Need some insight into red foot outdoor living

Benda183

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Hi all

this forum is heaven sent for me I tell you!

being a new red foot mama, I’m stressing a lot trying to make a good home for my Lucy.
For now she has a temporary place outside until we finish our wall and backyard.
she loves being outside, but since I moved her box to a new more spacious place she is just hiding in the corner behind her box.
She doesn’t go into her humid house or the box at all anymore.
And that makes me worried due to the humidity. She doesn’t have much humidity outside.
We live in Hawaii with temp around 75-85 during the day and 45-55 humidity.
i wet her grass and the coconut husk twice a day and inside her box once.
I soak her twice a week. She hates it ?
I bring her in for the night, because I don’t feel comfortable with my set up yet to leave her out.
I don’t know if she needs a heat source if the nights are around 60-70ish? I tried it, but when I have a heat source in the front of the box, it reduces the humidity in the back humid house where she sleeps…I’m confused with all this.

I’m still figuring out her food preferences…she won’t eat if I leave her leaves in bigger pieces, she picks through it and only eats fruit or pebbles if she has them that day. So I started chopping it really small and wrapping fruit with the green leaves.
She does not like the prickly pear cactus :( she tried it twice when I started giving it to her, but now she won’t touch it. I’m kinda sad about that, because it’s a good one to eat.

I thing my main issue is the outside living and humidity, I’m not sure how everyone keeps them in humid places if they choose to stay outside all day…?
 

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wellington

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At her size, although humidity is part of their environment, it's not as important in older ones as it is hatchlings.
Spraying the area daily as you are, should help a lot. Another idea is setting up misters on a timer.
A few more plants for coverage will help with humidity and making her feel more comfortable.
I'm not sure what their night temps should be. @ZEROPILOT can help further.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Those night temps are not ideal. But shouldn't create any issues as long as it gets back into the 80s again the next day.
I use a sprinkler head system for my RF group during the winter when there is less ambient humidity.
They also enjoy the simulated rain.
They will also climb into a shallow watering pool if one is provided.
I highly suggest having one.
Redfoot are very water loving and humidity needing tortoises.
 

willee638

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I love your setup & enclosure, your yard looks very inviting & spacious enough to me & many of us doesn't have an outdoors enclosure. You are in a good climate but tortoises like my own red foots needs a little time like weeks to adjust to new surroundings. My RF's starts eating everything in 2 months but tortoise feeds & fruits are preferred in the beginning, mine gets animal proteins like chicken & seafoods but they don't eat boiled eggs much. I don't have a backyard so I take my 3 red foot tortoises to a grass field around 4 times weekly without other animals except a few tiny bird far up in the trees, but they will still always try to run to bushes & hide because I think most tortoises doesn't like exposed in an opened area without large plants or trees.
 

Benda183

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Oh ok, that makes sense. She ate nicely until I changed her enclosure…now she only picks the fruit, meal worms or flowers and leaves the greens. And skips a day in feedings, so I’ll feed her every other day and see, how that will go.
I figured she’ll use her box that she’s used to, but she hasn’t set foot in there since I changed it.
Thank you :)
 

willee638

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Oh ok, that makes sense. She ate nicely until I changed her enclosure…now she only picks the fruit, meal worms or flowers and leaves the greens. And skips a day in feedings, so I’ll feed her every other day and see, how that will go.
I figured she’ll use her box that she’s used to, but she hasn’t set foot in there since I changed it.
Thank you :)
My theory is the enclosure box smells too new & doesn't have a lived in scent, I used to own a dog that I spent a whole day building a dog house for him & he never went in. This happened to my baby red foot when I bought a dried up coconut & used the shell to make a hide but for 2-3 weeks she didn't go in until another tortoise starts inhabiting it, animals knows it's not a natural formed & is suspicious at first.
 

Benda183

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My theory is the enclosure box smells too new & doesn't have a lived in scent, I used to own a dog that I spent a whole day building a dog house for him & he never went in. This happened to my baby red foot when I bought a dried up coconut & used the shell to make a hide but for 2-3 weeks she didn't go in until another tortoise starts inhabiting it, animals knows it's not a natural formed & is suspicious at first.
 

Benda183

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Not sure about this…she used this box for the last 3 weeks no problems.
I think this corner with coco husk is deep and she can burrow and loves it.
I hate to change things up all the time, I’m still figuring out what she does and likes…
 

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