New owner of THREE Red-Footed Tortoises

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
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Good. I puppy sit my 2 nephews, miniature schnauzers, & no way Jose would i let them ANYWHERE near a tort if I had one. I luv them but they luv chasing rabbits & my cats.
There's also another seldom mentioned issue: (because it's gross)
Dogs LOVE to eat tortoise poop and tortoises LOVE to eat dog poop.
So even without any actual contact, them just sharing a yard can introduce foreign microbes and parasites.
It's a lot to consider.
 

AntM

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That’s great to know. And no worries our puppy is in the house and the front half of our back yard. I have a fence dividing the back half where all the tortoise enclosures will be.

I didn’t mean to get this topic of puppies and torts going lol. I meant is as a joke saying Suki can just teach my puppy to chill in general lol ?
 

willee638

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Hello everyone! Glad I stumbled upon this amazing community, I’ve been reading over threads for sometime now and decided to introduce myself. So I’ve been looking at tortoises for years now and figured this was a great time since things aren’t as hectic with our kids being a “little” older (4, and 2 lol) and we also have plenty of space in the back yard to eventually provide them. We purchased 3 Red Footed tortoises and being new to tortoise keeping all together it’s been a bit scary since we want to provide them the best life possible.

They are set up in a Zoo Med Tortoise House box for the time being till they grow a bit more. My only concern is that they are very shy, I know some can take a little while to get use to everything and it’s only been two weeks since we’ve brought them home. I take all three out every morning at 10am for 10-15 minute soaking and then feed right after. They are eating the greens, but seem to avoid the Mizuri pellets. They did thoroughly enjoy the small piece of watermelon they got last week and small piece of strawberry they got this morning.

Should I be concerned of them hiding all the time before and after feedings? Or still to early for concern?

I appreciate any feedback and advice as I am very new to tortoise keeping regardless of how much research and reading I’ve done lol. Look forward to being apart of the community.
Hello fellow members, I guess I can say we are at a similar situation as I too have 3 red foot tortoises. But different from you is I acquired mine at different stages the first one being a year apart from the second & the third came another month later, I think you made the right decision by acquiring & raising all 3 of them as babies hatchlings together being a novice keeper. I only decided to add new members to the group because I was new to raising tortoises & hadn't the experience but when my first baby grew much faster as usual & now striving I acquired enough knowledge to introduce others, my RF's at first didn't eat whatever was offered either because the breeders or pet shops never gave them anything more than basic tortoise feeds like Mazuri pellets & possibly some lettuce. Tortoises learn from each other by seeing what others eat & experiment & red foots can eat the widest variety of fruits, vegetables & animal proteins than any other tortoises in the world.
 

willee638

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There's also another seldom mentioned issue: (because it's gross)
Dogs LOVE to eat tortoise poop and tortoises LOVE to eat dog poop.
So even without any actual contact, them just sharing a yard can introduce foreign microbes and parasites.
It's a lot to consider.
Tortoises are natures pooper scoopers.....
 

AntM

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Thanks Willee, yeah I thought it would be a good idea to get them at the same time to raise together. I’m excited to watch these guys grow and provide them the best life possible.
 

Blackdog1714

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That’s great to know. And no worries our puppy is in the house and the front half of our back yard. I have a fence dividing the back half where all the tortoise enclosures will be.

I didn’t mean to get this topic of puppies and torts going lol. I meant is as a joke saying Suki can just teach my puppy to chill in general lol ?
If that happens record it and pay me royalties from your millions. I wish my shepherd was just a 1/4 as my torts are! But then again my cat acts more like my torts!
 

willee638

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If that happens record it and pay me royalties from your millions. I wish my shepherd was just a 1/4 as my torts are! But then again my cat acts more like my torts!
One more note on poop, all 3 of my red foots doesn't eat their own poop or each others as some have claimed. I had not witness them eating it & whenever they poop in the hide they would run away from it & refused to stay there, One reason I believe this is I sometimes find dried up poop from probably days ago hidden in the substrates & nobody cared for it, but I seen them eat other none tortoise's poop though.
 
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Welcome to the forum! I love the look of baby/hatchling red foots! Beautiful shell and vibrant red heads! Good luck and welcome to the community!
 

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