Littleredfootbigredheart
Active Member
Hi guys, I’m gutted to have to be writing this thread, things had been going so well with our red foots upgrade, but there’s a number of things now concerning me with her that I desperately need advice on before we take her to a vet😞
First off I’ll describe in detail exactly how she was kept vs how we are keeping her now, and I’ll include some pics of the current set up.
Her previous viv size was too small for the age and size she is, her owner can’t remember her exact age, he estimated about 16 before, but then that went to 10, but now they think she’s around 12/13, she was being kept in a 4x2, and as per the outdated advice from the pet shop she was from, she had a ‘warmer end’ and a ‘cooler end’ she had a 60watt floodlight and a 100w CHE, the che was on at all times and the floodlight on a timer, though tbh the floodlight was mostly redundant with the CHE, she was about 85 on the warmer end, 80 in the middle and 77/75 on the cooler end, where she had a large cave hide, she would wonder between both ends but 9/10 would sleep under the bulb, I can’t remember the exact UV she had, though I believe is was some sort of exo terra T8 bulb that had definitely ran its course in the last few months she was in there.
Shes being kept on orchid bark in both set ups.
Now her current new viv size is 7x4(I know that’s still too small for an adult red foot, it’s been a long journey and the original plan was a bigger viv upstairs, but with how the stairs are it’s impossible to get anything that big up there, when she was brought all those years ago, it wasn’t considered how much space she was going to need) I know it’s not ideal, but after trying to find a better new home, it was slim pickings and time was running out as her old viv was beginning to fail and rot at the bottom, we’ve had no choice but to provide the best we possibly can for her size wise right now with the 7x4.
So heating wise in this set up, we opted to ditch the floodlight and are using a led strip on a 12hr timer, her UV is aricadia 12% 39w, exactly 18 inches from substrate, I’d ideally like it raised an inch or two, but with everything where it is in the viv it’d be pretty much impossible to do that. Her owner initially wanted to mimic a slight night drop within the viv, so the way it’s set is, there is a 100w nearer on end on its own pluse thermostat, the probe being in the far corner at the back to make sure the whole viv is getting heated, then nearer the other end there’s a 150w on its own pluse thermostat, the probe is nearer the bulb on that one cause we’ve previously experienced the 150’s throwing out a bit too much heat for our liking, and in line with that 150 bulb there is a 100w on its own on/off thermostat, the reason for all the separate thermostats was because the original plan was to have the 150 shut off at night and the 100 in line with it take over, set at an ever so slightly lower temp, but having the 150 off simply caused the 100s to work harder throwing out hot spots and the side all along the glass dropped into the 70’s, with all 3 the heat seemed much better distributed, I wanted to respect her owners wishes for the drop but once I explained about the heat and red foots are ok without a drop he seemed ok having all 3 run 24/7. With those running the temps have been as follows, directly under both bulbs A&B reads about 86, though a lot of the time bulb B isn’t needing to be on, directly under bulb C has been fluctuating between 88-90. In the corner by the box hide nearer the glass side there is a 75-77 zone, not very big, but it’s there should she ever be feeling too warm. The rest of the viv is between 80-86, inside and under the stool hide is 80 and in the cave it fluctuates between 80-82.
All was going well for about the first week of her being in there, she was exploring and using the whole viv, though she was always retreating to the old cave I’ve put in there, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time as I figured it’s probably her comfort blanket and she’s adjusting to a bigger space, she was never chilling out in the open and hasn’t since being put in there, which is unusual for squirt, she was always out in the old one, but again I didn’t think too much of it at first.
Over the following weeks her owner informed me she was becoming far less active, pretty much staying in the cave the whole time, only coming out to eat. Again I put it down to her adjusting. I’ve been here visiting this past week, so took the opportunity to monitor her closely, where I have now flagged up some worrying symptoms, about 5 days ago I noticed one of her eyes was forming tears, squirt has always had slightly wet looking eyes, typical of a tropical tort, however her eye was definitely far wetter than usual, I then noticed she appears to be yawning quite a lot, I’d say about 3/5 times an hour throughout the day, though it’s difficult to say she’s continually doing that every hour as it’s impossible for me to watch her 24/7, but there’s been multiple times now where I’ve sat and watched her do 3 yawns in close succession during the day time, something I’ve not seen her do before, I’d never thought to look at if the inside of her mouth is too pale until a friend of the family who is training to be a vet asked, and to me, the inside of her mouth and tongue does appear quite pale😞the weeping from that one eye has continued and the last two days I’ve noticed it bubble at times😣again just the one eye not both, in case there is something irritating it, we have flushed it with saline yesterday, but it doesn’t seemed to have helped yet. She does appear to breath quick at times, but tbh for the most part her breathing doesn’t seem out of the ordinary, least from what I can see.
Appetite wise I’m pleased to say she’s still eating pretty much everything offered which is encouraging, I’ll include a list of the foods she gets with the rough timings in which she gets them, and two examples of what a typical weeks feed looks like.
