Is my redfooted dying?

[lookalikehuuh]

Sorry I do have 1 question, it sounds like I will be ordering the 12% UVB bulb like suggested here and in the setup thread. From what I understand there it appears the UVB light only needs to be on for 4 hours a day since ours will live exclusively indoors year round. Currently its running 12 hours a day since the primary source of "daylight" for the enclosure.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Sorry I do have 1 question, it sounds like I will be ordering the 12% UVB bulb like suggested here and in the setup thread. From what I understand there it appears the UVB light only needs to be on for 4 hours a day since ours will live exclusively indoors year round. Currently its running 12 hours a day since the primary source of "daylight" for the enclosure.

Very valid question, it was one of my first queries when joining the forum, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, especially red foots who tend to dwell the forest floors, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle, hope that all makes sense

 

[wellington]

So sorry for your loss.
Be sure to get a good che from a known brand. The cheap ones from China does not heat up as hot and do not last as long.
Also the che should be used in a dome fixture that is 10 to 10.5 inches in diameter and with a ceramic socket.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Sorry I do have 1 question, it sounds like I will be ordering the 12% UVB bulb like suggested here and in the setup thread. From what I understand there it appears the UVB light only needs to be on for 4 hours a day since ours will live exclusively indoors year round. Currently its running 12 hours a day since the primary source of "daylight" for the enclosure.

You will need 12% lamp only if you can hang it at 18-21 inches over the substrate level. The 6% lamp is okay for your current enclosure (I estimate it's 8-10 inches above). Do you know exact model/maker of the lamp you use now?

I'm very sorry about little Deadpool Very sad news. It's likely not your fault and let's hope it wasn't an infection they've got from the breeder.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I have sad news to share, unfortunately Deadpool passed away while I was out picking the kids up. When we came back he was fully withdrawn into the shell and his eyes were sunken in. He wasn't responsive to any touch at all and was stiff.

So sorry for your loss

 

[lookalikehuuh]

You will need 12% lamp only if you can hang it at 18-21 inches over the substrate level. The 6% lamp is okay for your current enclosure (I estimate it's 8-10 inches above). Do you know exact model/maker of the lamp you use now?

I'm very sorry about little Deadpool Very sad news. It's likely not your fault and let's hope it wasn't an infection they've got from the breeder.

Currently I have the light zip tied to the top of the wire frame, its 11 inches above the substrate level. The lighting fixture is the Arcadia ProT5 UVB Kit 24Watt Part Number RARPT24Z.

Thank you for your kind words, my son is still really bummed out from losing Deadpool so we will work thru that, but we are ensuring we do everything we can to keep Wolverine healthy. The good news is Wolverine's shell is very solid and he has grown considerably in the last couple of months since we acquired him.

 

[lookalikehuuh]

So sorry for your loss.
Be sure to get a good che from a known brand. The cheap ones from China does not heat up as hot and do not last as long.
Also the che should be used in a dome fixture that is 10 to 10.5 inches in diameter and with a ceramic socket.

Thank you for that, we ordered some yesterday so they should be here this afternoon so we can get Wolverine setup properly. I appreciate your kind words!

 

[lookalikehuuh]

Very valid question, it was one of my first queries when joining the forum, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, especially red foots who tend to dwell the forest floors, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle, hope that all makes sense

This makes very good sense, thank you for that bit of knowledge!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

This makes very good sense, thank you for that bit of knowledge!

No problem at all! If you have any queries when setting things up, don’t hesitate to ask, they’ll always be someone along to help at some point

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Currently I have the light zip tied to the top of the wire frame, its 11 inches above the substrate level. The lighting fixture is the Arcadia ProT5 UVB Kit 24Watt Part Number RARPT24Z.

You should stick to 6% Forest lamp then. Desert 12% will be too harsh at that distance. When you upgrade the enclosure aim for 2-2.5 ft. tall (you will need to replace only the UVB lamp, not the fixture itself). Taller enclosure gives more flexibility in choosing and adjusting lights/heating. When in doubt, check stuff with us before ordering, ask for opinions and ideas.

And keep us in loop on Wolverine.

 

[Jan A]

Hey Alex,

typing this as I'm waiting for the kids to be released from school (minimum days today). We have actually been turning off the heat lamp at night since that is what the pet store owner told us to do. Just an assumption but night time temps were probably in the low 70s in their enclosure which sounds like its way too low. Sounds like we need to reconsider our entire setup for Deadpool and Wolverine.

Its pretty maddening because the reptile store specifically told us that Redfoot tortoises were the social species and needed to be kept in small groups, that's why we ended up with 2 of them...

