Can you keep an adult red foot in a storage container or Rubbermaid stock tank indoors?

tortoisefreak21

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Hi, I want to buy a red foot but I live in an apartment I want to know if it's okay to keep an adult red foot in a storage container or a Rubbermaid container to live indoors with the correct lighting food, and bedding and take him outside of his tank to free roam in a supervised closed room like the bedroom.

r/tortoise - Can you keep an adult red foot in a storage container or Rubbermaid stock tank indoors?


r/tortoise - Can you keep an adult red foot in a storage container or Rubbermaid stock tank indoors?

r/tortoise - Can you keep an adult red foot in a storage container or Rubbermaid stock tank indoors?
 

Yvonne G

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Depends upon what the footprint of the tub is. You'll want several plants and sight barrier type items so the bigger the tub the better. As long as his needs are met I see no reason he can't be an indoor tortoise. But NO free roaming in the house. Too many pitfalls to cause him harm.
 

tortoisefreak21

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Depends upon what the footprint of the tub is. You'll want several plants and sight barrier type items so the bigger the tub the better. As long as his needs are met I see no reason he can't be an indoor tortoise. But NO free roaming in the house. Too many pitfalls to cause him harm.
I'm supervising him when he free roam to make sure he does not get into anything.
 

Maggie3fan

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I'm supervising him when he free roam to make sure he does not get into anything.
NO FREE ROAMING...what don't you understand about how bad it is...just don't do it. Also once you let the tort know there is some place else, he will spend eternity trying to get there...bad idea. It's not a great idea to keep an adult tortoise in a small container like that...jmho
 

tortoisefreak21

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NO FREE ROAMING...what don't you understand about how bad it is...just don't do it. Also once you let the tort know there is some place else, he will spend eternity trying to get there...bad idea. It's not a great idea to keep an adult tortoise in a small container like that...jmho
are you talking about the container or the Rubbermaid or both?
 

Maggie3fan

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are you talking about the container or the Rubbermaid or both?
Frankly....both. I keep several tortoises inside in 2.5 ft x 6 ft tort tables....but I live in a house so they mostly spend the days outside. Maybe I'm making excuses as I keep several tortoises this way. they spend all Spring and Summer outside I have numerous yards and pens....sleeping in the house at night. In my limited experience Redfoots are more busy than other tortoises. I had a RF for a while that I thought was gonna make me crazy trying to and escaping from tort tables and pens. But after I got to really paying attention to him...he wasn't trying to escape per se...he was just busy climbing and falling....what a tort he is. Active as all hell. Maybe you might consider a Hermanni or Russian...neither species are as active as RF...good luck to ya....keep asking questions... the experts here want your tortoise to be happy and healthy...100_0305.JPG
 

wellington

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Neither is good for life. They are all to small for an adult.
Even a russian that doesn't get as big needs a minimum of a 4x8 foot.
If you can't dedicate a room to the tort to use as an enclosure once its bigger or can't make it a home outside then consider waiting until you can or get a speciea that can do smaller like a Russian, Herman's or pancakes.
Do not let them roam the floors of your house. No matter how much you think you can supervise, they are low to the ground and you will have no idea how much fuzz, hair or dust bunnies its eating.
 

ZEROPILOT

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A container like in your photo is similar to what I use on the rare few nights I need to bring my Redfoot tortoises inside the house. They're fine in that confined space for 12 or 24 hours. But an adult needs at least an 8x8' enclosure. And that is very difficult for most keepers to do.
Make/use as large an enclosure as you possibly can. And make sure it can support the high humidity a Redfoot needs. That's going to include closing at least most of the top of the enclosure.
 

tortoisefreak21

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A container like in your photo is similar to what I use on the rare few nights I need to bring my Redfoot tortoises inside the house. They're fine in that confined space for 12 or 24 hours. But an adult needs at least an 8x8' enclosure. And that is very difficult for most keepers to do.
Make/use as large an enclosure as you possibly can. And make sure it can support the high humidity a Redfoot needs. That's going to include closing at least most of the top of the enclosure.
is the Rubbermaid good and supervise free roaming
 

Maggie3fan

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is the Rubbermaid good and supervise free roaming
Is there some reason you don't understand NO FREE ROAMING!?? Those of us who have been here a while have read the horror story's about an exercise that can be fatal.
Something wrong with your name and the fact that you don't have a tortoise to be freaky about...you asked, we told and now you are arguing about the advice given.
 

zovick

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is the Rubbermaid good and supervise free roaming
Both containers/tubs you pictured are too small for an adult Redfoot Tortoise.

If you live in an apartment in NY, you would be much better off getting a smaller tortoise such as one of the smallest races of Western Hermann's Tortoise (Calabrian for example) or an Egyptian Tortoise, neither of which would require the amount of space a Redfoot needs.

As others have said, allowing a tortoise to do free roaming is a recipe for trouble, even though you may not think so until the inevitable disaster happens.
 

crimson_lotus

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you could get a small water turtle, like my 4-5 inch map turtle (fully grown, male) that would do well in a stock tank like that with lights and water filtration. For an adult redfoot, definitely not big enough. There are other issues like humidity, temperature, etc. but the main issue is space.

Personally I would use that as a bath tub for my redfoot.
 

crimson_lotus

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nope. you want a closed chamber to retain high humidity and heat. If you wanted an open chamber you could get a russian tortoise, and even then they would probably escape from the low walls. This does not work for a redfoot.
 

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