Hatchling red foot?

[jareeed2]

Can a hatchling/baby redfoot be housed in a 20gallon glass tank?...
If so how long till the have to move into a bigger enclousre

 

[Mgridgaway]

It's doable, but not really ideal. From what I hear it can be hard to manage the heat in a glass aquarium. I use a black mixing tub for my 4 month old. I got it at the Home Depot for 13 bucks, and it's quite large -- enough to last him a few years before I move him to something larger.

 

[Yvonne G]

Take a look at some of Terryo's threads about her redfoot Pio. She has the prettiest habitats you'll ever wanna' see, and they're glass aquariums!

 

[jareeed2]

Sounds good.. How do i search someones specific threads

 

[oscar]

I keep my hatchlings in a 20 gallon long tank. I use a zoo med under tank heater that is controlled by a rheostat the bottom of tank has Styrofoam under it but not under the zoo med heater, I use Styrofoam three inches tall around the outside of the tank so they can not see thru glass and have a ceamic heat emitter on top of tank controlled with a johnson controller A219. Not saying this is the right way but has worked for me. if you are in an area were you use a forced air furnace the air in your house can be really dry. I can close down the top of the aquarium to better control the humidity and heat. I also us a temp. gun along with and indoor outdoor weather station that tells me the temperature and humidity in the tank. and spagnum moss for a substrate which holds the moisture well the hatchlings like to burrow in it also.

 

[Madkins007]

You can use the search function. She also wrote a great article for the Tortoise Library about her habitat- http://tortoiselibrary.com/planting.html

There is nothing inherently wrong with using an aquarium, especially for humidity-loving species like Red-foots. A 20 gallon tank will work for about a year or so for one tortoise.

You need to be a bit careful, however. Because the tank is kind of small, it is easy to overheat, overlight, and generally overdo everything in it. It is not really all that hard, but enough people messed it up that aquariums got a bad reputation.

 

[tortoise-kid]

Mgridgaway is right. The heat in glass tanks is really hard to manage plus the glass walls can be aggravating to a tortoise. A tortoise table would be ideal or maybe since the little guy is a baby I have seen people use storage containers.

 

[Madkins007]

I challenge the idea that aquaria are hard to manage. It just takes a somewhat gentle touch when so much reptile hobbyist supplies are designed to blast lots of light and heat at the animals.

The 20 gallon I ran for my little guys here in Omaha was actually hard to heat enough until I got a larger CHE and thermostatic controller for it. Aquaria are great for high humidity species- a moisture-loving substrate, a little heat, and a cover for most of the top and it gets nice and steamy in there.

A lot of people talk about 'bad air', mold and mildew in that sort of situation, but that is pretty easy to manage with variable openings on top so you can balance fresh air and warm/humid air.

I actually find it easier to manage a Red-footed Tortoise habitat in an aquarium than in an open table. The only benefit of an open table is sheer space- which is important, but they are much harder to heat and humidify unless you heat and humidify the entire room- not always an option- or build more of an enclosure around it.