Red footed tortoise dry skin?

[Emonahan]

I am new to this forum, I just tried to post, but believe I accidentally deleted it. I have a 5 year old Red-Foot that I have had since he was 1 month old. He has never had any major health issues, eats well and is not very picky. I am worried about his skin condition in the dry winters living in Canada. He does not have a tank, I have made my whole apartment tortoise safe, and he has litter trained himself to my walk in storage room on newspaper. I have a large bathtub that he soaks in daily, as well as a large Pyrex pie dish that is left out at all times that he can go in to for water and soaking.
I am wondering if anyone knows of good ointments or creams/lotions that are tortoise safe, that I could apply all over to his skin to prevent any cracking. I don't want him in any pain in the winter months when it gets dry, and soaking is not enough!

Thanks for any help.

 

[Plowmandust77]

RE: Red footed tortoise

Give him a proper enclosure with humidity. Not sensible to let it walk around your "tort"friendly Apt...

 

[wellington]

RE: Red footed tortoise

Hello and Welcome Redfoot need a higher humidity enclosure. It sounds great that you have him in your whole apartment and litter trained, however, a/he really needs a proper enclosure. Substrate to dig into, higher humidity, etc. check out this website, it's one of our own members. http://www.tortoiselibrary.com/

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Red footed tortoise

Hi emonahan and welcome to the Forum!

You won't have to worry about dry skin if you give the tortoise what it needs - an appropriate habitat with a hiding place, a waterer, lights and heat, and a moist substrate to keep the humidity up. You can partially cover the habitat to ensure the humidity.

 

[Nir]

RE: Red footed tortoise

Welcome to the forum!

Red foot tortoise originate from moist warm climates (Central/south-america). A typical canadian appartment (i live near Ottawa) is 20 C and 30 % humidity in the winter... Far from tropical climate conditions...

Your tort is beautiful! I think she'd be much happier in a roomy humid/warm enclosure with occasionnal walks around the appartment...

 

[Emonahan]

I started off with him in a 4 x 4 foot enclosure, and moved up to a 6x6 foot custom built. He spent more than half his day trying to break through the wood walls of the enclosure to escape, and almost daily I would find that he had flipped himself and was unable to right himself. I was concerned for his safety, and health. He would only eat if he was out of the enclosure for a few hours to calm down. I put a lot of money in to making it nice, and had even put in real grass turf, and an area to burrow. I have 2 hiding places for him in my apartment, a box of substrate he has access to at all times to burrow, and UVB bulbs. there is a mister in his substrate box that I have on for 8 hours a day.

He seems to have wanted to flee his enclosure so that he could cuddle up with and chase my cats. I definitely would have him in an enclosure if it were an option! Promise.

 

[RedfootsRule]

He probably needs a specialized enclosure where he can stay with high humidity. Make it entertaining enough, he should stay in it.

 

[RosieRedfoot]

Unless he's outside for a few hours a day (unlikely in a northern winter) or spends most of his time under the UV bulbs I'd worry he's lacking in the UV light required for calcium absorption and would be susceptible to metabolic disorders. Unless you keep your apartment at 70-80F all the time with 80% humidity then you aren't really meeting his requirements.

I know he probably does want out since tortoises do patrol a large area naturally, but it would probably be in his best interest to be confined to a warmer more humid room or enclosure that's more natural with a lot of plants, mossy dark hiding spots, and warm basking rocks. Even if it's just part of the day you'd probably notice less dry skin.

I chose a redfoot since I live in the south eastern united states where summer temps and humidity are both above 80F and 80%. She loves it though since that's closest to what she'd naturally be in whereas, I blast the A/C and fans. My friends in Alaska who have tortoises did want redfoots, but learned that the humidity would have to be constantly pumped higher and so they chose russian tortoises which can handle the cooler temps and lower humidity vs. the tropical species.

I know it's not exactly what you want to hear and you'll do as you want with your tortoise in the end, but for someone who wants to keep their tortoise in a cooler climate with less humidity a redfoot is certainly not the right species without modifications in an artificial closed environment.

If none of the above suggestions work for you, can you maybe take a large rubbermaid tub and cut a hole in the side and fill it with damp moss and a heat-bulb over it (or heating pad on the wall) to provide a darkened and moist warm hide?

Hopefully we don't come across as too rude. We aren't meaning to tell you everything you're doing is wrong, we just want what's best for your tortoise! Welcome!