Okay so today when I went to inspect tommy, his eyes were clear but they looked kind of watery. Could this just be because of the damp spag moss under him? Or could it be RI? Thanks!

Watery eyes are not a sign of an RI, in red foots if I am not mistaken they are usually a sign of dehydration.

Ok we'll I just soaked him and he has water available 24/7. What could be wrong?

He has water available, but does it drink? My guy drinks all of the time, I see it, do you see yours? How is the humidity?

Capn is correct. Sign of dryness usually in lower humidity or the tortoise is dehydrated.

Well I spray it everyday and keep it wet and humid. The humidity is around 30-50% depending on the time.30 only when it gets late and I havent sprayed it in a while.

yeah 30 is pretty low for a redfoot. Try and keep it around 60-80%

(10-30-2012 11:54 AM)tortadise Wrote:  yeah 30 is pretty low for a redfoot. Try and keep it around 60-80%

Agreed, 30% humidity is very low for a redfoot. I don't go below 70% humidity for my redfoot enclosures.

I keep it half covered and spray every day and pour water in the moss to keep it humid. He has a cool/dry side like he should and when I saw his slightly watery eyes he was on it.

I'd say if you can't keep the humidity upwards of 60-70% then you should do daily or twice daily soakings. But higher humidity is definitely needed for these guys. And with higher humidity you need to keep the 24/7 temps higher. So if at 80% humidity you should aim to keep it 80F around the clock. Damp and cool is not what you want. Right now I'm working on building a covered enclosure since I can't keep up night temps as well and also have to let the humidity drop to avoid it being cool/clammy. They can handle non ideal conditions for some time, but it's basically risking their health if it continues. Try covering more of the enclosure (if you haven't already) with aluminum foil or plexi glass.

Okay so today I tried out the other humidity and temp measures and since my other one wasn't telling me the humidity I changed and my other one tells me the humidity. It is around 50 percent.

Like I've said, the humidity needs to be up to 70% at least. Especially for a hatchling.

Covering your enclosure more will help raise the humidity as others have said. If you are very often wetting the moss or whatever you use, do a frequent check for beginnings of shell rot/fungus. Some babies it seems are more prone to getting this than others, but it never hurts to look at the plastron anyways.

Do you have pictures of your current enclosure by chance?

Lots of tricks for upping humidity, like Mighty said, simply covering your enclosure really improves heat and humidity retention. You can also add live plants to the enclosure, pipe in a humidifier that runs on a timer throughout the day, etc. I don't like the water vaporizers/foggers because they can drop the temperatures in your enclosure by a couple degrees very quickly.

Lots of great ideas on increasing humidity discussed in the links below:

tortoiselibrary.com - on left menu bar see "Housing" -->"Humidity". Also see TerryO's article and pictures under the same "Housing" section but click on "Planting an interesting habitat" - lots of plants to up humidity in her beautiful enclosures (http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-2476...86Syq0IV).

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-1873...z2AyWRUpmm - Tom's humid hides

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-4596...z2AyWRUpmm - my setup

Good luck Matt, really have to get that humidity up if you can, even if it's just a humid hide box it will make a difference.

Keeping humidity is a challenge for sure, I'm working on a partial cover now because otherwise with A/C to keep 50% + makes the soil too wet even with plants. A fogger/humidifier can help. My RF sometimes chooses more dryness and gets glossy eyes, I just make sure she drinks often and mist her.