new red foot tort mom

[tortdad]

Misting is okay but it's not the best way to get humidity up for red foot torts. Our redfoot are easily get a fungus on the bottom of here shell...shell rot. The key to it getting this is to find a way to keep humidity up but keep the top layer of multhc or soil dry. When you mist you're getting everything wet.

What seems to work best is a two layer sub straight like Zero Pilot mentioned. What most of us have the best success is to have about 2" deep of cypress mulch on the bottom then covered in an inch or two of just plain top soil. Then instead of misting with a spray bottle you can take warm water and pour it into the corner of your enclosure. The water will go down and get absorbed by the mulch but keep the soil dry. The Che will heat up and bring the humidity up.

 

[tortdad]

You also need to offer water at all times for the torts to soak in and drink.

The food dishes you have should be taken out. Go look at the pic you posted and look at your cherryhead that's eating. He has to prop himself up and over the rim of that dish then reach his head down to the food. The bottom of there shells aren't flexible so that's hard for them. A very simple food and water dish for them is a $0.75 cent terra cotta plant saucer. Take the dish and squish it down into the substrate.

If you like the decorative dishes you have I would at least squish them down into the mulch so it's easier for them. But you do need to have water in there for them 24/7. For that is for sure sure the plant saucer.

 

[tamstorts]

I will look into switching out the heat light for a CHE for sure, and I will investigate switching out the UVB (my concern on this is my lid will not hold a tube bulb so...) are there any other alternatives on the UVB issue as I don't want to hurt there eyes but don't know how to change to a tube? Now my tank lid has a hard plastic locking lid with a 2-3 inch solid perimeter with a hard thick "screened plastic" insert that my husband was originally worried would not allow in enough light and or heat. I will also look at changing out the temp / thermostat as I've wondered how accurate mine is (though I have placed a differing temp gauge on the ground and got readings about 3-4 degrees different so I am averaging the 2 for my "temps")

 

[tortdad]

I see the water dish you have now.... I'd swap it out. They can drink from it but not soak themselves in it which they love to do.

Are you soaking your torts daily? That's important when here little liable that. Each night you should be taking them and placing them in a container or warm water for 20 mins to make sure they stay hydrated.

 

[tamstorts]

You also need to offer water at all times for the torts to soak in and drink.

The food dishes you have should be taken out. Go look at the pic you posted and look at your cherry head that's eating. He has to prop himself up and over the rim of that dish then reach his head down to the food. The bottom of there shells aren't flexible so that's hard for them. A very simple food and water dish for them is a $0.75 cent terra cotta plant saucer. Take the dish and squish it down into the substrate.

If you like the decorative dishes you have I would at least squish them down into the mulch so it's easier for them. But you do need to have water in there for them 24/7. For that is for sure sure the plant saucer.

I will add the suggested second layer of substrate (to assist with humidity) thus lowering the food dishes I have down into a more easily accessible location, note I have 3 dishes 2 for food ( so they do not have to share) and one closer to the shade of the plant for water. I offer a larger dish every other day for 15-20 minutes that I "bathe" them in.

 

[tamstorts]

going back to the fluorescent / uvb bulb - mine is a tropical compact fluorescent UVD (looks like a spiral light bulb) is this good / bad or at least better than some?

 

[tortdad]

Bad. Compact is what makes it bad

 

[tortdad]

You need the long tube type like 12 or 18" long

 

[tortdad]

Find a bulb you like then see if you can find and electrical fixture to match it so you don't have to buy and expensive pet store hood.

I'm not sure about the other brand or size bulb but I like the zoomed reptisun 18" bulbs, the T8 ones.

I like them because they are the same 15 watt T8 bulbs as the cheap "under the counter" plug on light fixtures you can get at Walmart for $11 or Home Depot for $13. They're great and cheap but they come with a white plastic cover over the bulb to protect it. You got to toss that in the trash because it will block all the uvb

 

[tortdad]

I'm building an enclosure right now for a chameleon and just bought a new bulb and fixture. I'll get you some pics when I get home

 

[TammyJ]

Nice progress with the communication and conversation here! Well done, tamstorts and tortdad!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

going back to the fluorescent / uvb bulb - mine is a tropical compact fluorescent UVD (looks like a spiral light bulb) is this good / bad or at least better than some?

