Please Help! (how can I improve my care?)

[m5oo6]

Hi I have had my tortoise Jaime for 2 years now. I can't seem to figure out how old she is but after reading some of these forums I'm really concerned that I'm doing this all wrong. She has access to water to bathe in, I feed her kale, collard greens, papaya, peas, and mushrooms (she won't eat anything else I try!). Every once in a while I'll give her crickets and sprinkle her food with reptivite. She has shelter, thermometers, and her enclosure is bedded with cypress mulch. I also spray her cage down once or twice a day. The main things that I am concerned about are her pickiness when it comes to food, the screen top of her enclosure (letting out humidity), the fact that she never basks in the light, the way her shell looks (it doesn't look as flat and brightly colored as it should), her poop looks bigger and more wet than I've heard it should be, and the lighting that I have. I am looking into getting a reptifogger or something else to keep her humidity up because I know how important that is to her health. Please let me know what I can do to change things, I will do anything to keep her healthy!! I am also curious what her temp and humidity levels should be at at different times. I've attached pictures of her and her enclosure.

 

[AZtortMom]

Please Help!

Hi there from looking at your enclosure I can see that you do need to cover the top of your enclosure. Redfoots love humid and warm. A piece of plexiglass is great. Or if that's too expensive tinfoil, works too. I would also change out her water dish for a clay pot saucer you can get it at Home Depot. She may not be able to get into it.

What are your temps at? I would also look into getting a digital thermometer from Home Depot that shows humidity and temp. They are cheap too.

 

[wellington]

RE: Please Help!

She needs a much bigger enclosure, much bigger. Then cover it and pour warm water in the corners to help with humidity, but keeping the top layer of substrate dry.check out the tortoiselibrary.com. It's a forum members sight, and great info on RF

 

[pfara]

RE: Please Help!

I agree with everyone. She needs a much larger enclosure. Definitely read the site Barb posted (www.tortoiselibrary.com). Deeper substrate will allow you to have more water retention (more humidity), the screen is greatly reducing the uvb from your lights and letting all the humidity out, and the water dish should be replaced with a plant saucer. The watery stools might be from too much grocery store greens and/or too much fruit. Try to increase the variety as well. But, really, you're doing well and your red is beautiful. You just need to tweak things a little more.

Ah, and daytime temps should be around the low to mid 80s and should drop off to 78-80F at night. I'd strive for no lower than 80F until you get the hang of things, though. And feel free to keep asking questions!

 

[m5oo6]

Please Help!

Thank you all so much! Would you suggest on building a bigger enclosure or can you buy a larger glass one? His temperature is usually around 80 during the day and drops to 70/75 at night. I can never seem to get his humidity up past 50 (probably because of the screen top and no fogger). How do you think I should cover the top and where do you guys buy food? Also, what do your tortoises like to eat?

 

[AZtortMom]

Please Help!

You can buy a really big rubber maid container really cheap. There is example in the enclosure section that shows how you can easily turn a Rubbermaid container into a closed container which keeps up the humidity. There are also other great examples for Redfoots.

I don't have Redfoots, but I know that Tortoisesupply.com is a place to get food for all torts. I hope this helps

 

[m5oo6]

Please Help!

Great, thank you! I'm definitely going to look into that. I just put her in for a soaking and she's making a weird noise...almost like a panting but it looks like she's rocking back and forth a little. Any ideas?

 

[pfara]

RE: Please Help!

Building an enclosure is usually always cheaper. You might want to raise the daytime/nighttime temps a bit higher. Humidity and temperature is a very important part of keeping tortoises healthy; their activity level and digestion are aided by warmer temperatures since they're cold-blooded. To keep the humidity up easily, you'll need to find a way to contain the moisture. www.tortoiselibrary.com has a section on ways to help with that. Some people cover their enclosures with plexiglass or foil. I built a frame over my enclosure to hang lights from and threw plastic dropcloth over the entire thing to hold humidity in. As for food, I second buying food from www.tortoisesupply.com. They have commercial diets that can be fed once or twice a week (Mazuri, Marion, etc.), have great choices for seed mixes (Testudo mix), and have various hays/salad toppers (Herbal Hay). There are many other online places out there that you can buy other seeds from for tortoise-friendly edibles (Flowers and veggies). Otherwise, it's grocery store foods. Things my reds love to eat: mushrooms, mazuri/marion meatballs, strawberries. These are offered once or twice a week. Mine also like chickweed, nemesia and mimulus. Favorite foods vary from tort to tort.

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Great, thank you! I'm definitely going to look into that. I just put her in for a soaking and she's making a weird noise...almost like a panting but it looks like she's rocking back and forth a little. Any ideas?

Rocking back and forth might mean she's trying to poop.

 

[m5oo6]

Please Help!

The reptifogger doesn't have very good reviews...what do you guys recommend?

 

[RedFootMom]

The reptifogger doesn't have very good reviews...what do you guys recommend?

We bought a little Crane humidifier with the spout at the top then ran hose into the tortoise house to create out own reptifogger. It works great.