HI ..new here

[GeorgeDaisy]

About 18 months ago I was given a couple of red foots by another parent at my sons school. They no longer wanted them & as the known animal person was asked if I would take them.

The larger of the 2 was quite already quite pyramided when I got them, the smaller one not so much. They had been being fed on iceberg lettuce, kept on sawdust in a tort table with a floodlight bulb.

i have them on loam cyprus mulch mix with a humidity of 70-80%, heat & UV & feed them a variety of fruits, veg & a little protein weekly. The carapace is growing more evenly now & they seem happy and are very friendly.

No idea how old they are or sex so I was hoping if anyone here could give me an idea & also if theres anything I should be doing different. I have asked on another couple of forums but not many red foot people around i gather.

We called them George & Daisy..the larger one is 7.5 in weighs 1.057, smaller one 4.5 inch 304g

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum..

 

[tortadise]

Welcome!

 

[GeorgeDaisy]

Hello and welcome to the forum..

Hi & thx for the welcome

 

[wellington]

Hello and WELCOME . More will be along to help out on sexing if it is possible at their size.

 

[GeorgeDaisy]

Thanx for the welcomes

I know it may take a while to truly know their sexes, just an idea really lol
We just picked names for them but George may become a georgina & i`m not sure what we`ll do with Daisy lol

I was told they were both 1-2 years old when we got them but there is such a huge size difference in them

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi GeorgeDaisy:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

I don't keep redfoot tortoises, so I'll let someone else answer your questions.

What would you like us to call you?

...and may we know appx. where in the world you are?

 

[GeorgeDaisy]

Hi GeorgeDaisy:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

I don't keep redfoot tortoises, so I'll let someone else answer your questions.

What would you like us to call you?

...and may we know appx. where in the world you are?

I`m Claire...in the UK, Newcastle

 

[Mgridgaway]

The larger one definitely looks female to me, sides are straight, plastron is straight, and tail/anal scutes are typical female.

I think the smaller one may be too young to indentify.. you may want to try back in a year.

Also, can't completely tell but I may be seeing some shell rot. Is there any way you can post larger photos?

Welcome to the board!

 

[GeorgeDaisy]

The larger one definitely looks female to me, sides are straight, plastron is straight, and tail/anal scutes are typical female.

I think the smaller one may be too young to indentify.. you may want to try back in a year.

Also, can't completely tell but I may be seeing some shell rot. Is there any way you can post larger photos?

Welcome to the board!

Do you think they both of shell rot or anyone in particular & thanx for the input..the larger one is Daisy so she may have the correct name afterall.

I`ll try to get some bigger pictures of them later...they have both gone off into their hide right now.

The smaller ones plastron was really soft when it came to us & could be depressed however it is nice & hard now. What do I need to do if they have shell rot...eek

 

[GeorgeDaisy]

There is a small white area on the larger one i just noticed having a closer look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78413082@N06/7197328118/in/photostream

The smaller tort had a very soft plastron when it came to us & this has now hardened up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78413082@N06/7197329658/in/photostream

So what is the best treatment....could their substate be too moist??
It not wet...humidity set at around 70-75%

{Hope this makes larger pics} I didn`t know anything about torts before i adopted these 2, I have researched as much as I can to try to make them the best living conditions

 

[Madkins007]

The big one is definitely female, the small one looks female as well, but this can change as it grows more.

There does seem to be a little plastron rot. Try adding more thickness and drainage to the substrate- if the bottom layers are wet, they will make humidity and the top layers can be much drier that way.

Treat the existing rot by-
1. Cleaning them well, use a soft brush or something to really scour the dirt off.
2. Treat the areas and areas around them with Betadine Solution or equivalent. Only use this for a couple days, however, as it affects the growing healthy tissue as well.
3. Put the torts in a warm container with some newspaper or paper towel substrate and treat the areas with a good antibiotic ointment (silver sulfadiazine ointment or 2% mupirocin ointment are MASSIVELY better than typical triple antibiotic ointments). leave them in there for about an hour for the ointment to work. Repeat daily. (If you are soaking the tortoises, do it before the treatment.)
4. If you do not see improvement in a week or two, switch from antibiotic to anti-fungal cremes, like those used for yeast infections or athletes foot.

( for more on shell rot, go to https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/basic-medical-care/shell-rot )

 

[Jacob]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Mgridgaway]

As always, Mark is spot on with the treatment. One helpful piece of advice I want to add is that Betadine is the branded form of Povidone Iodine, which I was able to find much cheaper at my local Walmart.

Don't worry too much about the rot, it's very minor. My tort had about the same amont when I first acquired her and it cleared up pretty quickly. Just be sure to be diligent with treating with the antibiotic/anti-fungal. I skipped this step the first time and the rot came back after a month. I redid the povidone iodine treatment and then used a generic antifungal with Clotrimazole for a week (twice a day applications) and my plastron is nice and healthy now.

Good luck!

 

[GeorgeDaisy]

Thanks for the advice guys...I have some betadine here that I got in with the whelping kit for my pups that never got used. I`ll go grab some ointment today & get started on treating the rot.