Hatchling not gaining weight

[cwalker1379]

Hello! I have a 3 month old red foot tortoise old who is not really gaining weight. He weighs 51 grams today and he weighed 50 grams on July 5th. He is eating and active in the mornings/early afternoon, his enclosure temps are around 85° during the day with about 95° basking area and temps do not drop below 75° at night. The humidity averages about 80% during the day and I turn off the humidifier at night. Substrate is eco earth mixed with Reptisoil covered with sphagnum moss. Substrate retains moisture well. He is eating well and pooping normally, daily soaks for at least 20 minutes plus time he gets in his fountain. Anything else I should be doing? I have a vet referral so that will be my next step to get him checked at the vet. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[wellington]

@ZEROPILOT

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The first thing I noticed is the moss. It's great at holding moisture. But it's very dangerous to use in a RF enclosure because it gets eaten. Either accidentally or on purpose and it can't be digested.
I'd remove all of it.
What do you mean you turn off your humidity at night? Is it a fogger or a mister? You shouldn't need one with a CLOSED CHAMBER ENCLOSURE set up. It's unnecessary.
I can't make out a lot of detail in the photos. But is your UVB light above a piece of glass? If so. UVB can't pass through glass.
What are you feeding?
How often?
How often are you weighing him?
How are you weighing him?

 

[cwalker1379]

The first thing I noticed is the moss. It's great at holding moisture. But it's very dangerous to use in a RF enclosure because it gets eaten. Either accidentally or on purpose and it can't be digested.
I'd remove all of it.
What do you mean you turn off your humidity at night? Is it a fogger or a mister? You shouldn't need one with a CLOSED CHAMBER ENCLOSURE set up. It's unnecessary.
I can't make out a lot of detail in the photos. But is your UVB light above a piece of glass? If so. UVB can't pass through glass.
What are you feeding?
How often?
How often are you weighing him?
How are you weighing him?

Thank you! I will remove the moss. I have a humidifier with two tubes attached so it is like an intermittent fogger during the day and it is off at night. The humidity drops when it’s off, which is why I run it in a schedule during the day. The area under the lights is open. The UVB is the long bulb and the halogen (light/heat) is the one near the plexiglass. It is maybe 1/3 blocked by the plexiglass. I’m feeding him wildflowers and weeds I planted that I got from the breeder. He also gets a variety of greens like dandelion leaves, romaine, kale, yellow squash, cucumber, mushrooms, papaya, blueberries, strawberries, and mazuri pellets maybe once every 10 days. I top his food with dried flowers but he’s not a fan. He eats every morning and maybe two or three days he eats again in the afternoon. I don’t have a regular schedule for weighing him but I do so in the mornings. I’ve only weighed him 3 times. I use a good scale. The first time I weighed him in his soaking tub but the second two times I placed him direction the scale. I have added closer pics of the lighting.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Ok
I don't see anything alarming. But I'd like to make a few suggestions:
The "halogen" light. It's probably way too bright for a Redfoot. And it's likely too desicating to the enclosure and to your tort.
RF don't like bright lights. So for ONLY light, I'd suggest removing that bulb and installing a standard, house hold screw in LED bulb or a low wattage incandescent bulb. And you can place that on top of glass. Allowing you to close off more of the top.
Of you're using that bulb for HEAT. Remove it and replace it with a CHE. It can provide warmth night and day since it gives off no light. Just heat. But it's not safe to place on top of glass because it will overheat.
Either way. By getting rid of that bulb, your humidity level will stay higher. Also. You have more options on closing off the top more. Which will also help hold in humidity and warmth.
Next is your diet. For a Redfoot, fruit is a staple food. Not a treat. They have evolved into creatures that can safely eat a huge variety of things. Mine eat about 60% fruit. They aren't really grazers. They will eat some weeds. But it's not their primary food. And as you've seen, they really don't like dried anything. They can eat virtually anything that you eat that is fresh and un processed. Including meat.
Also, in very small tortoises the weight can fluctuate wildly just from things like a big meal or a recent soak. I'd never weigh a tiny tortoises any more often than once a month. And always under the same conditions.
You temperature of between 80 and 84 sounds OK. And you want that as an all over "ambient" temperature.
You're working on that target humidity of over 75% day and night.
Things seem to be on the right track. I accomplish high humidity in a closed chamber by using at least 3-4" of Orchid bark with some water poured into the corners. As the water evaporates it gives off humidity.
One last thing. The enclosure size is quite small. And in the coming months it will need to be larger. Do you have any plans for an outdoors enclosure?

 

[Tom]

Hello! I have a 3 month old red foot tortoise old who is not really gaining weight. He weighs 51 grams today and he weighed 50 grams on July 5th. He is eating and active in the mornings/early afternoon, his enclosure temps are around 85° during the day with about 95° basking area and temps do not drop below 75° at night. The humidity averages about 80% during the day and I turn off the humidifier at night. Substrate is eco earth mixed with Reptisoil covered with sphagnum moss. Substrate retains moisture well. He is eating well and pooping normally, daily soaks for at least 20 minutes plus time he gets in his fountain. Anything else I should be doing? I have a vet referral so that will be my next step to get him checked at the vet. Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello and welcome.

You found the wrong care advice for a RF. Whether is was a pet shop or an online source, the info they gave you was bad.

Humidifiers should not be used blowing directly into tortoise enclosure. RFs don't need a basking lamp. Over all temperatures should be 82-84 day and night. 75 is too cool. Humidity needs to be high, but the substrate needs to be dry. This is most easily achieved with 3-4 inches of orchid bark in a large closed chamber. Open topped tanks don't work. Vets don't know tortoises and will usually do more harm than good, as well as misdiagnose any problem that they do find.

@ZEROPILOT will help get you on the right track, and here is a good thread with lots of general info to help you:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hello and welcome.

You found the wrong care advice for a RF. Whether is was a pet shop or an online source, the info they gave you was bad.

Humidifiers should not be used blowing directly into tortoise enclosure. RFs don't need a basking lamp. Over all temperatures should be 82-84 day and night. 75 is too cool. Humidity needs to be high, but the substrate needs to be dry. This is most easily achieved with 3-4 inches of orchid bark in a large closed chamber. Open topped tanks don't work. Vets don't know tortoises and will usually do more harm than good, as well as misdiagnose any problem that they do find.

@ZEROPILOT will help get you on the right track, and here is a good thread with lots of general info to help you:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Agreed.
We need to get that enclosure closed up better so that the humidifier can go back into the closet.

 

[TammyJ]

You've got great advice! All the best.