Like this.
A florescent fixture screwed to a plexiglass lid attached to an aquarium.
It's what I raise my babies in.
It requires no additional lighting or heat in my application. A steady 83 degrees and 90% humidity.

 

[mike taylor]

If you do what Kevin is telling you you'll have beautiful babies in ten years . Red footed tortoises do not like bright hot lights . This is what it will cause. See the bumps on the back that's pyamiding caused by low humidty high heat from drying lights . The key is warm and humid . I try to keep my setups 80 ° and 75/ 80% humidity. If you add small plants like grass from the pet store and clover seed mixes it helps keep humidity up and wetness down . Too wet causes shell rot . Too dry and hot causes pyamiding. Its a fine line but can be done.

 

[mike taylor]

Even in sulcata care humidity is key . See the difference in shells. One was found running free in Austin. The other in Dallas. The smooth one is from Dallas Texas.

 

[tamstorts]

I'm building an enclosure right now for a chameleon and just bought a new bulb and fixture. I'll get you some pics when I get home

Thanks for all the advice I will consider all the tips to "tweek" my babies habitat, I'll add the top soil, lower the dishes, change out my temp / humidity gauge and look into a uvb lighting alternative.

 

[tortdad]

Thanks for all the advice I will consider all the tips to "tweek" my babies habitat, I'll add the top soil, lower the dishes, change out my temp / humidity gauge and look into a uvb lighting alternative.

The first thing you should do is change the heat source to a Che. Your babies need heat at night but need it dark. 72 degrees (which is measured eat the top of your tank) is probably more like 70 or upper 60s at the bottom where the torts are, will give your torts a respiratory infection. They can not be that cold with humidity

Torts see color even the "night bulbs" that are red or black can still be seen by your tort giving it restless sleep which is why we always recommend a Che. The red lights also make things in your enclosure red, like the mulch and fake plants. The torts are drawn to eat red things because they think there berries and can get impacted with mulch.

So the first thing I would do is go buy a 60 what Che and one of those $10 gauges I was talking about. Figure out how high from the tort you have to mount it to maintain 80 degrees and leave it on.

Then get a reptile thermostat and set it up correctly so you don't have to leave it on but as of not your biggest threat to your torts is your night time temps. The uvb, the soil, the saucers.... all that comes second to your night time temps

 

[mike taylor]

I agree . Even if you just keep the light on to keep it warm . So you can go buy what you need . Babbies get sick fast .

 

[tortdad]

We don't want to just tell you to change stuff. We want you to understand the why you need to change it.

Once you know the parameters your red food needs to be kept it and what can happen if it's not right you can tweet it however you need to to make it work for you. None of us have the same set up and none of us can tell you what works best for you. All we can do is tell you what works for us and teach you what can go wrong if you step out of the temp and humidity range your species needs.

We take the torts and put them in our environment so it's up to us as tort parents to give them the best set up we can. They don't care if we have all the fancy gauges and neat new set ups. All they care about is have a balanced environment with the proper temps.

Giving your redfoot a consistent 80 degrees and maintaining a constant 70% or better humidity will make your tort grow up happy, healthy and super smooth.

The trick to getting consistently stable environments is using thermostats for the heat and timers for the light. Once you find out what works best for you and have the correct set up you will be shocked at how easy it is to keep a stable low maintenance environment. Use the wrong equipment and your temps and humidity spike and drop constantly making it a struggle for you to keep up with and makes your tort sick and grow up pyramiding.

There are many Redfoot keepers here that can help you and tell you how they do it in their neck of the woods, like I said we all do it a little differently but we are all achieving the same end results. A stable temp and humidity...

Ask any questions you want, the more you ask the more you can learn. Then it will be your job to help teach the new comers what to do and how to do it. You can also help the people you asked and advised you to your current set up and show them their shortcomings.

You should see the crappy set up I had... man I wish I save those pictures. I don't think I could have done it more wrong and if it weren't for the folks here giving me the "crash course" my torts would be dead for sure.

I hope I didn't upset you along the way, that truly was never my intention

I also tend to ramble, lol. Sorry about that

 

[mike taylor]

So shut up Kevin . lol

 

[tortdad]

Only way to make is is to smoke some more ribs so we can have a BBQ. I can't talk with my mouth full of BBQ