Squirt had struggled with diarrhoea for quite some time going back, she definitely hadn’t been digesting properly, we put it down to lack of movement in the small viv, we did however start adding a dried grass mix every now n then to up her fiber, which seemed to work great for a while, they were much more formed, however over this past week her bowel movements seems to be regressing back, some is formed, however it’s been followed by diarrhoea and chunks of food, showing me she’s not digesting properly again, now I know that can be down to other things not just lack of movement, like low temps, too high water content, parasites etc.. temps can’t be the issue here as both methods of measuring are showing me similar results(combometers and temp gun)and all her levels look to be fine in that regard, I’m reducing fruit intake to about 20% over the coming days, hoping that the more greens will bind things back up. But due to her not moving a lot at all I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s causing her digestive issues right now.
Now originally when seeing her eye running I thought maybe the temps were slightly too high for her liking and she was trying to cool down, so as an experiment I lowered the viv by a few degrees, while I did seem to catch her coming out a little more, the difference was marginal and didn’t last long, so I have gone ahead and upped the temps back in the event she is indeed poorly, I’m hoping the warmer temps will help. Humidity wise, is holding into the 90’s, which I don’t know if maybe that’s been a bit too much for her, we struggled with her humidity in the old one so perhaps she not taking the increase well, the old one maintained about 75-80, where as this one has stayed in the 90’s for days.
I’m sorry this has been such a long one but I’ve wanted to be as detailed as possible here. If you click on my content and go onto ‘squirts upgrade’ thread, I’d say the last 2-3 pages are where I’ve noted my concerns this past week, which might give a little more context time wise for anyone willing to advise, everything in that thread mentions all the materials used too, I was so careful researching in that regard so I’d be surprised if there’s anything not appropriate.
Ultimately I’m at an absolute loss for what could have caused her potential sickness aside from perhaps the stress of a big move, but even if that’s the case, everything appears correct in her set up so idk why her symptoms seems to be getting worse, she’s definitely getting less active and that bubbling is so concerning coupled with the yawns😞idk what else to do to help her aside from everything I’m already doing😣I don’t want her to get to the stage of going off her food before having to resort to a exotic vet, which in itself makes me so nervous knowing how outdated some of their treatments can be😞
Any help here would be SO appreciated! Any questions or anything I may have missed with my info please ask away.. I’m so worried about her and feeling incredibly guilty that’s it’s something I’ve possibly done, I pushed so hard for this upgrade but now I’m scared I’ve made her sick somehow😔it’s heartbreaking that all the knowledge I’ve gained isn’t giving the desired results when applied, I’m feeling very frustrated and defeated after such a long journey of getting her right, I was convinced every was spot on, but evidently her behaviour is telling me otherwise😭I’ve also added a few pics of her watery eye😔
First off I’ll describe in detail exactly how she was kept vs how we are keeping her now, and I’ll include some pics of the current set up.
Her previous viv size was too small for the age and size she is, her owner can’t remember her exact age, he estimated about 16 before, but then that went to 10, but now they think she’s around 12/13, she was being kept in a 4x2, and as per the outdated advice from the pet shop she was from, she had a ‘warmer end’ and a ‘cooler end’ she had a 60watt floodlight and a 100w CHE, the che was on at all times and the floodlight on a timer, though tbh the floodlight was mostly redundant with the CHE, she was about 85 on the warmer end, 80 in the middle and 77/75 on the cooler end, where she had a large cave hide, she would wonder between both ends but 9/10 would sleep under the bulb, I can’t remember the exact UV she had, though I believe is was some sort of exo terra T8 bulb that had definitely ran its course in the last few months she was in there.
Shes being kept on orchid bark in both set ups.
Now her current new viv size is 7x4(I know that’s still too small for an adult red foot, it’s been a long journey and the original plan was a bigger viv upstairs, but with how the stairs are it’s impossible to get anything that big up there, when she was brought all those years ago, it wasn’t considered how much space she was going to need) I know it’s not ideal, but after trying to find a better new home, it was slim pickings and time was running out as her old viv was beginning to fail and rot at the bottom, we’ve had no choice but to provide the best we possibly can for her size wise right now with the 7x4.
So heating wise in this set up, we opted to ditch the floodlight and are using a led strip on a 12hr timer, her UV is aricadia 12% 39w, exactly 18 inches from substrate, I’d ideally like it raised an inch or two, but with everything where it is in the viv it’d be pretty much impossible to do that. Her owner initially wanted to mimic a slight night drop within the viv, so the way it’s set is, there is a 100w nearer on end on its own pluse thermostat, the probe being in the far corner at the back to make sure the whole viv is getting heated, then nearer the other end there’s a 150w on its own pluse thermostat, the probe is nearer the bulb on that one cause we’ve previously experienced the 150’s throwing out a bit too much heat for our liking, and in line with that 150 bulb there is a 100w on its own on/off thermostat, the reason for all the separate thermostats was because the original plan was to have the 150 shut off at night and the 100 in line with it take over, set at an ever so slightly lower temp, but having the 150 off simply caused the 100s to work harder throwing out hot spots and the side all along the glass dropped into the 70’s, with all 3 the heat seemed much better distributed, I wanted to respect her owners wishes for the drop but once I explained about the heat and red foots are ok without a drop he seemed ok having all 3 run 24/7. With those running the temps have been as follows, directly under both bulbs A&B reads about 86, though a lot of the time bulb B isn’t needing to be on, directly under bulb C has been fluctuating between 88-90. In the corner by the box hide nearer the glass side there is a 75-77 zone, not very big, but it’s there should she ever be feeling too warm. The rest of the viv is between 80-86, inside and under the stool hide is 80 and in the cave it fluctuates between 80-82.