I will pick up a Sterilite bin on the way home from her dentist appointment so we can separate them. Should we continue, or bit would be useful to have begin properly soaking Dealpool while he appears to not be feeling good?

It would be helpful to Deadpool to get & keep his temperature up to 84-86 degrees the whole 24 hrs while he is sickly. He hasn't been getting his food-share because wolverine has intimidated him so separation was & is essential. My red foot Houdini loves 86 degrees, especially at night.

I encourage you to read everything you can HERE. Ask questions. The experience of our long-time owners is way more helpful than elsewhere on the internet

A word of wisdom: retail pet stores give wrong advice about tortoises. And so do a lot of vets.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

It would be helpful to Deadpool to get & keep his temperature up to 84-86 degrees the whole 24 hrs while he is sickly. He hasn't been getting his food-share because wolverine has intimidated him so separation was & is essential. My red foot Houdini loves 86 degrees, especially at night.

I encourage you to read everything you can HERE. Ask questions. The experience of our long-time owners is way more helpful than elsewhere on the internet

A word of wisdom: retail pet stores give wrong advice about tortoises. And so do a lot of vets.

Deadpool unfortunately passed away

 

[ND135]

Hello All,

Apologies in advance for the wall of text....

I am brand new to this forum, as I found it while frantically searching for answers for my son's little red footed tortoise. We acquired 2 baby red footed tortoises for my 9 year old son back in June of this year. My son is very responsible and is already in charge of feeding our 2 family dogs in the evenings. Initially they were both around the same size but one has definitely grown much faster than the other. They are named Deadpool (smaller one) and Wolverine (Larger one), kids picked the name

They both currently live in a zoo med Tortoise box. We have a bowl for their food, separate bowl with shallow amounts of purified drinking water that we soak them in 2x a day. There is a heater lamp with a small hiding area on one side and a UVB light in the middle of the mesh enclosure side. No heating pads or anything like that. We do have a "repti fogger" to help keep humidity levels up since we were struggling with keeping humidity above 50% even when spraying the substrate down multiple times a day.

Daily diet wise we provide them with lots of leavfy greens like Kale, green leaf lettuce etc, we also include a bit of yellow squash, bell peppers, cucumber, and a fruit like strawberries or blueberries (every other day for the fruit). About once every week we do provide them some protein, usually in the form of pre-packaged superworms. We would always sprinkle all of the food with the Rephasy superfoods superveggie powder. We also have a cuddlebone as well as a calcium block in the enclosure (although I have never seen them touch either of them).

On Monday based on recommendation from the same reptile shop where we purchased the tortoises we provided them with 2 frozen pinky mice instead of the superworms we usually feed for their protein. 1 of the pinkies was fully consumed and parts of the 2nd one were also consumed. We aren't sure which one of the 2 tortoises consumed the pinkies since we were out of the house dropping the kids off at school and when we returned both were back in their hideout digesting.

In the mornings we do water/food changes every day before the kids leave for school. As soon as Deadpool would see us remove the food bowl he would come out of the hideout and wait for the new food to be placed back in. My son would then soak both the tortoises and Deadpool would then bolt to the food while Wolverine woudl go back to his hideout and would come out later in the morning to eat. Yesterday we noticed that Deadpool wasn't actively moving around like he normally would in the morning. Deadpool is the early riser and Wolverine is the lazy haha! We just figured maybe he had a late night and would start moving around later. My son did his ritual of placing both tortoises in their shallow pool of water for their nightime soak but i noticed Deadpool had not moved from it. Usually he will soak for like 30sec to a min and runs out then immediately runs to the food bowl to eat, its his routine.

Since then Deadpool really hasn't moved from where we place him and his head/legs are just out of the shell and laying on the substrate. I did notice his shell is much softer than Wolverine's shell which I hadn't really noticed before, I've been doing some reading and it sounds like MBD, but its really strange that 1 of them is apparently thriving while the other is apparently near death. My wife did mention that Deadpools shell had felt somewhat soft about a week ago but when I went to feel it, it felt pretty hard to me. So maybe I missed something that day? I mean they eat the same foods, in the same enclosure, lighting, same schedule. Kind of racking my brain thinking of what we did wrong. The only thing that was different was those pinky mice we provided them on Monday, could that have caused Wolverine's issues maybe an intestinal blockage or something?

I am afraid it might be too late for us to save Deadpool, but can anyone suggest what we have done wrong so we can help keep Wolverine healthy for the long run? We are considering taking Wolverine to the vet to see if there is anything they can help us with but we also don't want to spend money needlessly if there isn't going to be anything a vet can do for Deadpool.

