New member of the family!

CharSparda

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5A356643-3706-433F-A7F8-01A068C4C526.jpeg

So I went to a reptile shop for the last… 5-6 months? And I developed a relationship with a red foot, every time I came to visit the store he/she would come to me and would start moving around its small enclosure.

Today I decided it was time for him to join the family (we’re two cats and a gopherus) and he is now in a small provisional enclosure. I bought him some Mazuri and bought a night reptile bulb. I already have some UVB tubes.

I think he’s a young guy/girl right? What are the main differences when comparing it agains a Gopherus?
 

Lyn W

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View attachment 340801

So I went to a reptile shop for the last… 5-6 months? And I developed a relationship with a red foot, every time I came to visit the store he/she would come to me and would start moving around its small enclosure.

Today I decided it was time for him to join the family (we’re two cats and a gopherus) and he is now in a small provisional enclosure. I bought him some Mazuri and bought a night reptile bulb. I already have some UVB tubes.

I think he’s a young guy/girl right? What are the main differences when comparing it agains a Gopherus?
I know very little about red and yellow foot torts but he looks like a yellow foot to me or are they all classed as RF?
Do you mean what are the differences in care or what are the difference between deciding the gender in each species?
The caresheets will be your best guide for care, but I don't know about deciding gender. I would think it would be similar- length/shape of tail, shape of cloaca, concave/flat plastron, shape of anal scutes etc., but it isn't usually possible to tell m/f until they are several years old.
How old is your YF?
 

CharSparda

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I know very little about red and yellow foot torts but he looks like a yellow foot to me or are they all classed as RF?
Do you mean what are the differences in care or what are the difference between deciding the gender in each species?
The caresheets will be your best guide for care, but I don't know about deciding gender. I would think it would be similar- length/shape of tail, shape of cloaca, concave/flat plastron, shape of anal scutes etc., but it isn't usually possible to tell m/f until they are several years old.
How old is your YF?

More like the big maing differences when caring. Like, I know this tortoise is omnivorous but I'd like to know how much animal protein I should give him or if it's enough with Mazuri + some other plants

It's a red foot, according to its papers, it was raised in a red foot hatchery. He was born/registered on April 5th 2021, so he is basically less than a year old. I think I'm gonna have to wait a few years.
 

Lyn W

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More like the big maing differences when caring. Like, I know this tortoise is omnivorous but I'd like to know how much animal protein I should give him or if it's enough with Mazuri + some other plants

It's a red foot, according to its papers, it was raised in a red foot hatchery. He was born/registered on April 5th 2021, so he is basically less than a year old. I think I'm gonna have to wait a few years.
Quite different care from your other tort I would think.
There's probably a caresheet in the S American species section but @ZEROPILOT will be able to help.
 

Lyn W

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More like the big maing differences when caring. Like, I know this tortoise is omnivorous but I'd like to know how much animal protein I should give him or if it's enough with Mazuri + some other plants

It's a red foot, according to its papers, it was raised in a red foot hatchery. He was born/registered on April 5th 2021, so he is basically less than a year old. I think I'm gonna have to wait a few years.
There's some interesting reading about RF and YF here in these S American species threads- how RF can be yellow and how to tell the difference between them.
I've learnt something new again today!
 

ZEROPILOT

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Redfoot need less heat and more humidity.
Gophers love the sun. Redfoot need a lot of shade.
Redfoot don't graze much and they do scavenge a lot of food. They're opportunistic feeders and can eat just about anything.
Gophers will get extremely ill if they eat a Redfoots diet.
The two are from different parts of the world and can very likely Harbor illnesses that can harm each other.
They are both solitary animals that will not want to see each other. Make sure that their enclosures are not right next to each other.
 

Thomas tortoise

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I know very little about red and yellow foot torts but he looks like a yellow foot to me or are they all classed as RF? Do you mean what are the differences in care or what are the difference between deciding the gender in each species? The caresheets will be your best guide for care, but I don't know about deciding gender. I would think it would be similar- length/shape of tail, shape of cloaca, concave/flat plastron, shape of anal scutes etc., but it isn't usually possible to tell m/f until they are several years old. How old is your YF?

I don't know what you mean when you said it looks like a yellow foot? That tort looks 100% redfoot.
 

CharSparda

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Mexico City
Thanks @Lyn W @Yvonne G and @ZEROPILOT , I’ve followed your instructions and I try to keep his enclosure mostly humid (around 80-90%) and the daily mean temp about 74-80 F, while at night it can go down from 60 to 70 F.

This is the enclosure I made for him by now:

80C3B105-9597-4140-973E-75820F1C75FE.jpeg

I’m using coconut fiber, I spray it everyday a little bit and I use a UVB 10.0 T8 tube (couldn’t find T5’s)

Any other recommendations? The wood is pine. However, I don’t use it as a substrate which I understand could be toxic.
 

dmills4229

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As far as how much protein, the Mazuri has some protein in it so it will matter how frequently you use that as to how much additional protein he/she needs. I use 1/2 Mazuri + 1/2 ZooMed Forest Tortoise Food twice a week, greens and vegies the rest of the week, outdoor wild plants and flowers when in season as much as possible, occasional fruits when in season, and then once a month I give extra protein by way of plain cooked chicken breast. Sometimes my Frankie gorges on the chicken breast, sometimes she only picks at it.
 

CharSparda

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Mexico City
As far as how much protein, the Mazuri has some protein in it so it will matter how frequently you use that as to how much additional protein he/she needs. I use 1/2 Mazuri + 1/2 ZooMed Forest Tortoise Food twice a week, greens and vegies the rest of the week, outdoor wild plants and flowers when in season as much as possible, occasional fruits when in season, and then once a month I give extra protein by way of plain cooked chicken breast. Sometimes my Frankie gorges on the chicken breast, sometimes she only picks at it.

My guy is a Mazuri lover, he loves it and basically ignores everything else when he sees the Mazuri, so I might need to stop giving him that much. I feed him everyday, with three days per week giving him the Mazuri along with some veggies and some greens. He’s not a huge fan of kale and escarole from what I’ve seen, but he still eats it.

I’ll consider the chicken for a protein booster soon. Thank you very much!
 
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