New to Redfoots and Need Some Help

TheZenBetta

New Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
Yakima, WA
Hello there!

My name is Zack and I brought home a Red Foot Tortoise around three weeks ago, she's around 6.5 inches long and she's my baby :p

First off my set up is a 20 long (Soon to be upgraded) with a large ramp water bowl, a ledge decoration under which she can hide, several plants, around two to three inches of bark substrate over large turtle rocks to avoid mold, a 5.0 UVB with a large heat mat on the rear right side of the tank.

Her hot spot temperature is around 90-95 and her humidity remains above 40%. I mist her in the morning and at night before and after work to get the humidity to around 80-90 and then have a monsoon misting system that sprays around every four hours or so for a minute to keep it a little humid.

So for the first couple weeks I got her everything was great, she was a monster eater. She was on pellets at the store I got her from, so I bought some Mazuri pellets, but also promptly began offering her lots of fresh veggies such as kale, baby kale, carrot, bell pepper and offered her some fruits such as apple (no seeds!), strawberries and mango. She did not like the Mazuri brand so I switched to the Rep-Cal brand and she loved them. However after around a week her poop turned very watery and took on a very dark forest green color. Her urine was still completely clear, but she had almost diarrhea for poop. So I switched her back to only pellets and her poops turned solid again, however in the last few days she isn't eating as much. It used to be that she would come running for food and would easily accept veggies and fruit from my fingers, but I have not seen her eat for around three days now. She is still pooping once a day, and it's solid now, so I'm assuming she must be eating something, probably at night?

Her eyes are clear, no goop and her nares are clear and beak is healthy. She has no audible breathing sound but does occasionally make a kind of "quack" or "croak" noise, especially when confronted with food or water, although I have heard her lately make it while she's hiding as well. I assume it is normal vocalization but thought I'd ask just in case. If I take her out of her enclosure she wanders around and keeps her shell high off the ground.

I may be worried over nothing but I just really want to make sure my baby is okay :/
Sorry if these are noob questions or if this is in the wrong place but I just want to make sure she's healthy and I'm giving her everything she needs. Please any input would be greatly appreciated, I'm worried sick as I don't see her being interested in food like she used to be, was she just starving when I got her and now content?
 

TheZenBetta

New Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
Yakima, WA
Update, after doing some further research I found that the ideal temp is closer to the mid 80s for Redfoots, I have removed the heat mat and am using a 60w daylight blue bulb and have stabilized around 84 degrees. I will purchase a CHE on Thursday as I know that torts generally don't like bright light. I also thought I'd include that it is an open system, and I will hopefully be building a top very soon. PS. Also forgot to include that I saw her poop out an entire undigested mealworm. I have read since then that generally live mealworms can be very hard to digest, but I'm also worried about a possible protozoan, parasitic or digestive issue.
 
Last edited:

Tidgy's Dad

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
48,236
Location (City and/or State)
Fes, Morocco
Hello, Zack, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum. :)
Hopefully, an experienced redfoot keeper will be along to help you soon.
 

Redfool

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2017
Messages
379
Location (City and/or State)
Central Florida
When feeding my RFs mealworms, I always hand feed them and make sure they bite them in half. I've heard stories ( don't know if true or not ) of swallowed mealworms boring there way out of lizards so I take no chances.
 

Bee62

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Messages
11,981
Location (City and/or State)
Germany
Hello Zack,

please don`t feed so much fruits to your tort. The sugar of the fruits disturb the good bacterias in the intestine of your tort.
Even redfoots should not eat fruits too often. The fruits are the reason for diarrhea. The undigested mealworm is a sign for a not really healthy intestine too.
Feed her more greens and less fruits and veggies. Mushrooms like champignons are good too.
Redfoot tortoises need a lot of humidity. 70 - 85 % the whole day and night long. Temps of 78,8 F to 84,2 F are good for them.
 

TammyJ

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,120
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
Welcome to the site and you are certainly taking every care to give your tort the best! I love people who take the time to learn from those who really know. Make sure to give your redfoot natural weeds too, there is a list of weeds that are good for them, and opuntia cactus, and make sure he gets calcium. I boil eggs and crush them, shell and all, and feed it to my redfoots about once per week. And you can give them cuttlebone, they will use it when they are ready.
Yes, too much fruit is not good and will cause diarrhoea.
 
Top