im trying to get more greens for my redfoot

[Strawberry_the_tortoise]

So I've been looking at my red foot and s/he (don't know the gender yet) has a little bit of pyramiding so I'm trying to expand my options of food. I've been feeding him/her: strawberries, mangoes, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, radicchio, and some grocery mixes. I feel like I need to expand his/her diet. Any recommendations?

 

[wellington]

Pyramiding is due to a dry habitat. RF need a high humidity, 80% lack of it causes pyramiding.

 

[Anyfoot]

So I've been looking at my red foot and s/he (don't know the gender yet) has a little bit of pyramiding so I'm trying to expand my options of food. I've been feeding him/her: strawberries, mangoes, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, radicchio, and some grocery mixes. I feel like I need to expand his/her diet. Any recommendations?

Show us your enclosure and tort please.

 

[daniellenc]

Definitely increase humidity but fruit should be a treat and not a main staple. Have you tried natural weeds in your area? Dandelion and other safe flowers, clover, and broad leaf plantain are usually enjoyed. At the store look for collard and mustard greens, chard, mushrooms, red bell pepper, endive, cactus, and other greens besides just lettuce. Also, not sure if you have an Asian or Hispanic market near you but they have some pretty awesome produce with tons of safe stuff to feed. Look through threads on here that's what I did. Then I made a list of stuff I knew I couldn't get at my local store and went to our Asian market. It was much cheaper and they had more variety I wouldn't have thought of.

 

[lisa127]

Personally, I feed a pretty good amount of fruit. Mostly mango, papaya, sometimes pineapple, kiwi, strawberries. I also feed escarole, turnip greens, kale, dandelion greens, and spring mix. Zucchini, yellow squash, sweet bell peppers and mushrooms regularly as well.

I do think you need to make sure temps and humidity are correct also.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I also feed up to 40% fruit during the summer.
Humidity does need to be raised. But not wetness.
Most of us use a closed chamber enclosure with a lid.
A closed chamber makes it simpler to trap heat and humidity.
This is one for a baby. A simple aquarium with a hinged plexiglass lid and an 18" 5.0 florescent light for UVB.
Also a digital temp and humidity gauge.

 

[MPRC]

Fruit is a-ok for redfoots. Mine love mango, papaya, cherries, kiwi, banana, bell pepper etc and they love dandelion leaves, escarole, endive, romaine, grape leaves etc. They don't seen to like carrot very much or chard, but I still offer it sometimes.

Make sure you keep the humidity up and give lots of soaks and maybe even consider setting up a mister.

Can we see your redfoot? Some of mine look like pinecones from their previous owners, they are healthy and happy now and the pyramids get less noticeable as they grow. .

 

[Redfool]

Along with fruits and veggies mentioned by others my four redfoots of twenty years get a daily feed of hibiscus leaves and flowers.
I have many bushes surrounding their outdoor pen. Just make sure of no pesticides. Nothing better than pruning free food.

 

[MPRC]

Mullberry leaves are good too!

 

[Strawberry_the_tortoise]

Ok so idk how to insert photos.. sorry! I'm new so can anyone tell me so I can show I that the tort and enclosure? I have a pretty big bowl in there that has the humidity in the mid 70's and I soak the tort almost 3 times a week

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Along with fruits and veggies mentioned by others my four redfoots of twenty years get a daily feed of hibiscus leaves and flowers.
I have many bushes surrounding their outdoor pen. Just make sure of no pesticides. Nothing better than pruning free food.

I have nine established Hibiscus bushes throughout my yard and they DO provide the only thing I would describe as a "staple" food.
I love the stuff. And so do they.

 

[Strawberry_the_tortoise]

I have nine established Hibiscus bushes throughout my yard and they DO provide the only thing I would describe as a "staple" food.
I love the stuff. And so do they.

Are Hibiscuis hard to grow?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

No.
But they take time to get established.
Most of them are loaded with pesticides from a nursery and you must let the plant grow in new soil for a few months and only feed the new leaves at first.
A new plant must be watered every day or two.
My adult plants, I never water or fertilize. Whenever it rains is all they need. They are very hardy.
I often rip off entire branches and throw the whole thing in the pen if I'm out in the yard and they look hungry. An established bush recovers very fast.
There are also always dozens of flowers.

