Last week I got to pick up a new rescue tortoise: a Redfoot! Based on the pictures does anyone have any idea what kind of redfoot she might be? She has interesting markings on the top of her head, they look like a smiling clown face to me... aside from that she looks to be a pretty 'normal' redfoot.
We haven't named her yet. Aside from being dehydrated and a little on the skinny side, and some pyramiding, she actually seems to be in pretty good shape. There is no shell rot, and she has a healthy appetite and digestion. She is 5 3/4" long (14.5cm), and as of today weighs 645g.
She came from a very dry part of Oregon, and was being kept on very dusty, bone dry cypress mulch. There was also a lot of dryer lint and dog hair in her enclosure, so I just threw it all in the compost and started over. Indoors (at night and on cool mornings) I have her in a Christmas Tree storage box, with topsoil, a pie dish for soaking in, a CHE over her hide, a basking light... I covered all of it except the holes for the lights, and I mist multiple times each day. It's nice and steamy in there! Outside I used the walls from the tortoise table her old owner built, and have just been moving that around the yard, depending on where the sun is. I mist her often out there, too. She will get a bigger outdoor enclosure as soon as possible. She was an un-planned addition, so I still am figuring things out.
Her food was exclusively soaked pellets with her old owner. To the guy's defense, he got her from a woman who kept her in a 10gal aquarium, and the guy did build her a small tortoise table. She seemed very thirsty, and I think part of the 50ish grams she has gained in the past week is just healthy water weight. I'm being careful not to overfeed her. The first few days with me she was pretty picky about what she ate. Then a very smart person told me to chop and mix it all up, mixing in a little of her familiar soaked pellets. Ever since, she has been eating SO well. She really likes the greens (dandelion leaves, mulberry leaves, swiss chard, raspberry leaves), as well as fruit (kiwi, peach, plum, apricot, mango) and snails and a little chicken I've offered her. She seems to enjoy eating out of my hand, which is always fun. Live meal worms freak her out, and she won't go near her food dish when they are visible, however.
Caring for a redfoot is completely new territory to me, since my Greek, Russians and Marginated all are herbivores from arid regions. I've done a ton of reading the last few days, both here on the forum and elsewhere on the internet. I am so thankful for the wonderful resources that are available on good redfoot care!
We haven't named her yet. Aside from being dehydrated and a little on the skinny side, and some pyramiding, she actually seems to be in pretty good shape. There is no shell rot, and she has a healthy appetite and digestion. She is 5 3/4" long (14.5cm), and as of today weighs 645g.
She came from a very dry part of Oregon, and was being kept on very dusty, bone dry cypress mulch. There was also a lot of dryer lint and dog hair in her enclosure, so I just threw it all in the compost and started over. Indoors (at night and on cool mornings) I have her in a Christmas Tree storage box, with topsoil, a pie dish for soaking in, a CHE over her hide, a basking light... I covered all of it except the holes for the lights, and I mist multiple times each day. It's nice and steamy in there! Outside I used the walls from the tortoise table her old owner built, and have just been moving that around the yard, depending on where the sun is. I mist her often out there, too. She will get a bigger outdoor enclosure as soon as possible. She was an un-planned addition, so I still am figuring things out.
Her food was exclusively soaked pellets with her old owner. To the guy's defense, he got her from a woman who kept her in a 10gal aquarium, and the guy did build her a small tortoise table. She seemed very thirsty, and I think part of the 50ish grams she has gained in the past week is just healthy water weight. I'm being careful not to overfeed her. The first few days with me she was pretty picky about what she ate. Then a very smart person told me to chop and mix it all up, mixing in a little of her familiar soaked pellets. Ever since, she has been eating SO well. She really likes the greens (dandelion leaves, mulberry leaves, swiss chard, raspberry leaves), as well as fruit (kiwi, peach, plum, apricot, mango) and snails and a little chicken I've offered her. She seems to enjoy eating out of my hand, which is always fun. Live meal worms freak her out, and she won't go near her food dish when they are visible, however.
Caring for a redfoot is completely new territory to me, since my Greek, Russians and Marginated all are herbivores from arid regions. I've done a ton of reading the last few days, both here on the forum and elsewhere on the internet. I am so thankful for the wonderful resources that are available on good redfoot care!
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