Whoopee, but a few questions.

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SleepyWilly

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Well i say whoopee because i finally have word that my redfoot tortoise will be arriving soon. 2-3 weeks about.First Ill give you the rundown on how it'll be kept. I have a 2x3 plastic tub, that looks good for a starting place when it gets bigger will upgrade, and its going to be fed on a diet of Dark leafy greens, weeds, fruits, and protein once a week as well as phosphorous free calcium powder a few times a week.But I did have a few questions. 1 now i may be opening a can of worms here, but lighting. I was thinking it would be fine for now as its summer and its going to be getting lots of calcium and d3 rich foods, but winter does come once every year as does the colder months
and I was thinking maybe a mercury vapor bulb for heat and light. It will be a good 18in away from the substrate. Also for heating in the night when it gets chilly and winter I was planning on a 100 watt ceramic heater, think this will do the job? Also how often should i sprinkle calcium powder, and how often should I feed protein while it is a youngster and juvenile? Thanks.
 

terryo

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SleepyWilly said:
Well i say whoopee because i finally have word that my redfoot tortoise will be arriving soon. 2-3 weeks about.First Ill give you the rundown on how it'll be kept. I have a 2x3 plastic tub, that looks good for a starting place when it gets bigger will upgrade, and its going to be fed on a diet of Dark leafy greens, weeds, fruits, and protein once a week as well as phosphorous free calcium powder a few times a week.But I did have a few questions. 1 now i may be opening a can of worms here, but lighting. I was thinking it would be fine for now as its summer and its going to be getting lots of calcium and d3 rich foods, but winter does come once every year as does the colder months
and I was thinking maybe a mercury vapor bulb for heat and light. It will be a good 18in away from the substrate. Also for heating in the night when it gets chilly and winter I was planning on a 100 watt ceramic heater, think this will do the job? Also how often should i sprinkle calcium powder, and how often should I feed protein while it is a youngster and juvenile? Thanks.

Go to this site. Everything you need to know.
http://www.redfoots.com/redfoot.htm
 

Pesky Fly

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Why does it take so long? I am ordering mine on Monday and he will be here on Wed., why is yours taking really long?
 

SleepyWilly

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My friend is ordering it from a pet store she works at so its probably making its way from a farm in god knows where to me. You said turtle source so it should be captive bred-cb- and not farm bred which would be considered wild caught-wc- for all intent and purpouseses.
 

Jacqui

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How cold do you keep your home (the location this guy will be living) at night in the winter?

I use the lights your talking about on my babies and any adult which wasn't housed outside for the summer. Problem is your enclosure isn't as big as my babies go in. The difference is with a bigger enclosure, they can escape the light more, if it bothers them (which with mine, even when offered an alternate spot with heat, not the UV part, they chose the light area). I tend to do a "try it and see how your individual animal behaves" attitude rather then saying "only do it this way" attitude.

Remember with either the heat emitter or the bulb, do temp checks down at the torts level to be sure you have the right temps on both the hot side of the tank and the cool. Am thinking you might want to think of the smaller heat emitter...or Yvonne uses the normal blue/black bulbs if I recall correctly.

Also be sure you have hide areas available, especially the babies need lots of hiding areas or they can feel exposed and threatened.
 

SleepyWilly

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Jacqui said:
How cold do you keep your home (the location this guy will be living) at night in the winter?

I use the lights your talking about on my babies and any adult which wasn't housed outside for the summer. Problem is your enclosure isn't as big as my babies go in. The difference is with a bigger enclosure, they can escape the light more, if it bothers them (which with mine, even when offered an alternate spot with heat, not the UV part, they chose the light area). I tend to do a "try it and see how your individual animal behaves" attitude rather then saying "only do it this way" attitude.

Remember with either the heat emitter or the bulb, do temp checks down at the torts level to be sure you have the right temps on both the hot side of the tank and the cool. Am thinking you might want to think of the smaller heat emitter...or Yvonne uses the normal blue/black bulbs if I recall correctly.

Also be sure you have hide areas available, especially the babies need lots of hiding areas or they can feel exposed and threatened.

Yea i think im going to opt out of the MVB just to bright and get a small blacklight bulb and maybe a ceramic heat emitter both on a thermostat.
 
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