Baby Redfoot swimming, less than one week old !

I did not have the courage, but my wife did, when we gave the first clutch of the year their first soak...

And I could hardly believe what happened, as I have never put any of my RF's on deep water during all of my years as a breeder !

Why take the risk then?

I've seen it several times myself, but never with my own RF's, and since they can float and breath, what is the actual "risk" in a controlled environment ?

I had one swimmer but also one sinker.(didn't float)
He didn't seem to get it.

My girl floats too in the bath tub I fill it up to halfway up her shell on the shallow end of the tub but she always wanders to the deep end near the drain to paddle around. It's amusing!

Yeah, good topic. Not all animals can swim. We used to have an 120 lb. Female Rottweiler that wouldn't swim. No doggy paddle at all. She would remain vertical and flop her front legs at the water surface in an attempt to tread water. She was good at that, hubby would have to get in the pool to get her out.

All of my Redfoots float. Its not really swiming. They float around and propel themselves with fast swipes of their legs. But the picture below is of my largest female. She will frequently go in the deep end of the pond and float around. She seems relaxed and controlled. My other torts hate it when i place them in deep water. They float and swipe frantically until they feel the rock under their feet. Even my 4 babies float. Red foots in the wild will cross streams and even small ponds in search of food or shelter in a different area.

Ooo yea i forgot to share that my 5 inch female. The first time i put her in the deep and he dropped like a rock. At first i thought she had ingested too many actual rocks in the enclosure. But on her second try she took a big breath and was able to float. She isn't the brightest tortoise in the herd. By far the smartest tort i have is the one in the water in the picture above

Does anyone have any males that float?

Good question

Pretty cool!! Have never put one of my Redfoots in deep water.

I have been teaching mine to swim for few years now. 3 are now perfect swimmers, not just floaters, but can actually swim, move their legs, know how to breathe above water, etc. Berry, the forth one, is still learning, he just not such good swimmer as other 3. One of those days I will post a video. But I always supervise them, never leave them alone in deep water. In the wild, cherries are prolific swimmers and swim all the time.

My red foots panic and get really really stressed out- even when Gibby, my very first baby, was really light and bobbed like a cork. I don't recommend FORCING them to do anything when they are kept in captivity, especially something that visibly panics them. We don't know all the nuances of how they live and what they do in the wild, so stressing them visibly is the last thing I will do to my babies. They get lots of exercise just exploring the yard- and they are, after all, LAND torties. Just my two-cents worth.