HELLLLP!!! PLEASE

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moonraser

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I am worry sick…need HELP

I am very new to Tortoise and I just received a Redfoot tortoise on Tuesday morning. I am very concerned about my little “Q”

Day one…
The first day she have a few bit of the cactus leaf and a piece of papaya I give her…it is the size of a quarter…she did not finish it nor did not touch the green.

Day 2
She ate the whole cactus and half of the papaya but did not touch the green (wheat grass and spring mix.

Day 3
Today she did not touch anything.
What is wrong?
The heat is at 85F – 90F at day time and 78F -82F at night. I spray water 2 times a day; I have added reptisafe in the water and change my water bottle every day.
Today was a rainy day so I have turn on the UVB light…the other days was very sunny so I did not need it.
Is it the UVB light that she did not like?

I personally don’t like worms…the thought of it give me goose bumps…but I have read that tortoise love butterwarms…Should I get her some?
Sam told me not to handle her for 3 weeks…but how can I soak her in warm water if I can’t handle her? She needs water somehow?

She also never comes out of her hide…not even for eating…I had to put the foods very close to the entrance of her hide…today I have lift up the rock of her hide to see if she is still alive since she did not eat the foods I put.

Any help will be appreciated
Thanks
PH 
 

webskipper

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What State are you in?

When temps are favorable outside, you can giver her at least an hour of sunshine daily to let her body do what it needs to do, like keep that shell hard.

We all need an hour of sun daily.

What does she do when you observe her from outside the room? Maybe she is a shy girl?
 

moonraser

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webskipper said:
What State are you in?

When temps are favorable outside, you can giver her at least an hour of sunshine daily to let her body do what it needs to do, like keep that shell hard.

We all need an hour of sun daily.

What does she do when you observe her from outside the room? Maybe she is a shy girl?

I live in Montreal - Canada...there's no way I can put her out at this time of the year...and I don't even think our summer is hot enough to keep a tortoise outdoor.
 

webskipper

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That's correct. She'll be happier watching the Canadiens score some goals from indoors.

What did you observe from a distance? Does she try to come out?

Humidity above 80% Do you have moss to keep it humid?

Checkout r e d f o o t dot com for care sheets.
 

fifthdawn

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Is your redfoot a hatchling?

The first few days I've got mines, they were inactivate and rarely ate and is always hiding. I did handle them quite often though. I had to, to soak them and they had a shell infection so I had to treat that. But now, they eat on veggies on palm of my hand.

They are picky at times when ti comes to greens. Mines doesn't like it and only eats it when it has to. So I introduced fruits to them and they loved it. Next time for greens, I just have strawberrie juice on the greens and that tricks then.

Humidity play a big part in activity from what I noticed. They tend to come out a lot more when I turn my fogger on. Sometimes they even bask under the fogger. Maybe you want to check on that. Spraying didn't help for me. What does your humidity gauge read?
 

matt41gb

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Just remember they feel safe when they hide and are less stressed out. You don't have to feed them every day. Once or twice a week is fine. Their metabolism is very very slow compared to ours. It's sometimes very easy to forget they are reptiles. Throw some weeds and grass from your yard in the cage to see if she eats it. Make sure the yard hasn't been treated recently though. All of my red foots love to graze in the yard. Give her a little time to adjust to her new surroundings. Red foots love to eat fruit but don't give them too much since it can cause g.i. upsets, plus they become addicted, only offer it as an occasional treat. I hope this helps.
 

reptylefreek

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I dont have a redfoot, I'll start there but.... what do you mean by water bottle? Do you mean water dish? Everybody will call it something different but I just wanna make sure you arent trying to give your tort water like you would a hamster. Second... Matt I disagree strongly with you. I would NOT recommend feeding a tortoise once or twice a week. In the wild they have access to food all day everyday. You should at least offer food everyday so they can eat if they want. But I do agree about the fruit. All torts seem to get addicted to fruit so maybe feed it every two days. I am planning on getting a redfoot and went onto r e d f o o t . c o m (damn spammers, there are no spaces in the address) like REDFOOT NERD said and that diet plan seems very logical. Maybe try that. Only from what I have read, we need an expert here, your night time temps sound a little high. I dont think you want your night temps in the 80's or high 70's. Other then that your tort, just like stated above, might be shy or still acclumating itself to its new habitat. I hope everything works out
 

moonraser

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fifthdawn said:
Is your redfoot a hatchling?

The first few days I've got mines, they were inactivate and rarely ate and is always hiding. I did handle them quite often though. I had to, to soak them and they had a shell infection so I had to treat that. But now, they eat on veggies on palm of my hand.

They are picky at times when ti comes to greens. Mines doesn't like it and only eats it when it has to. So I introduced fruits to them and they loved it. Next time for greens, I just have strawberrie juice on the greens and that tricks then.

Humidity play a big part in activity from what I noticed. They tend to come out a lot more when I turn my fogger on. Sometimes they even bask under the fogger. Maybe you want to check on that. Spraying didn't help for me. What does your humidity gauge read?

uh...I don't have a hygrometer...I better get one. Thanks:)

webskipper said:
That's correct. She'll be happier watching the Canadiens score some goals from indoors.

What did you observe from a distance? Does she try to come out?

Humidity above 80% Do you have moss to keep it humid?

Checkout r e d f o o t dot com for care sheets.

Thanks webskipper, after I read the care sheets from redfoot.com I have take away the UVB and "Q" came closer to the opening of her hide. Before that she was deep in and I can't even see her. :)

reptylefreek - Oups...I mean I change the water from my spray bottle every day...I also have a water dish.

fifthdawn - No I don't think she is a hatchling, not from what I see on the shell...she could be 5-6 months old.

