New and Looking for Good Advice

chipperchip

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I am excited to be a new RF tortoise owner. We got Chip on Sunday. He was already named because of the chip on his shell. We picked him because he was devouring his strawberries in his tank and was very active. Now that he is in his new surroundings, he isn't very active anymore, has cut way back on eating, and hides in his hut most of the day. I used to have a bearded dragon and Chip is like watching paint dry compared to the beardie. Chip is about 2 yrs. old and we have him in a clear plastic container (106 quart) until we can make him a tortoise table (hopefully this weekend). I have a 160w merc vapor bulb on his basking side and a ceramic heat bulb in the middle. His temps have been 95-100 basking and about 72-78 cooler side. He was eating strawberries when we bought him. I have been continuing to feed him strawberries as well as spring mix, but now am reading that he should not have fruit every day. His substrate is cyprus mulch and I pour water over the basking side in the morning and rake it a couple times a day for humidity. He has been bathed every other day, and I might start bathing him daily to keep him hydrated. There is so much conflicting advice out there and don't know who to believe, same as with the beardie. I followed forum advice for beardie and the vet would tell me that it was all wrong. So I want to make sure that I am doing the right thing. We live in Northeastern Ohio and he cannot stay outside year round, so he will be coming in the house during our very long winter season. Oh, and the day we got him (3/22) he pooped 4x by the time he got home and peed 1x. He has not pooped since (not sure if he has peed because he is on mulch and I wet it down anyway). Should I be worried??? How often do they poop? Does it sound like I am doing the right things?
 

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Jodie

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I don't keep RF's, but it sounds ok to me. Others will be along with more specifics. It takes them a while to settle in and feel comfortable. Welcome to the forum.
 

Gillian M

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A warm welcome to the :tort:forum!

A gorgeous little tort, GOD bless.One thing I can tell you is that I was adviced not to feed my Greek tort tomatoes daily, and I did some research to find out that torts should not be given fruits every day, but rather as a treat. ;) Good luck.
 

wellington

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Hello and Welcome:). First, let me say it is very normal for your tort to be inactive and not eat so much. He is in a strange new place. Give him some time to settle in and get to know that you are the food God now and not the monster that wants to eat him. Fruit isn't good on a daily basis, only as an occasional treat. The info you will get from this forum is correct. As for the vets, most of them have no or very little clue about tortoises, so be very careful listening to them, some do more damage then good. Another place you might want to read is the tortoiselibrary.com. It's one of our members sites and has great info for red foot owners among others.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

In my opinion, 160 watt bulb is too hot. A redfooted tortoise's habitat is quite ok to be around 80F degrees all over the whole habitat. There doesn't need to be a hot side and a cool side. Please read about RF tortoises at the Tortoise Library
 

crimson_lotus

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Welcome!! This will be long winded, but here it goes.

These guys need humidity, and a lot of it! You could pour warm water into the corners of the enclosure every week or so, buy a humidifier and connect it to your tortoise enclosure (@christinaland128 did this and it's a great idea), buy a misting system, or just keep spraying it down every once in a while.

I would also suggest getting a hygrometer that measures both humidity and temps, you can buy some for $10 at home depot, lowes, etc. It is very important to monitor the temps. Low temps and high humidity will make your tortoise sick. I would suggest boosting the temps up if it gets as low as 72 degrees. 78 would be fine. If you are turning the lights off at night, as in their heat light, I would suggest keeping the ceramic heat emitter on to keep it warm.

When you build your tortoise table, I suggest you make it either a closed chamber or SOMETHING put a shower curtain over it to at least cover half. Don't forget to line the inside of the table with something, too, otherwise your wood may rot. Closing off the enclosure so the humidity can't escape will increase your humidity percentage substantially.

My tortoise poops about 8 times on the way to the vet, and she's basically on empty for the next few days and can't poop anything out since there's nothing in there anymore. They get really nervous and stressed, which is why they poop so much, when you move them around. It's normal for them not to eat or be timid/sluggish for the first few days, so don't worry

Check out the link Yvonne provided, it's a great source of info for Red Foot's. You can get some ideas as to what to feed your Red in there, the percentage of greens, fruits, and protein they should have, and also, here's a site that will tell you what plants are safe and not safe to feed:

http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp

Remember not to feed the same things all the time!!