All was going well for about the first week of her being in there, she was exploring and using the whole viv, though she was always retreating to the old cave I’ve put in there, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time as I figured it’s probably her comfort blanket and she’s adjusting to a bigger space, she was never chilling out in the open and hasn’t since being put in there, which is unusual for squirt, she was always out in the old one, but again I didn’t think too much of it at first.
Over the following weeks her owner informed me she was becoming far less active, pretty much staying in the cave the whole time, only coming out to eat. Again I put it down to her adjusting. I’ve been here visiting this past week, so took the opportunity to monitor her closely, where I have now flagged up some worrying symptoms, about 5 days ago I noticed one of her eyes was forming tears, squirt has always had slightly wet looking eyes, typical of a tropical tort, however her eye was definitely far wetter than usual, I then noticed she appears to be yawning quite a lot, I’d say about 3/5 times an hour throughout the day, though it’s difficult to say she’s continually doing that every hour as it’s impossible for me to watch her 24/7, but there’s been multiple times now where I’ve sat and watched her do 3 yawns in close succession during the day time, something I’ve not seen her do before, I’d never thought to look at if the inside of her mouth is too pale until a friend of the family who is training to be a vet asked, and to me, the inside of her mouth and tongue does appear quite pale😞the weeping from that one eye has continued and the last two days I’ve noticed it bubble at times😣again just the one eye not both, in case there is something irritating it, we have flushed it with saline yesterday, but it doesn’t seemed to have helped yet. She does appear to breath quick at times, but tbh for the most part her breathing doesn’t seem out of the ordinary, least from what I can see.
Appetite wise I’m pleased to say she’s still eating pretty much everything offered which is encouraging, I’ll include a list of the foods she gets with the rough timings in which she gets them, and two examples of what a typical weeks feed looks like.
Squirt had struggled with diarrhoea for quite some time going back, she definitely hadn’t been digesting properly, we put it down to lack of movement in the small viv, we did however start adding a dried grass mix every now n then to up her fiber, which seemed to work great for a while, they were much more formed, however over this past week her bowel movements seems to be regressing back, some is formed, however it’s been followed by diarrhoea and chunks of food, showing me she’s not digesting properly again, now I know that can be down to other things not just lack of movement, like low temps, too high water content, parasites etc.. temps can’t be the issue here as both methods of measuring are showing me similar results(combometers and temp gun)and all her levels look to be fine in that regard, I’m reducing fruit intake to about 20% over the coming days, hoping that the more greens will bind things back up. But due to her not moving a lot at all I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s causing her digestive issues right now.
Now originally when seeing her eye running I thought maybe the temps were slightly too high for her liking and she was trying to cool down, so as an experiment I lowered the viv by a few degrees, while I did seem to catch her coming out a little more, the difference was marginal and didn’t last long, so I have gone ahead and upped the temps back in the event she is indeed poorly, I’m hoping the warmer temps will help. Humidity wise, is holding into the 90’s, which I don’t know if maybe that’s been a bit too much for her, we struggled with her humidity in the old one so perhaps she not taking the increase well, the old one maintained about 75-80, where as this one has stayed in the 90’s for days.
I’m sorry this has been such a long one but I’ve wanted to be as detailed as possible here. If you click on my content and go onto ‘squirts upgrade’ thread, I’d say the last 2-3 pages are where I’ve noted my concerns this past week, which might give a little more context time wise for anyone willing to advise, everything in that thread mentions all the materials used too, I was so careful researching in that regard so I’d be surprised if there’s anything not appropriate.
Ultimately I’m at an absolute loss for what could have caused her potential sickness aside from perhaps the stress of a big move, but even if that’s the case, everything appears correct in her set up so idk why her symptoms seems to be getting worse, she’s definitely getting less active and that bubbling is so concerning coupled with the yawns😞idk what else to do to help her aside from everything I’m already doing😣I don’t want her to get to the stage of going off her food before having to resort to a exotic vet, which in itself makes me so nervous knowing how outdated some of their treatments can be😞
Any help here would be SO appreciated! Any questions or anything I may have missed with my info please ask away.. I’m so worried about her and feeling incredibly guilty that’s it’s something I’ve possibly done, I pushed so hard for this upgrade but now I’m scared I’ve made her sick somehow😔it’s heartbreaking that all the knowledge I’ve gained isn’t giving the desired results when applied, I’m feeling very frustrated and defeated after such a long journey of getting her right, I was convinced every was spot on, but evidently her behaviour is telling me otherwise😭I’ve also added a few pics of her watery eye😔
So keep temperatures as they are now. 