I have notice "Q" doesn't really like light so I toke away the UVB light and only turn on the day light much later and she is starting to stick her nose out form her hide again:) she likes to watch our every move from there

Thanks again everyone :):)
 

matt41gb

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reptylefreek said:
I dont have a redfoot, I'll start there but.... what do you mean by water bottle? Do you mean water dish? Everybody will call it something different but I just wanna make sure you arent trying to give your tort water like you would a hamster. Second... Matt I disagree strongly with you. I would NOT recommend feeding a tortoise once or twice a week. In the wild they have access to food all day everyday. You should at least offer food everyday so they can eat if they want. But I do agree about the fruit. All torts seem to get addicted to fruit so maybe feed it every two days. I am planning on getting a redfoot and went onto r e d f o o t . c o m (damn spammers, there are no spaces in the address) like REDFOOT NERD said and that diet plan seems very logical. Maybe try that. Only from what I have read, we need an expert here, your night time temps sound a little high. I dont think you want your night temps in the 80's or high 70's. Other then that your tort, just like stated above, might be shy or still acclumating itself to its new habitat. I hope everything works out

You can disagree if you want but I've kept red foots for years now and all my research points to... Red Foot tortoises in the wild don't always have food when they want it. They hide most of the time and may come out every few days to forage for food and are more opportunistic feeders meaning they find food if they happen across it.

Like I said "their metabolism is so much slower then ours", meaning they don't require the calorie intake as we do. You have to think how a reptile lives and know their habits before you can disagree with my post.

You can, however give them access to grasses on a daily basis which is pure fiber. Red foots will always beg for food once they get used to you feeding them but that's just a stimulus response, kind of like a dog begging for food. They may have just eaten but they're still going to beg for your food since it tastes better.

She'll eat when she's ready, just keep offering food and she'll come around. Good luck.

-Matt
 

moonraser

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Isa said:
Welcome to the forum :)
I am from montreal, Canada too :D , I do not have a redfoot but I have a Hermann so I can't help you.
Here is 2 very good website about redfoot tortoises :) You should check them out.
http://www.turtletary.com/
http://www.redfoots.com/
And you can surf in the redfoot section.
http://tortoiseforum.org/forum-4.html

What!?!?! Someone from Montreal! That's super cool!!!
Is anyone else from Montreal and surrounding? I am in fact a Brossardoise :D

“Q” is actually much happier without the UVB light. I did not turn of the daylight heater and used the nightlight heater today and guess what…she actually have half of her body out of her hide and she is looking around with a lot of interest. I will put some foods for her later and see if she is going to eat it.

Thanks everyone
PH :)
 

webskipper

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If you want a fogger r e p t i l e s p e c i a l i s t s . com has one on their weekly clearance (15% off);). I think it is waterer/fogger combo for Lizards. For the price it makes a cool looking humidifier. Advised to put it in plastic lid/tray to keep the bedding from molding. Call them as they are not an online store.
 

llamas55

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What is it used to eating from the place you got it from? Fresh things might be new to it so keep at offering what the following menus advocate.
I highly recommend Terry's baby menu below, if it is a baby, and every day YES
http://www.turtletary.com/
http://www.redfoots.com/
http://www.redfoottortoisebreeder.com/
http://www.turtletary.com/Stars/REPTILESTARDoc.doc[hr]
ps When I got mine and she was starving with bottom shell rot, I had to soak her in warm water about 10 minutes each and every day before feeding, and then put her back in the habitat next to the food, she was so weak. Then she'd eat a bite or two and go into her hide (like someone else said, they must have a hide to feel comfortable). This lasted months until she came back from her near death, and she gradually ate more and more (I offer 1/3 fruit, 1/3 veggies, 1/3 or more greens and a dab of protein Sundays) and do not follow the fruit only one day as this seems more natural to me altho many get great results with that. Now I just soak 2 x a week as she will eat when the food goes in, regardless of soaking, and is well again.
 

Isa

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I think we are the only ones (from montreal). You are a brossardoise, cool, I am a lavaloise :D!
 

Yvonne G

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reptylefreek said:
Second... Matt I disagree strongly with you. I would NOT recommend feeding a tortoise once or twice a week. In the wild they have access to food all day everyday.

One of the things we pride ourselves on here on the forum is that we accept that different folks might have different ways to take care of their animals. I hope we don't ever get so short-sighted that we only espouse one way to do everything.

Personally, I feed my tortoises every other day. However, they all have outside access and can go looking for fallen leaves, grasses, weeds or whatever on the day that I don't feed them. The few that are indoors get some sort of meal every day. Usually a large meal, then a light meal.

So, hooray! for different methods of taking care of tortoises!! Everyone has the choice to pick and choose the methods that work for them.

I don't keep Redfoot tortoises, but I DO have a bit of advice for you. You need a large enough container so that you can have a warm side and a not-so-warm side. Take a look at Terryo's redfoot habitat:

Its post #6
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-10512-post-91000.html#pid91000

As you can see, this is a long container and well-planted to keep the humidity high, and hiding places.

Also, make up the food dish, place it on the opposite side of the habitat from the hiding place, then put the tortoise in front of the food and quickly step out of sight. The tortoise then has to walk all the way across the habitat to get back to the hiding place, and gets some exercise. Two or three times a day, pick the tortoise out of hiding and place him in front of the food.

It takes a few days for a tortoise to get used to a new environment. Give him a chance.

Read all the posts under the redfoot section here on the forum, and if you are still having trouble, let us know.
 

Madkins007

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One thing I would like to point out is that tortoises in general are neophobic- that is, they dislike new things and changes. You bring home a tortoise and you generally expect it to hide and not do much for up to about a week.

By all means, verify your cares, but unless the tortoise is showing signs of illness or problems, leave it alone to get acclimated.
 
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