New Tortoise Owner!

[Franks_Ma]

Hi all! Found you guys while looking for info on my husband and I's new cherry head red-footed tortoise, Frank (he was sitting in his water constantly and went off his food briefly, deduced his heat was not high enough or in the correct location...he's back to normal now!). He's our first tortoise, and we've had him 3 days! I've had snakes, geckos, and frogs before, but my husband hasn't had any sort of exotic. From what we can tell, Frank is about 6-7months old, we got him from a pet store in town. He's in a 40gal container, cypress mulch substrate. We feed a mix of carrots, squash, and kale with banana and mango for a treat. Try to keep it about 83-85 on one end, and 75-79 on the other with about 60% humidity (hard to keep that up in Colorado!). I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions and advice as we have him longer!

 

[Franks_Ma]

Here's Frank

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Welcome! The footed species are such charming tortoises. I'd say yours is older than 6-7 months though. How big is he right now? A 40 gallon really only works for hatchling sized tortoises. There is lots of great information to read in the red foot section here with clever enclosure design ideas to keep these guys housed happily. Red foots are great because they have such diverse diet requirements, you can really broaden the types of things you are feeding. One thing you'll likely read here at some point is that those water dishes - while sold commonly for reptiles - aren't well suited for tortoises as they can flip themselves in them. Terra cotta plant saucers make great low sided safe water sources.

 

[Franks_Ma]

Welcome! The footed species are such charming tortoises. I'd say yours is older than 6-7 months though. How big is he right now? A 40 gallon really only works for hatchling sized tortoises. There is lots of great information to read in the red foot section here with clever enclosure design ideas to keep these guys housed happily. Red foots are great because they have such diverse diet requirements, you can really broaden the types of things you are feeding. One thing you'll likely read here at some point is that those water dishes - while sold commonly for reptiles - aren't well suited for tortoises as they can flip themselves in them. Terra cotta plant saucers make great low sided safe water sources.

I was totally wrong, for some reason I thought 6-7 months, but apparently I'm way off, they told him he was ~2yrs. We got a ramped, relatively shallow water dish, but if it's the wrong kind, we'll definitely get a different kind! Luckily, we eat a lot of fruits and veggies, so if it's an ok one for him to have, we'll share with him so he keeps it diverse! We try to get him out once or twice a day for about half and hour to roam around the house, which he really seems to enjoy.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I was totally wrong, for some reason I thought 6-7 months, but apparently I'm way off, they told him he was ~2yrs. We got a ramped, relatively shallow water dish, but if it's the wrong kind, we'll definitely get a different kind! Luckily, we eat a lot of fruits and veggies, so if it's an ok one for him to have, we'll share with him so he keeps it diverse!

2-3 years sounds about right to me. If you haven't come across The Tortoise Library yet, it's a handy reference for red foot keepers https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/species-information/chelonoidis

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi "Ma" and welcome to the Forum!

Don't pay attention to the talk we're always doing on russians and sulcatas. Caring for your RF tortoise is not the same as caring for those species. For example, you don't need a temperature gradient across the habitat. You can keep the whole habitat from 80 to 85F. And lots of moisture/humidity, however, not a wet substrate or they tend to get shell rot.

Here's a link to Tortoise Library

 

[Franks_Ma]

Hi "Ma" and welcome to the Forum!

Don't pay attention to the talk we're always doing on russians and sulcatas. Caring for your RF tortoise is not the same as caring for those species. For example, you don't need a temperature gradient across the habitat. You can keep the whole habitat from 80 to 85F. And lots of moisture/humidity, however, not a wet substrate or they tend to get shell rot.

Here's a link to Tortoise Library

Is wetting his substrate down ok? We mist it and go off of the humidity gauge to see when it needs misted, if we should do something else, please let me know! I've got two heat bulbs on him to make it more even now (we were struggling to keep his temp up--caused him to go off his food for a day--we keep the house chilly, so we've figured out today that that's what it takes until I get him a new bulb )

 

[Jodie]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[leigti]

I don't have a red foot so you can take this for what it's worth. But instead of spraying the top of the substrate I would pour some water in and stir it around with my hands so that it is humid and damp all the way through. Then the top layer will dry out a little bit which is what you want. You don't want the top layer really wet. You can also try covering the enclosure to keep more of the heat and humidity in especially if your house is cold.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Franks Ma, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
This might be useful too.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome !

 

[Franks_Ma]

I don't have a red foot so you can take this for what it's worth. But instead of spraying the top of the substrate I would pour some water in and stir it around with my hands so that it is humid and damp all the way through. Then the top layer will dry out a little bit which is what you want. You don't want the top layer really wet. You can also try covering the enclosure to keep more of the heat and humidity in especially if your house is cold.

We tried this, and worked so much better! Colorado is very, very dry, and spraying him 3-4x a day is only ok on the weekend when we're home. Didn't want him to get too dry during the day! Thank you!

 

[Carol S]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Franks_Ma]

Thank you all for the welcome! Adoring Frank so far!

 

[AnimalLady]

Hello and welcome! ~!@ i LOVE Redfoots! Gorgeous little things

WE LOVE PICTURES HERE! So feel free!

 

[Franks_Ma]

Hello and welcome! ~!@ i LOVE Redfoots! Gorgeous little things

WE LOVE PICTURES HERE! So feel free!

I'm a photographer too, so be prepared for several

 

[leigti]

We tried this, and worked so much better! Colorado is very, very dry, and spraying him 3-4x a day is only ok on the weekend when we're home. Didn't want him to get too dry during the day! Thank you!

Where in Colorado? I'm from Colorado. I am definitely familiar with the dry climate there. In the summer when he has an outdoor pen I suggest a lot of plants. And you will also have to keep it humid. He will probably love the rain storms you get but you'll have to make sure The enclosure drains well so it doesn't flood.
Any tortoise can be kept anywhere with enough time money and effort

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and welcome. I hope you haven't trashed that waterdish yet, it is still okay to use. That is, if it is big enough for him to be able to be completely in, which I question. The flipping issue one member spoke of, was referring only to hatchlings.

I live the next state over in Nebraska. You are going to love your redfoot. Always curious, what made you decide to get a tortoise?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

When keeping any of my Redfoot indoors I use a layer of orchid bark covered by a layer of potting soil or compost and then pour water into the corners of the enclosure. This way the bark absorbs the water but the top layer stays primarily dry. No shell rot but good and humid.
In your case, I would just ad a layer of soil (NOT SAND) on top of your mulch and do the same. Then cover a portion of the top to help keep in the humidity as well as the heat. Soil may get trampled into your water dish, but it's a decent trade off for good readings.
With the correct humidity the shell bumpiness will gradually be less pronounced.