ID help - for Turtle the Redfoot Tortoise

[Crazy1]

Hi all you RF owners, breeders and hobbyists.
I am taking care of a friends RF. I don’t know much about them other than what I have discovered through the forum and Redfoots.com and Turtletary.com
This is a young person who entrusted his prized possession and best friend to me. Its name is Turtle (sometimes he calls it baby).
I have s/his enclosure setup and what to feed them down pretty well, I think, thanks to Terry (Redfoot Nerd) and I have it saved as a hard copy if I need to quickly check up a thing or two. (No s/he will not stay in my closet or roam my house)

This Friend of mine has been housing this RF from the age of aprox. 3 months old in his closet and it has been allowed to have free roam of his room. He said he feeds it mainly Romaine and occasionally bananas or an occasional piece of apple or pear etc. Never any meat. He does occasionally let him roam in the yard. He tells me this RF is now 5 years old. I measured it and it is 12cm long, 8 1/2cm wide and 5 1/2 cm high and weighs 418 grams. I have posted some pics in hopes you can help me identify what type it is and if it is male or female. He would like to know. He told me he knows little or nothing about how to raise a RF but is willing to learn. I told him when he gets back in three weeks I will have hand outs for him from Turtletary.com., Redfoot.com and any other info I could gather for him in order to make this little tort a happy healthy long living tort. I appreciate any and all help.
Thanks in advance.

 

[egyptiandan]

It's a Cherry head, Robyn and most likely a male. He definately hasn't been grown well, so all the help you can give your friend would be great.

Danny

 

[Crazy1]

Thanks Danny, I am trying. Can you tell me about what size and wt a 5 year old should be?

 

[egyptiandan]

I know Robyn What you should be asking is he a good weight for his size, irrespective of age. Now thats more Terry's or Douglas's area as my female is bigger and my little guys not there yet, but it sounds a bit low.

Danny

 

[Crazy1]

You are so right Danny, thanks for helping and the great wording for my question.
Terry, Douglas, is he a good wt for his size?
Since his owner said he had a banana today I am going to get and try some ProPlan tomorrow and play, day 7 of terry's feeding plan.
Any other help greatly appreciated.

 

[Redfoot NERD]

This young person posted on redfoots.com awhile back as I recall. They didn't seem to be very receptive to change! So you may have to be "persuasive" to get them to follow 'the system'. I'm also anxious to hear how that poor 'girl' does with a real "balanced" diet. I'm almost surprised 'she' can walk!

I am sure that 'turtle' is a Brazilian.. AKA 'Cherryhead'.. and looks to be a female IMHO. Of course at that size/reported age.. who knows???

Every one of my early '05 hatchlings is 6+"..

.. even though he may be large for his age.. he is still "smooth".. so 'the system' must work. As I recall(?) he weighed somewhere in the 650+ gram range at that size/age.

So this girl has been grossly neglected.. has lacked Calcium.. animal protein.. and all the other nutrition derived from a balanced diet and lifestyle!

Use 'tuff-luv' and stay with 'the system' Robyn.. it may take awhile to get her 'on track'!

Hope this has helped.

nerd

 

[Crazy1]

Yes, Terry it has helped. Thank you. Now I know it is a Brazilian (AKA Cherryhead), a she, that her growth is truley stunted and that she will have the best care I can give her here. She will get all she need Starting tomorrow with a little ProPlan. I will not only be working with my young friend (when he returns) but with his father also regarding the care of this tortoise. I will stick to "the system" and hopefully we will see some progress in the next 3 weeks, or so.
I will keep you all updated. Again thanks for the help. Threw tuff-lov' we WILL work this out.

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

Great to see that tortoise is in a good home ! I have adopted two like that. I almost sure the shell will never become normal. But with time the internal damage will be corrected and she can be a happy and healthy witch is more important then her shell shape = 0 )

 

[Crazy1]

RFBT I am just babysitting her. In a few weeks she will go back home. But I will be educating the owner and letting him see the differences I have before and after pics and will keep and eye on him and turtle.

Just a quick update. We had protein day on Sat. and Greens on Sunday. She ate fine. Not a lot of meat but scarfed up the hibiscus and grape leaves and the little bit of Radicchio I fed her.
Terry you are right she really doesn’t move around very much and when she does she is more on her back knees pulling herself along with her front legs. But she is eating. And hopefully she will be on the road to health soon.

 

[Itort]

Robyn, try some prickly pear. That will get calcium in him along with other good stuff.

 

[Crazy1]

Duh, Thanks Larry. Must have been a senior moment. I have it and give it to my others but haven't gotten there (in my head) yet. She will get some tomorrow for sure. I am just so happy she is eating whatever I place in front of her-so far. Now I will really have to concentrate on "the system" and make sure she has the most nutritious foods.