red foot hatchling age?

[foubby]

Hi everyone,

I brought home a red foot hatchling yesterday. I was told it is about four months old, hatched during the last week of january, but it still has an egg tooth and a large umbilical scar. Its shell is about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Do you all think my tortoise is younger than I was told? Pictures are attached.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mojo_1]

Hi everyone,

I brought home a red foot hatchling yesterday. I was told it is about four months old, hatched during the last week of january, but it still has an egg tooth and a large umbilical scar. Its shell is about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Do you all think my tortoise is younger than I was told? Pictures are attached.

Thanks in advance!

This is Mojo at roughly 2 months. I want to say he was about 2" wide and 2.5" long

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

It looks way younger than two months. How much does it weigh?

 

[zovick]

Hi everyone,

I brought home a red foot hatchling yesterday. I was told it is about four months old, hatched during the last week of january, but it still has an egg tooth and a large umbilical scar. Its shell is about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Do you all think my tortoise is younger than I was told? Pictures are attached.

Thanks in advance!

It looks more like it hatched in late March or in April than January to me. But it looks healthy enough.

Good luck with it!

 

[foubby]

It looks more like it hatched in late March or in April than January to me. But it looks healthy enough.

Good luck with it!

What do you mean by "healthy enough", are there any health concerns of my hatchling?

 

[zovick]

What do you mean by "healthy enough", are there any health concerns of my hatchling?

"Healthy enough" is simply an expression meaning it doesn't look sick. I meant that it appears to be healthy.

 

[mojo_1]

What do you mean by "healthy enough", are there any health concerns of my hatchling?

Keep it in a closed chamber enclosure make sure it’s not blowing bubbles out it’s mouth or nose. Watch when it walks making sure it's fully up and not dragging the back half around. These are just some of the things to watch for.

 

[Tom]

Hi everyone,

I brought home a red foot hatchling yesterday. I was told it is about four months old, hatched during the last week of january, but it still has an egg tooth and a large umbilical scar. Its shell is about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Do you all think my tortoise is younger than I was told? Pictures are attached.

Thanks in advance!

I agree with the other posters. They usually lose the egg tooth by six weeks. The flaky-ness around the umbilical scar is usually gone within two weeks of being moved to an enclosure.

Where did you buy it? What housing and care information did you find? I ask because most breeders don't start babies correctly and most care info sources are all wrong and give terrible advice.

Check this out for some general tortoise info:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[foubby]

It looks way younger than two months. How much does it weigh?

just weighed it, 49 grams

 

[foubby]

Keep it in a closed chamber enclosure make sure it’s not blowing bubbles out it’s mouth or nose. Watch when it walks making sure it's fully up and not dragging the back half around. These are just some of the things to watch for.

its in a closed chamber enclosure with appropriate temps/humidity. hasnt been blowing bubbles, and moves well. thanks!

 

[foubby]

I agree with the other posters. They usually lose the egg tooth by six weeks. The flaky-ness around the umbilical scar is usually gone within two weeks of being moved to an enclosure.

Where did you buy it? What housing and care information did you find? I ask because most breeders don't start babies correctly and most care info sources are all wrong and give terrible advice.

Check this out for some general tortoise info:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

I bought it from turtles and tortoises inc, run by Jay Frewer. People on this forum recommended him. I’ve mostly been referencing the forum for care info and have been following what you all recommend.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Little cutie! Definitely younger I’d say, hopefully you find these threads useful to go over!

This housing thread covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc, definitely double check these because people are often sold the wrong ones), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for red foots(only way to maintain the humidity you need indoors), appropriately maintaining the humidity(they are prone to shell rot so this is important! No misters or humidifiers), safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, a diet list and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better! But I’ll add some more ideas below for closed chambers

Young red foot/ cherryhead set up

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes different closed chambers, some definitely work better than others, hopefully you’ll get inspired for whenever you need to upgrade the size of the current one

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, this one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope they come in handy! Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new baby!

 

[zovick]

I bought it from turtles and tortoises inc, run by Jay Frewer. People on this forum recommended him. I’ve mostly been referencing the forum for care info and have been following what you all recommend.

Definitely a better choice than TortoiseTown!