 

[Strawberry_the_tortoise]

Definitely increase humidity but fruit should be a treat and not a main staple. Have you tried natural weeds in your area? Dandelion and other safe flowers, clover, and broad leaf plantain are usually enjoyed. At the store look for collard and mustard greens, chard, mushrooms, red bell pepper, endive, cactus, and other greens besides just lettuce. Also, not sure if you have an Asian or Hispanic market near you but they have some pretty awesome produce with tons of safe stuff to feed. Look through threads on here that's what I did. Then I made a list of stuff I knew I couldn't get at my local store and went to our Asian market. It was much cheaper and they had more variety I wouldn't have thought of.

Sorry I took this long to reply to comments, but since then I’ve been feeding more of mixed greens and veggies rather than fruit. I’ve tried dandelions and some weeds and s/he doesn’t really like it.... I don’t know if there’s something wrong but besides that, I have been raiseing the humidity a lot

 

[Strawberry_the_tortoise]

I also feed up to 40% fruit during the summer.
Humidity does need to be raised. But not wetness.
Most of us use a closed chamber enclosure with a lid.
A closed chamber makes it simpler to trap heat and humidity.
This is one for a baby. A simple aquarium with a hinged plexiglass lid and an 18" 5.0 florescent light for UVB.
Also a digital temp and humidity gauge.

I have a enclosure that is a close lid that has wood on all sides and glass in the front, I’ve heard glass is very bad for tortoises because they cannot understand what it is. My tortoise has been pacing and trying to get through th glass and I’ve recently tried to put duct tape and paper on the enclosure to prevent her/him from pacing...do your torts pace?

 

[Pearly]

I have a enclosure that is a close lid that has wood on all sides and glass in the front, I’ve heard glass is very bad for tortoises because they cannot understand what it is. My tortoise has been pacing and trying to get through th glass and I’ve recently tried to put duct tape and paper on the enclosure to prevent her/him from pacing...do your torts pace?

She maybe feeling exposed. Put some plants and different sight barriers in there. They don’t like to be out in the open. Especially little ones. They are food to bigger animals in nature, it stresses them out when there is no places to hide. Make sure she has several such places. They like to cram themselves in the tight dark humid places. And NO, glass is NOT bad for torts. I have raised mine from tiny hatchlings in glass tank, but it was planted with many live plants, and had caves and burrows. One more thing, if your tort is less than 1 yr old, I’d soak her DAILY for at least 30 min. And most of all: WARM WELCOME from Texas!

 

[Toddrickfl1]

My tortoise paces every morning he does a few laps as his nothing routine. I agree with @Pearly though make sure you have plenty of hiding places. They will spend more time hiding them they will in that open.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yes
They come out. Walk the area. Look for food and then spend 80%of the day hiding and sleeping.
My closed chambers have all been low sided modified terrariums. Glass.

 

[daniellenc]

My guy is up and out early, stomps around and eats, snoozes in the afternoon, and back out early evening. He even eats after his lights are out at night. Not sure how you offer his greens but my guy was being picky after his diet switched over from summer to spring with more weeds. I cut everything up small and mix it with grocery store greens. At first he wasn’t eating great but now I’m hardly using anything but weeds and he’s chowing down.

 

[Strawberry_the_tortoise]

She maybe feeling exposed. Put some plants and different sight barriers in there. They don’t like to be out in the open. Especially little ones. They are food to bigger animals in nature, it stresses them out when there is no places to hide. Make sure she has several such places. They like to cram themselves in the tight dark humid places. And NO, glass is NOT bad for torts. I have raised mine from tiny hatchlings in glass tank, but it was planted with many live plants, and had caves and burrows. One more thing, if your tort is less than 1 yr old, I’d soak her DAILY for at least 30 min. And most of all: WARM WELCOME from Texas!

THANK YOU!!! I feel really relieved about the glass.... and yes I’ll be purchasing some more hiding places because s/he would always hide in a corner instead of in a log hide I put in. I switched the hides and s/he seems to like it. I think I’ll purchase some plants to put in or something. Do your torts eat the plants?