I've included 2 pics, 1 of the enclosure setup and another of the 2 tortoises next to each other. You can see Deadpool on top with his beak on the floor and his front legs just laying there. Below you see Wolverine wondering why I pulled him out of his comfy hiding spot.

I don't have experience with torts this young, but you are in the right place here. Great knowledge and help here. They are both in my heart.

 

[rorostortoise]

Hello All,

Apologies in advance for the wall of text....

I am brand new to this forum, as I found it while frantically searching for answers for my son's little red footed tortoise. We acquired 2 baby red footed tortoises for my 9 year old son back in June of this year. My son is very responsible and is already in charge of feeding our 2 family dogs in the evenings. Initially they were both around the same size but one has definitely grown much faster than the other. They are named Deadpool (smaller one) and Wolverine (Larger one), kids picked the name

They both currently live in a zoo med Tortoise box. We have a bowl for their food, separate bowl with shallow amounts of purified drinking water that we soak them in 2x a day. There is a heater lamp with a small hiding area on one side and a UVB light in the middle of the mesh enclosure side. No heating pads or anything like that. We do have a "repti fogger" to help keep humidity levels up since we were struggling with keeping humidity above 50% even when spraying the substrate down multiple times a day.

Daily diet wise we provide them with lots of leavfy greens like Kale, green leaf lettuce etc, we also include a bit of yellow squash, bell peppers, cucumber, and a fruit like strawberries or blueberries (every other day for the fruit). About once every week we do provide them some protein, usually in the form of pre-packaged superworms. We would always sprinkle all of the food with the Rephasy superfoods superveggie powder. We also have a cuddlebone as well as a calcium block in the enclosure (although I have never seen them touch either of them).

On Monday based on recommendation from the same reptile shop where we purchased the tortoises we provided them with 2 frozen pinky mice instead of the superworms we usually feed for their protein. 1 of the pinkies was fully consumed and parts of the 2nd one were also consumed. We aren't sure which one of the 2 tortoises consumed the pinkies since we were out of the house dropping the kids off at school and when we returned both were back in their hideout digesting.

In the mornings we do water/food changes every day before the kids leave for school. As soon as Deadpool would see us remove the food bowl he would come out of the hideout and wait for the new food to be placed back in. My son would then soak both the tortoises and Deadpool would then bolt to the food while Wolverine woudl go back to his hideout and would come out later in the morning to eat. Yesterday we noticed that Deadpool wasn't actively moving around like he normally would in the morning. Deadpool is the early riser and Wolverine is the lazy haha! We just figured maybe he had a late night and would start moving around later. My son did his ritual of placing both tortoises in their shallow pool of water for their nightime soak but i noticed Deadpool had not moved from it. Usually he will soak for like 30sec to a min and runs out then immediately runs to the food bowl to eat, its his routine.

Since then Deadpool really hasn't moved from where we place him and his head/legs are just out of the shell and laying on the substrate. I did notice his shell is much softer than Wolverine's shell which I hadn't really noticed before, I've been doing some reading and it sounds like MBD, but its really strange that 1 of them is apparently thriving while the other is apparently near death. My wife did mention that Deadpools shell had felt somewhat soft about a week ago but when I went to feel it, it felt pretty hard to me. So maybe I missed something that day? I mean they eat the same foods, in the same enclosure, lighting, same schedule. Kind of racking my brain thinking of what we did wrong. The only thing that was different was those pinky mice we provided them on Monday, could that have caused Wolverine's issues maybe an intestinal blockage or something?

I am afraid it might be too late for us to save Deadpool, but can anyone suggest what we have done wrong so we can help keep Wolverine healthy for the long run? We are considering taking Wolverine to the vet to see if there is anything they can help us with but we also don't want to spend money needlessly if there isn't going to be anything a vet can do for Deadpool.

I've included 2 pics, 1 of the enclosure setup and another of the 2 tortoises next to each other. You can see Deadpool on top with his beak on the floor and his front legs just laying there. Below you see Wolverine wondering why I pulled him out of his comfy hiding spot.

I'm sorry to hear about poor Deadpool. Get him some calcium and sprinkle it on his food, or find foods higher in calcium. Too much kale, especially for a baby, can make them constipated/be hard to digest. Get one fully closed tank and spray with a bottle in the morning and at night.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I'm sorry to hear about poor Deadpool. Get him some calcium and sprinkle it on his food, or find foods higher in calcium. Too much kale, especially for a baby, can make them constipated/be hard to digest. Get one fully closed tank and spray with a bottle in the morning and at night.

Lukewarm pours will definitely help maintaining the humidity longer and won’t have the top constantly wet as opposed to spraying, red foot’s are more prone to fungal issues