'll enable my tort to live outside a bit earlier so it isn't stuffed inside for too long.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you! That's very informative. Do you reckon a 4x1.5x1.5 will do until Its big enough to live outdoors? I can get bigger but I already have this terrarium on hand. The outdoors area is going to be netted so that no predators save for maybe rats could get to it. Im hoping that'll enable my tort to live outside a bit earlier so it isn't stuffed inside for too long.

No problem!

Unfortunately not no, your tortoise needs to be measuring around 10 inches before they can be housed outside full time, a tortoise that size needs closer to an 8x4 foot space, but considering this tortoise will have to be housed indoors over winter, bigger would be better. You can’t rush to get them to living outside full time until they’re big enough.

Also you’re going to need to make your outdoor space rat proof, rats can and have killed tortoises. If it’s too cool outdoors where you live, I’d bring them inside at night or make a heated night box

 

[Tommy333444]

No problem!

Unfortunately not no, your tortoise needs to be measuring around 10 inches before they can be housed outside full time, a tortoise that size needs closer to an 8x4 foot space, but considering this tortoise will have to be housed indoors over winter, bigger would be better. You can’t rush to get them to living outside full time until they’re big enough.

Also you’re going to need to make your outdoor space rat proof, rats can and have killed tortoises. If it’s too cool outdoors where you live, I’d bring them inside at night or make a heated night box

Making it completely rat proof is certainly going to be a challenge, but I'll have to think of a way haha. Gonna have to be galvanized steel net.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Making it completely rat proof is certainly going to be a challenge, but I'll have to think of a way haha. Gonna have to be galvanized steel net.

rats tend to be more of a worry at night when your tortoise is sleeping but it would be good to avoid them getting in during the day too if you’re somewhere that gets them.
For overnight, even with a steal net, I’d make some sort of secure night box you can lock, or an indoor enclosure to keep them safe

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Also I don’t suppose you’ve considered a smaller species that does brumate over winter? You might find them better suited to your location🙂

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hopefully I haven’t scared you off🥲

I say all this as someone who’s family member brought a red foot years before we met, without thinking about the fact we live somewhere where housing outdoors year round isn’t an option, and just how truly large a space they need to roam.
So many, too many, are housed in far too small an indoor set up when the climates aren’t suitable, which is why I truly don’t think they should be sold in areas where the climate is less than ideal, it’s been a hard lesson learnt.
Now she’s with us, we’ve made it work, but setting up a large indoor space to meet and maintain their needs isn’t easy and is definitely less than ideal, they’re suited to parts of the US like Florida where they’ve got the right climate year round. If we could turn back the clock, we absolutely wouldn’t have this species.

There’s still other beautiful tortoise species that could be much more suited to your situation though!
My family member sure wish they’d known this back then lol

 

[wellington]

Thank you! That's very informative. Do you reckon a 4x1.5x1.5 will do until Its big enough to live outdoors? I can get bigger but I already have this terrarium on hand. The outdoors area is going to be netted so that no predators save for maybe rats could get to it. Im hoping that'll enable my tort to live outside a bit earlier so it isn't stuffed inside for too long.

No, that's not big enough for an adult. You need to do much bigger. A room dedicated to him for inside or build a good size insulated heated shed outside.