Yay for my new redfoot! I think it's a female? Northern or Cherryhead?

[colormyworld]

Hi! I'm glad I found this forum. I haven't had a reptile since college (even though I grew up raising them, and at home we even have the "reptile room" with the arboreal cage built into the wall where you can go in and sit with the iguanas. But since moving from home, this is the first time I'm in an apartment where I can have pets! I went in for a Russian tortoise, but fell in love with the redfoot. I've had Russians before, and can identify the sex easily, but redfoots are new to me. I am pretty sure this is a female, but I am not certain. I'm also not sure if it's a cherryhead or not, seeing as the care sheet I was given said cherryhead (but from what I've read here Petco doesn't always give the correct info), and they didn't know the age either. Thank you for any help!

Jessica

A few pics (and don't worry, she (he?) did not eat the cake! And yes, we want to plan a rematch now that we have the tortoise and the hare!):

MobileMe Gallery- Tortoise

 

[jackrat]

Welcome to the forum! There are a lot of knowlegable redfoot keepers here. It looks to be a female Northern from what I can see in the pictures. A good place to start is turtletary.com. The caresheets on the site are the ones I have used with good results. Keep her environment humid and mist her till she drips every day. It wouldn't hurt to pay your vet a visit for a fecal exam to check for parasites.

 

[colormyworld]

Thank you...yes that is what I was thinking as far as being a female Northern but wanted some other educated opinions. Do you know how old she might be, approximately?

 

[matt41gb]

Hi! Welcome to the forum! I agree, looks female and definitely a Northern red-foot. Looks like you've got some good company there with your tortoise and bunny.

-Matt

 

[Jessicap]

Welcome...and congratulations on your new friend. I too am a newer redfoot tort mom Everyone here is awesome so you will have lots of support!

 

[Madkins007]

The site does not open for me right now, so I will try it later.

Welcome! There is a section in my site where it describes different types of Red-foots (http://www.tortoiselibrary.com/aboutredfoot.html) and a section on Cherry-heads, in case that is what you have (http://www.tortoiselibrary.com/cherryhead.html)

Age is tougher since they grow at such varied rates, and most of their biology is driven by size rather than age. It is much more common in tortoise circles to speak of a 4" or 7" tortoise than a 4 year-old or a 12 year-old tortoise.