After the fantastic welcome last week and some advice i wanted to make some.changes. I promptly ordered some new bits including a CHE instead of a Heat bulb. So today I changed the substrate from Reptisoil, leaves, bark and sphagnum moss to Cork coir and Orchid bark along with the CHE. Also got a tortoise block and found some food he seems to love, trying the Arcadia pressed tortoise food and got some pinky's for him to try.
Updated enclosure
- Thread starter Daved80
- Start date
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
This is great! Thank you for the update! My only suggestions would be moving the ceramic to the middle for a more even heat distribution, and I wouldn’t bother with a tortoise block, they often contain high levels of phosphorus, which hinders calcium absorption, and can lead to unhealthy calcium levels, there’s other unfavourable ingredients too. Instead, provide a high-quality, varied diet rich in calcium and vitamin D3, and offer a natural source of calcium like cuttlefish for safe, self-regulated intake
Looks great!
I suggest a few more minor adjustments:
1. Burrow water dish in level with substrate to make it easier to get in and out.
2. Not sure about Tortoise Block: I don't see suspicious items composition. Seems unlikely to me, that calcium block has negative Ca to P ratio.
3. Pinky should be a success (dust it with calcium a bit). I would offer pinkies once a month or so: they are pretty fatty.
I suggest a few more minor adjustments:
1. Burrow water dish in level with substrate to make it easier to get in and out.
2. Not sure about Tortoise Block: I don't see suspicious items composition. Seems unlikely to me, that calcium block has negative Ca to P ratio.
3. Pinky should be a success (dust it with calcium a bit). I would offer pinkies once a month or so: they are pretty fatty.
Noted on the calcium block, Houdini is now eating his food with Arcadia dietary supplement which is a good sign.
I'll see how he gets on with the dishes, I've not seen him struggle yet. We have a camera in his home to check on him though so I can have a look back.
I'll see how he gets on with the dishes, I've not seen him struggle yet. We have a camera in his home to check on him though so I can have a look back.
RedFoots are a tropical species and need a consistently warm humid enclosure for their whole lives. 84% humidity or higher, and 84F/29C or warmer, 24 hours per day, every day (and night) all year long.
At a year old your tortoise probably won't have the flipping and drowning hazard as a younger hatchling would with those steep-sided dishes, but terracotta plant saucers are much better choices. The kind you are using have a slicker surface, which makes the tort's feet slide out from under them (think of when you slip on a shiny piece of ice in the winter, and how it pulls the muscles and tendons in your legs when the unexpected slip suddenly jerks your legs). They get more traction on terracotta. The terracotta also helps "file" nails and beaks when the tortoise walks across the surface or eats from one. I've never needed to trim my Redfoot's nails in six years because she's got terracotta dishes and a paving stone (that has a surface similar to sandstone) to walk across in her enclosure.
Its fairly important to countersink the dishes down into the substrate. Not only does it make it easier for the tortoise to get into and out of, it helps to keep the plastron from getting scrapes and dings from the edges of the dishes and stones/tiles. The gray one you have leaning on the bark hide and the black slate piece with the exposed corners each have a good chance of gouging the plastron when your tortoise climbs on them. How high of a drop is it to the substrate from the front edge of the slate piece, compared to the size of your tortoise?
Are the plants real or fake? If fake it would be best to lift them up high enough that the tortoise can't reach them. Tortoises tend to try biting everything in their enclosures and will eventually get around to those plants. If they're real, its no problem (provided you've researched and they aren't toxic), but if artificial, the plastic and fabric they're made from can cause intestinal obstructions.
Since tort's don't have teeth or the kinds of jaws that can expand to swallow something large, I'm concerned your tortoise could choke on the pinkies. Small tortoises sometimes have problems with pieces of fruit or whatever being too big to swallow but soo small to bite into more manageable size, so its important to either feed their greens and such whole, or chop it very small. As young as yours is, even a whole blueberry could be a bit large to swallow whole.
Your substrate looks nice.
.
At a year old your tortoise probably won't have the flipping and drowning hazard as a younger hatchling would with those steep-sided dishes, but terracotta plant saucers are much better choices. The kind you are using have a slicker surface, which makes the tort's feet slide out from under them (think of when you slip on a shiny piece of ice in the winter, and how it pulls the muscles and tendons in your legs when the unexpected slip suddenly jerks your legs). They get more traction on terracotta. The terracotta also helps "file" nails and beaks when the tortoise walks across the surface or eats from one. I've never needed to trim my Redfoot's nails in six years because she's got terracotta dishes and a paving stone (that has a surface similar to sandstone) to walk across in her enclosure.
Its fairly important to countersink the dishes down into the substrate. Not only does it make it easier for the tortoise to get into and out of, it helps to keep the plastron from getting scrapes and dings from the edges of the dishes and stones/tiles. The gray one you have leaning on the bark hide and the black slate piece with the exposed corners each have a good chance of gouging the plastron when your tortoise climbs on them. How high of a drop is it to the substrate from the front edge of the slate piece, compared to the size of your tortoise?
Are the plants real or fake? If fake it would be best to lift them up high enough that the tortoise can't reach them. Tortoises tend to try biting everything in their enclosures and will eventually get around to those plants. If they're real, its no problem (provided you've researched and they aren't toxic), but if artificial, the plastic and fabric they're made from can cause intestinal obstructions.
Since tort's don't have teeth or the kinds of jaws that can expand to swallow something large, I'm concerned your tortoise could choke on the pinkies. Small tortoises sometimes have problems with pieces of fruit or whatever being too big to swallow but soo small to bite into more manageable size, so its important to either feed their greens and such whole, or chop it very small. As young as yours is, even a whole blueberry could be a bit large to swallow whole.
Your substrate looks nice.
.
