Thanks John. I went home to check on him and he seems fine. He was eating and active. His eye is open and there is no weeping or swelling or anything. It looks fine. I also couldn't see any area on his neck that looked injured. I gave him a nice soak and let him crawl around out of the cage for...
I bought him at Petco, then after I realzed they know next to nothing about proper tortoise care, I sought out advice from a local expert. I returned the aquarium enclosure I bought at Petco and bought a custom one from the breeder.
I did, but frankly I was feeling a little attacked.
I didn't ask about substrate, or pyramiding, or his enclosure. I thought maybe you could make me feel better--not worse.
I am going to see the breeder tomorrow and get his help.
Thanks anyway.
We have only had him for two weeks. He was pyramided when I got him from Petco.
I was using just Cypress mulch, but this was the substrate recommended by the tortoise breeder from whom I purchsed the custom enclosure. He has been breeding Redfoots for 30 years and swears by it. I mixed some...
I think it may look smaller than it is. It's actually pretty big! Plus, we take him out every day and let him explore for at least an hour. He also gets a nice warm soak out side of his enclosure every day too. I think I am going to get a different hide though, one that is not so long and takes...
Ok, some pics attached!
The corner is where we found him...
[hr]
Also, as an update on his condition. He was acting pretty normal today eating as usual and let me pet his head as he seems to like it. I noticed his left eye is closed though. Right eye is open an fine, but the left is...
My husband came home from work tonight to find our poor little guy almost all the way on his back and totally stressed out. He said it appeared he had been there for awhile as it looked like he was really struggling and in pain. My husband said he had a tiny bit of blood on on his neck where it...
I second that reply!!
I made a commitment when I brought our new tortoise into our family. Sure I was (and still am) not very knowledgeable, but I care enough to learn. Even though I didn't know much about tortoise care when I got him, I knew enough to understand it was a serious...
Wow, thanks for the great pics Terry. I am going to do all I can to give our guy the best chance to grow healthy and beautiful like your friend's tortoise.
I don't know what kind of conditions he was in before we got him, but I
know I'll give him the best care possible now that he's our pet. :)
He may have shell rot scarring as you say, but I don't think it's currently shell rot. It's not soft or flaky, and there is no discoloration that I can...
He does appear to have the enlarged scales on the insides of his elbows.
His plastron is light colored.
His nose is kinda round, but is pretty much the same color as the rest of his head scales....
I think he has characteristics of both. Is it possible he is some kind of hybrid?
I...
Ok, I tried to get some more pics of our new Redfoot.
I described him to a guy at a local reptile store who breeds Redfoots, and he thinks from my description that our guy is a Northern Redfoot. The reptile guy also said if he is a Cherryhead, we got an awesome deal--we got him for $69! He...
Well, (in large part thanks to all the great info and advice) I got here last week when I was freaking out and worried about my new Redfoot tortoise who had been sitting in his water forever, he seems to be doing great now!
First update: After almost three full days of not moving from his...
I believe he is a Cherry Head, but I got him a PetCo and they said he was a Redfoot. I think he's actually a Cherry Head Redfoot, and they were mistaken. I think I got lucky!
I will check out the photos!
[hr]
I got him at PetCo and he was priced the same as the Russians he was being housed with. The sales associated told me that they had been sent the Redfoots "accidentially" and were selling them at the same price as the russians, although they would normally...
Thanks for the thoughts on the matter! I really appreciate your feedback.
And just to clarify, I didn't actually tell her the stuff was "crap" I was just hyperbolizing a bit for the story's sake. ;) I did tell her that I had read many articles that said to avoid the stuff though, and that it...