Juvenile Redfoot not eating, acting strangely

Autumn Flower

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Joined
Nov 5, 2016
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2
Hello,

I am a somewhat new redfoot tortoise owner (adopted two 4 month olds in September.) Back in December, I lost one of my little guys to pneumonia and I have attributed this to too much humidity and the use of an ultrasonic fogger, which has since been removed. A week after the one tortoise died, the other one started showing nasal discharge, but I was able to keep him alive with antibiotic injections. It has been a couple of months since then and he has been doing great.

My now 10 month old redfoot started eating less a few days ago and today has not eaten at all. He is not lethargic, in fact he seems almost hyperactive, racing around his enclosure doing laps. I have been watching him closely and there has been no nasal discharge/sneezing/gaping or breathing abnormally. He is also been basking a lot more. This behavior is a huge change from before when he would finish eating in the morning, go and burrow under his hide and pretty much stay there for the rest of the day (his normal routine the whole time I've had him.) He is still passing normal-looking stool (although it is small because he isn't eating very much.) I am not sure if he's urinating but I saw him drink today and I am soaking him once daily in 85 degree water for 15 minutes.

I am planning on taking him to my reptile vet tomorrow but any input as to what could be going on would be greatly appreciated. I will describe his enclosure and diet and welcome any critiques that you may have:

2 x 5 foot wooden enclosure with reptibark substrate and several piles of sphagnum moss. Temperature gradient maintained from 75 to 88 degrees using heat lamp and heat panel. There are two hides, one under the heat lamp and one at the cooler end of the cage. The one under the heat lamp always has damp sphaqnum moss inside. Every morning the substrate and piles of moss are sprayed down with a decent amount of water. The substrate is usually dried by mid-day. The top of the enclosure is semi-open and usually left with a 12" x 7" wire mesh opening (I use plexi-glass panel that can be removed to make the opening larger.) There are two shallow water dishes.

We are feeding a commercial diet - Repashy "grassland grazer" mixed with "soilent green" for a small amount of protein. The other day I wanted to switch things up a bit and fed a bit of romaine lettuce and miniscule piece of banana.
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Thank you in advance for your help.
 

Yvonne G

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RF tortoises can be kept in an enclosure with an overall temperature of 80-85F degrees. You don't need a hot side/cool side with them. Also, he would probably feel much safer if there were several plants (either real or fake) placed randomly in there.

I don't know why he has suddenly become active, but it almost sound to me like he's afraid and trying to get away.
 

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