Hello from Ontario, 20 year old Redfoot rescue attemp

Bluelily

New Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Toronto, Ontario
Hello all,

I am so happy to have found this amazing group. Here's my story so please bear with me.

Long ago (before the internet was a wealth of information and we had to rely on pet stores and books) my family bought home a Redfoot when I was a teen. This was over 20 years ago, and with kids moving out and the passing of my mother this tortoise has seen a lot of change in the past 10 years and it hasn't been good. I blame myself for not being a good owner and educating my family on proper tortoise care when I moved out. I have now moved back to the city and have seen her for the first time in a really long time and I cried. There is extensive pyramiding, inadequate food, overgrown beak, and she is still in the last enclosure I had her in which is 4x2, she is only 6inches long probably due to lack of nutrition. My husband and I have convinced my dad that we can provide a better home for her (those of you with elderly empty nest parents know how hard this is). So this is where my journey begins.

I'm currently looking at indoor enclosures (the biggest my space can accommodate) and fully protected outdoor enclosures (city raccoons are terrifying). I'm also looking for Ontario folks who I can just bond with and help with figuring this all out. Thanks for reading and I'm sure you all will be very angry, but I'm trying to do better by her.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,405
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

Pinned towards the top of our Redfoot section you'll find a couple of very good care sheets for this species.

I don't know if you have access to the Iris Christmas Tree Storage Bin in Canada, but at 6" I think that would be a fairly good enclosure for your tortoise. It's about 4' long and will get you by until you can figure out something better.
 

Canadian Mojo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2019
Messages
211
Location (City and/or State)
Ontario
I'm about an hour north of you just outside of Barrie but we're (technically, it's my son's RF ?) new at this and still learning so I probably won't have too much to offer in the way of advice.
 

LaLaP

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2018
Messages
959
Location (City and/or State)
Portland, OR
I'd love to see a photo of her. It's great that you've recognized that she needs better care and are willing to take it on.
I also had lots of animals as a kid that I took terrible care of mostly because of bad pet store advice. I think about them often and feel terrible so I can relate.
 

TammyJ

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,119
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
Warmest welcome from Kingston, Jamaica. I have brothers in Ontario and have spent time there, it's beautiful. Thank you for taking on this tortoise and look forward to seeing her and sharing information!
 

Bluelily

New Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Toronto, Ontario
Hello All, thank you all for the support and kind thoughts. I bought a christmas tree box (thanks @Yvonne G) I will update with pictures once I get her and you'll see me on the boards, I'll be trying to make a PCV enclosure that's 8x4 for the indoor enclosure. Anyone from Ontario is more then welcome to an enclosure party as I have no experience in making one but here goes.
 

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