Red footed tortoise 101

[Brandonspringle]

Hello everyone.

Alright so today for me and my girlfriends anniversary I bought her a baby red foot tortoise at a local reptile expo. The tortoise is only about 2inches long. I got a 20 gallon tank for it with moist mulch (something like that) and a half log for shade. I already own a bearded dragon that's about a year or 2 old but I can tell that the care for this tortoise will be different.

So I'm worried about the tortoise because as soon as I put the cage together and put the tortoise in it started to burrow into the mulch. The guy I bought it from said that these tortoises like to burrow and hide but i don't know. Also my girlfriend noticed that his eyes are sometimes watering. I don't know if that's common or not.

I put a thermometer and humidity meter at the bottom of the tank about a inch or 2 above the mulch. The temp is about 80-85 degrees and the humidity is about 55-60%.

Is all this correct for my tortoise ?
Should I see someone for the watery eyes ?

Any opinion will be Extremly appreciated.
Thank you

 

[pfara]

I think we'd need to know more about your set up. A picture would be great. The first thing that kinda raised alarm bells is the mulch. Some mulches are actually fatal to torts so if you can recall exactly what type of mulch it is, that'd help. The type of lighting can also cause watery eyes; coil/compact fluorescents are strongly advised by many to be thrown right into the garbage (believed to cause blindness in torts). Your humidity is on the low side for a redfoot. It should be over 80% RH.. the higher the better. Also, I think a lot of people would say that a 20 gallon enclosure should be very temporary since that's super small even for a baby. Check out www.tortoiselibrary.com for more redfoot info. I'm pretty new at this, too, so I hope this helps.

 

[Madkins007]

Hello everyone.

Alright so today for me and my girlfriends anniversary I bought her a baby red foot tortoise at a local reptile expo. The tortoise is only about 2inches long. I got a 20 gallon tank for it with moist mulch (something like that) and a half log for shade. I already own a bearded dragon that's about a year or 2 old but I can tell that the care for this tortoise will be different.

A couple of things to start.
a.- The difference in care is almost going to be night and day in some ways, but kind of similar in others. Red-footed tortoises are from warm, humid climates, need some UVB but are not overly fond of light, like shade and cover, sleep a lot, and like to snuggle down in the substrate.
b.- It is really important to start a tortoise or most other babies right. Errors made here will cause problems later, so do your research and take care.

So I'm worried about the tortoise because as soon as I put the cage together and put the tortoise in it started to burrow into the mulch. The guy I bought it from said that these tortoises like to burrow and hide but i don't know. Also my girlfriend noticed that his eyes are sometimes watering. I don't know if that's common or not.

Watering eyes is usually a sign of dehydration, which is often due to or aggravated by dehydration.

I put a thermometer and humidity meter at the bottom of the tank about a inch or 2 above the mulch. The temp is about 80-85 degrees and the humidity is about 55-60%.

Is all this correct for my tortoise ?
Should I see someone for the watery eyes ?

Any opinion will be Extremly appreciated.
Thank you

Temps are pretty good, humidity is on the low side. Try to improve the hydration and see if that helps. Try these articles-
- https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/health-and-medical/hydration
- https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/Indoor-Housing/humidity-1