Hello everyone! My wife and I recently acquired a red foot tortoise that is about 4-5 weeks old. We are unsure how to care for him as many people here let them grow up outside. We are debating whether to create an indoor enclosure for him, but we do have a yard where we could also create an outdoor enclosure. This is our first tortoise and want to make sure we do everything we can, even with limited supplies. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Redfoot tortoise hatchling in Curacao
- Thread starter aticom_
- Start date
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
Hello and welcome to the forum!
Babies needs to be housed in a closed chamber set up until they’re measuring around 10 inches, usually that’s at least the first 3 years of life
once big enough, if your climate is good for them, a secure outdoor space is great
Hopefully this thread I’m linking below will be helpful for you, I go over correct kind of equipment, correct levels, appropriately maintaining humidity etc, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a good diet list towards the bottom
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head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...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 one is also good to help avoid the wrong kinds of bulbs and materials
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 help! Give them a read and feel free to come back with any questions
Hi, thank you so much for the help! One of the problems we are encountering is finding the right lighting/equipment. I've checked with all of the pet stores on the island and they do not have the different lighting that we need. We are going to try to check hardware stores next. There is no amazon here so it's hard to get everything we need. For now, we've been making sure he gets some sun on our porch, but has plenty of shade. It's pretty humid right now, but not at the level we need it to be. Inside the house we have ACs running so I don't want to bring him in until we have the right heat source for him. Any recommendations if we cannot find the right UVB or heat lamp?Hello and welcome to the forum!
Babies needs to be housed in a closed chamber set up until they’re measuring around 10 inches, usually that’s at least the first 3 years of life
Hopefully this thread I’m linking below will be helpful for you, I go over correct kind of equipment, correct levels, appropriately maintaining humidity etc, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a good diet list towards the bottom
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...
This one is also good to help avoid the wrong kinds of bulbs and materials
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...
Hope they help! Give them a read and feel free to come back with any questions
The_Four_Toed_Edward
Well-Known Member
For heat you can use an incandescent flood bulb, it doesn't need to be meant for reptiles. Just make sure it has a wide enough beam. As far as UVB goes, the sun will do until you find the correct light.
T
Thank you! Any tips on humidity? Because of where we live, the AC is on the whole day and it does not get very humid indoors at all.
The_Four_Toed_Edward
Well-Known Member
For that, a closed chamber should help. Littleredfootbigredheart has outlined making one in this thread: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/young-red-foot-cherryhead-set-up.217803/
You could use a growing tent, vivarium or a plastic bin for this. Done right, the closed chamber will keep humidity up no matter outside conditions.
You could use a growing tent, vivarium or a plastic bin for this. Done right, the closed chamber will keep humidity up no matter outside conditions.
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
Hopefully these replies helped answer your questions, as long as you can get a incandescent heat floodlight, or hopefully ceramic heat bulbs instead, with some simple led lights for ambient lighting, you can get them outdoors for a few hours to meet their uv needs
Then to maintain humidity, a closed chamber will do wonders, I go over how to upkeep it in the thread