Oh and, I actually do have a "basking" spot, kind of, for my red. I use ceramic heat emitters all day so it's lightless (she has a long UVB tube to light up her enclosure during the day) and under the lamp it's about 95 degrees. She goes under there after her bath to warm up. This is just something I do but you don't need to, just sharing my set up.
 

Michael in MO

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" I used to have a bearded dragon and Chip is like watching paint dry compared to the beardie" redfoot tortoises are curious by nature.. at least both of mine are. ONCE HE GETS ACCLIMATED to his pen, if you let him walk around a room you'll be able to monitor him in for 30 minutes or so, remembering that redfoot torts are opportunistic feeders and may try to take a bite out of anything at any time... (less if he finds something he really wants to hide under so much that you have to keep moving him away from it) you'll probably reconsider your drying paint comment. I would certainly attribute his shyness to new surroundings. Also not sure how long you had your dragon but you've gone 180 degrees in husbandry from one to the other so try to catch yourself if you're treating the tort the same as you had the dragon..
 

Michael in MO

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true that! That's why I always keep a food log.. easy to forget "I've fed strawberries 3 times in the last 10 days" but if you are writing it down in a notebook it jumps right out at you.. that being said, the best thing about fruit is the juice transfers to things the tort will usually turn it's nose up at.. as a way to entice it to "eat it's veggies"
 

chipperchip

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chipsnewhome.jpg chipsnewhome1.jpgchipsnewhome1.jpg chipsnewhome2.jpg Thank you all for the wonderful advice...I love getting everyone's opinions and learning so much about Chip. You are all correct about him getting used to his surroundings. My husband has built him a new enclosure and he has been very active since. It is roughly 6' x 30" x16" tall. It is pretty big and he looks so small in it. My new challenge is trying to keep the whole thing warm enough for him. In his first night in it he completely buried himself under the mulch. I have a 160w merc vapor bulb on his basking end and a 100w ceramic infrared heat emitter that I keep on 24/7. I also was using a T8 15w fluorescent bulb but that burned out. And for added warmth, I have put a regular 60w light bulb and a 75w black night light bulb on top of the enclosure. I am re-purposing some of the beardie's bulbs.
The reason I ended up with a tortoise rather than another beardie is because my son thought it would be much easier for me to care for than the beardie, but after setting up his inside enclosure, I am beginning to wonder, and have suffered a little bit of delayed buyer's remorse. He is very cool and I think he has started to recognize me when I approach his tank. And I have started to keep the food journal and am using Suday as his fruit day. During the week he gets mixed greens (spring mix) and some romain lettuce. I tried some green peppers, but he didn't like them, and some sweet potato that he loved. If anyone can guide me to the proper lighting for his enclosure. I have done much reading, but as with the beardie, everyone has different opinions on what kind of lighting and where to put it. The merc vapor light is not getting too hot because it is at least 16" above his enclosure. If anything, it isn't getting it warm enough. I am attaching a couple of photos of his set up. If anyone can give me some ideas or additional advice on what I can do to improve his living space I would love your feedback. Oh, and there are a couple of other things in here like his basking rock and a couple of plants a box in his sleeping area to go in at night and a log thing to hide under.
 

DutchieAmanda

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Congrats on your new tort, red foots rule!
Have you checked the Tortoise Library? The Tortoise Table is also a good source of info on foods.
Red foots need greens, a bit of fruit and a protein source (like shrimp, chicken or mushrooms).
Good luck!
 

Michael in MO

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you might want to line both walls around the water dish with plastic somehow.. that way you could mist the chip in a spot in the enclosure and not have it ruin the wood..
 

Yvonne G

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I see that you have your lights sitting on mesh. I wanted to let you know that the mesh effectively filters out quite a good amount of the beneficial UV rays.
 

crimson_lotus

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Looks a bit dry in there, I would really recommend adding some humidity, these guys need it.
 
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