Question?

[SheldonsMommy]

New tort mommies and we have a question... Our baby red foot is constantly in the corner of his enclosure or hiding under something. He rarely is out walking around. We figure he is only a few months old....does this seem normal?

 

[Redstrike]

Not sure how old your baby is, but I bought 2 cherryhead hatchlings that were very shy the first month of being in my company. They're still shy, even at ~ 4 months old. Hatchlings usually come out to eat (I had to shove mine in front of their food for a couple weeks) promptly returning to hiding/sleeping. Mine are just now to the point where I'll catch them putzing around the enclosure.

Keep it fed, watered, warm, and humid. One way to get them moving about is to hide some food/treats around the enclosure. This provides stimulation and exercise.

 

[jareeed2]

New tort mommies and we have a question... Our baby red foot is constantly in the corner of his enclosure or hiding under something. He rarely is out walking around. We figure he is only a few months old....does this seem normal?

Do you have any pics of your new redfoot? How many inches is the little guy? What is your tank setup like for your tort?

 

[SheldonsMommy]

This is Sheldon taking his weekly bath, my cell phone is next him as an idea to his size. The second pic is his habitat...we have a red and white light, hiding spot and shallow water pool.

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This is Sheldon taking his weekly bath, my cell phone is next him as an idea to his size. The second pic is his habitat...we have a red and white light, hiding spot and shallow water pool.

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2 inches

 

[jareeed2]

Well he is really young so that is why he isnt that active..young redfoots will eat, drink, then go back to hiding...
Eventually you will need a bigger enclousre..but for short term thatll do..
Make sure to spray spray spray your tortoise enclousre as much as possible to create humidity, and maybe find a way to trap that created humidity with a cover of some sort..
Your "white" light" which in guessing is UVB? May be too much for the young turtle.. Turn it on in moderations and maybe try to clamp it onto something not as close to the tort...
Concentrate on HUMIDiTY most importantly

 

[Madkins007]

That is a very pretty baby, and I am afraid you are not going to like the rest of what I say as much.

1. Light. 2 big lights in that small of a space is an awful lot- especially for young eyes. Is there a reason for so much light, especially the red light? In a habitat of that size, even a 60w bulb would be pretty bright. Let us know what the lights are for and we can help you tune that. We can discuss other lighting and heat options if you would like.

2. Humidity. This is a humidity-loving species. The hot lights, dry substrate and hay, and the open top means that any water added will almost immediately rise out of the habitat. You may want to think about putting a tent of clear plastic material over it to trap the heat and humidity. There are also other things you can do to raise the humidity.

3. Hides. Tortoises like snug hides they can feel secure in. Half logs are often sold and shown, but most Red-footeds seem to prefer things like snuggling into heavy leaf cover, snuggling under bark, etc. There is no reason that you cannot have a couple or more hides.

4. Food dish. Is that mock-stone dish the food dish? Those are hard for tortoises to use in general. Tortoises generally feed by either reaching up or off the ground. so reaching over a wall is tough. Things like a margarine lid or piece of flat slate make great food dishes (I make disposable dishes from some folded newspaper), or you can bundle your greens and hang them from the habitat wall- mine love this!

5. Water dish. I don't see one and that worries me (unless it is the stone one, which is not ideal.) It should be big enough for it to sit in, only about half his shell deep, top rim flush with the substrate top, and easy to get into and out of. I like the heavy plastic 'fake terra cotta' plant saucers- they are cheap enough you can have 2-3 and use one while washing another.

6. Substrate. Why the hay? They almost never eat it, it dies the place out, and generally gets moldy/dusty. The bark nuggets are OK, but if you have someplace nearby that sells bagged cypress mulch, you will probably find that it works better and is a lot cheaper.

It looks like you have a great start, but maybe got some well-intended but misleading advice for how to set this up.

 

[SheldonsMommy]

Thanks for all the input...we had advice from local pet stores...we will make adjustments

 

[Madkins007]

Thanks for all the input...we had advice from local pet stores...we will make adjustments

Yeah... pet stores are a mixed experience. Usually good intentions, but they also have lots of reasons to steer you to using their stuff no matter how truly worthless much of it really is.

 

[Laura]

why is there a mapquest map picture?

 

[SheldonsMommy]

Reworked the Sheldon habitat...would love feed back again. We have red light and white, but white is only during the day.
We pull him out for feeding

 

[Zamric]

Thats looking MUCH better! how is your humidity levels holding?

 

[jackrat]

I agree with Mark about the lighting. Often,with little ones,more subdued lighting will bring them out more. I use a lot of compost and cypress mulch with my hatchlings. They both hold water very well and the redworms in the compost provide protein in their diet and break down any leftover food quickly.

 

[Talka]

That looks fantastic!

 

[SheldonsMommy]

Thanks everyone