My yearling (Cherry Head)

DeeDee04

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Hello all, I am very happy to be here. I got my baby girl a few days ago. This is a new undertaking for me, one that I am fully in love with! I will say I do have some insecurities about heating and humidity....It’s only been a few days but I want to give her a good life. Right now she’s in a 10 gallon tank, a hide and some moss. It’s the humidity ready that’s making my nutty.... any help would be appreciated :)IMG_1523643835.832243.jpg she’s hiding under her log
 

wellington

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Congrats. You will have to get a bigger enclosure asap. That is way too small to get temp areas correct. personally 10 gallons shouldn't even be sold IMO, they are too small for just about everything.
Then make it a closed chamber with damp substrate under a layer of dry substrate.
@ZEROPILOT @allegraf @Anyfoot can help you further.
 

jacksknight

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What is your temperature and humidity level at? I would also say it's way to bright in there. It can be a little of a learning process, but you will get the hang of it in no time.
 

DeeDee04

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I also have a 27 gallon tank, I’ll put her in there. The temp is at 80 degrees. The humidity says 30 %. I’m misting the tank every hour it can’t stay moist. The heating emitter is a 60w
 

Anyfoot

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Hi deedee.
Get a 2x4ft vivarium, this will last until your redfoot is about 2 yrs old. In the early stages of life you need to maintain tight parameters, in s 2x4ft viv this is easily achievable.
Set it up with 3” of moist coir, with some orchid bark on top of about half the coir. This gives a drier surface for your tort to sit on if he so wishes.
Put a 15” uvb tube light over the food at one end of the enclosure. Keep it on for 12/14hrs per day. This is all the lighting you need. For heat set up a CHE on a thermostat so the entire enclosure is between 82/88f. No basking spot is required. Put the CHE at the same end as the light. No night time drop is requured.
Set up a hide in the darker end with spagnhum moss in and around it. I like to mix coir in with the moss so they dig in and get real humid.
Aim for 90% humidity. To achieve this add 1 or 2 (it will be 2) water baths. The evaporation from your water will help maintain humidity.
Soak daily in the early stages, feed weeds and greens daily with one piece of fruit or mushroom the size of your torts head. Protein once a month.
Good luck.
 

TammyJ

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Good luck! You came to the right place for help. Great people here with loads of experience, so try to do as they say and your little darling should do OK!!
And welcome!
 

Pearly

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Hi Deedee! Welcome from Texas! I too keep the RFs, mine are almost 3 yrs old, have been raising them from tiny 2” hatchlings. Love them to pieces. About your stuff: that 10 gal will be great for a night time for him to sleep in but for daytime, ditch it, way too small. I started mine in 40 gal tank and by year 2 they outgrew it. I am still using mine for that night time “humid bed chamber” for them. You humidity needs to be A LOT higher. Aim for at least 80-85%. I had the problem keeping the warmth and humidity in until I completely covered the top of my tank. And for the humidity spraying didn’t work either. It was either too dry or getting the substrate soggy. I had finnaly caved in and forked out 65$ for the reptifogger at petco, and OMG!!!! That was my charm! With running it just about 10-15 min a day with live plants in there and critters in substrate my tank was consistently above 85% even with the 100W bulb during a day and 100w CHE going at night. Some folks use room humidifiers but with my lack of handy skills messing with creating contraptions to divert all that fog into the tank buying the fogger just made more sense. I’ll see if i can find the link to my “covered tank” thread to maybe give you some ideas.
 

Pearly

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Pearly's 40 gal tank- covered top
Hi Guys, I'm making this thread for the new members, ones who like myself before, search for ways to keep their hatchlings warm and humid. Hopefully my pictures will give people some alternatives. My phone memory including pictures will need to be purged soon and I thought before I do that, I'd record of fruitful sleeples nights of a brand new owner of baby tortoise for the newcomers out there who still struggle with keeping their baby torts warm, humid or both. I'm having to change plants all the time now. The babies are bigger and getting more distructive. This set up has worked as full time enclosure for 2 RF hatchlings for about a year. At this point the babies are spending more time outside and this summer will be moving to their outdoor pen during a day only. Will keep this terrarium for their nightime dwelling until they outgrow it and ready for their outdoor heated house. I hope this helps someone out there.
https://tortoiseforum.org/index.php?posts/1302634/ , see if you can open this thread, hope this helps. [emoji837]WELL APPARENTLY I DON’t know how to attach links without including the whole thing, sorry! Hope you can make some sense out of this[emoji837]
 

DeeDee04

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New York
Hi Deedee! Welcome from Texas! I too keep the RFs, mine are almost 3 yrs old, have been raising them from tiny 2” hatchlings. Love them to pieces. About your stuff: that 10 gal will be great for a night time for him to sleep in but for daytime, ditch it, way too small. I started mine in 40 gal tank and by year 2 they outgrew it. I am still using mine for that night time “humid bed chamber” for them. You humidity needs to be A LOT higher. Aim for at least 80-85%. I had the problem keeping the warmth and humidity in until I completely covered the top of my tank. And for the humidity spraying didn’t work either. It was either too dry or getting the substrate soggy. I had finnaly caved in and forked out 65$ for the reptifogger at petco, and OMG!!!! That was my charm! With running it just about 10-15 min a day with live plants in there and critters in substrate my tank was consistently above 85% even with the 100W bulb during a day and 100w CHE going at night. Some folks use room humidifiers but with my lack of handy skills messing with creating contraptions to divert all that fog into the tank buying the fogger just made more sense. I’ll see if i can find the link to my “covered tank” thread to maybe give you some ideas.

Hiya Pearly,

I moved her to a 27 gallon tank yesterday. I also did order a fogger it should in tomorrow:). I re-did the substrate which seemed to help. I can’t seem to keep the tank warm enough at night. I do only have a 60w CHE right now.... I’ll keep an eye out for that thread :)

Thanks Dee
 

ZEROPILOT

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Hello.
As you've noticed, maybe. Aquariums made for fish are mostly higher, taller than what is needed for a reptile. The type sold for reptiles are often shorter with more room front to back and side to side. These are much more suited to a small tortoise and are easy to convert into a closed chamber with a custom cut piece of plexiglass and some hardware store hinges glued on with clear silicone.
Redfoot babies can do well in a very large terrarium for some time.
But should not be considered with an adult animal unless it is a huge, custom design. Say 6x8 feet. And that would actually be considered small.
 
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