My redfoot family

pfara

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My redfoot babes are now officially a year old! I thought I'd finally make a thread about them.

Sunset (Sunny).
Hatched 2/5/13
First measured: 2 oz, 2-5/8"
1 year: 7.55 oz, 4"

Sunny's growth has been very slow and steady. She's seriously fast for a tortoise and is dubbed the ninja of the group (she changes her hide spot daily and is usually found caked with a massive amount of dirt).


Loki.
Hatched 2/20/13
First measured: 1.5 oz, 2-1/2"
1 year: 12.05 oz, 4-7/8"

Loki's massive for his age but his growth has come in beautifully smooth. Despite his giant stature, he is known as the mighty coward.



Jingle.
Hatched 2/25/13
First measured: 1.45 oz, 2-3/8"
1 year: 7.65 oz, 4-1/16"

Jingle was the "runt" of the group. She's since kept up with everyone and has ended up being Loki's counterpart as being the bravest and most likely to beg for head rubs.


Punch.
Hatched 3/7/13
First measured: 1.75 oz, 2-1/2"
1 year: 11.35 oz, 4-3/4"

While Sunny and Jingle grew relatively slowly, Punch and Loki traded off who would be the biggest each month. Loki won the honors of being marginally larger but Punch won the honors of not being a wimp. Chances are you'll find Punch basking under an incandescent.



Here are some pictures of their enclosure:



I wanted to give thanks to Vicki Hale for these beautiful tortoises and Mark (madkins007), Carl (cdmay), Kelly (tortadise), and JD (N2TORTS) for their patience with all my "slightly" panicked questions. Thanks to everyone else on the forum whose posts I constantly read to provide the best for my babies.

Go Redfoots! :D
 

jackmeggers

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Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
126
Location (City and/or State)
Hampton Roads, Va
They are beautiful! I love the different personalities they have :-D I love your enclosure. I'm itching to make an outdoor for Itzl this spring. :)
 

vickihale

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5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2011
Messages
9
Alma, I should be thanking you!
All the love and work you have put into their care really shows. They are beautiful and it's because you have done things right.
Yours is the kind of home I want for all my hatchlings!!
THANK YOU!!!!
Vicki Hale
tortoiseyard.com

pfara said:
My redfoot babes are now officially a year old! I thought I'd finally make a thread about them.

Sunset (Sunny).
Hatched 2/5/13
First measured: 2 oz, 2-5/8"
1 year: 7.55 oz, 4"

Sunny's growth has been very slow and steady. She's seriously fast for a tortoise and is dubbed the ninja of the group (she changes her hide spot daily and is usually found caked with a massive amount of dirt).


Loki.
Hatched 2/20/13
First measured: 1.5 oz, 2-1/2"
1 year: 12.05 oz, 4-7/8"

Loki's massive for his age but his growth has come in beautifully smooth. Despite his giant stature, he is known as the mighty coward.



Jingle.
Hatched 2/25/13
First measured: 1.45 oz, 2-3/8"
1 year: 7.65 oz, 4-1/16"

Jingle was the "runt" of the group. She's since kept up with everyone and has ended up being Loki's counterpart as being the bravest and most likely to beg for head rubs.


Punch.
Hatched 3/7/13
First measured: 1.75 oz, 2-1/2"
1 year: 11.35 oz, 4-3/4"

While Sunny and Jingle grew relatively slowly, Punch and Loki traded off who would be the biggest each month. Loki won the honors of being marginally larger but Punch won the honors of not being a wimp. Chances are you'll find Punch basking under an incandescent.



Here are some pictures of their enclosure:



I wanted to give thanks to Vicki Hale for these beautiful tortoises and Mark (madkins007), Carl (cdmay), Kelly (tortadise), and JD (N2TORTS) for their patience with all my "slightly" panicked questions. Thanks to everyone else on the forum whose posts I constantly read to provide the best for my babies.

Go Redfoots! :D
 

pfara

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Thanks everybody! It definitely means a lot. <3
 

kathyth

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Beaumont, CA.
They are stunning! Very nice RF family!
I have a Sunny ( CH) from Vicki!!! 😊😊😊😊😊😊
Hi Vicki!!
 

RedFootMom

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Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Messages
113
I guess I'm not very original in naming my new RF "Sunny". Haha.
Our two Sunny's look very similar with all the colors of a beautiful sunset.
My Sunny and also my new Cherryhead "Ruby" that I purchased from Vicki will be here Tuesday, 3/11. The weather is finally cooperating. I'm like a little kid waiting to open a gift. It's been the longest couple of weeks!
Your tortoise family is stunning!! Great job!!
 

pfara

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RedFootMom said:
I guess I'm not very original in naming my new RF "Sunny". Haha.
Our two Sunny's look very similar with all the colors of a beautiful sunset.
My Sunny and also my new Cherryhead "Ruby" that I purchased from Vicki will be here Tuesday, 3/11. The weather is finally cooperating. I'm like a little kid waiting to open a gift. It's been the longest couple of weeks!
Your tortoise family is stunning!! Great job!!

Congrats on your upcoming addition! Vicki's hatchings are pretty awesome. Vicki, herself, has been a tremendous help and wonderful as well. Thanks, again for everyone's gracious comments :D
 

Bryan

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Beautiful torts that are obviously very well looked after!
 

MyTrek

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Oxford, Ohio, USA
your babies are cute!!!!!
Is the common name of one of the plants in your enclosure a "spider plant" or is the two-toned striped spiky plant something else?
 

pfara

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MyTrek said:
your babies are cute!!!!!
Is the common name of one of the plants in your enclosure a "spider plant" or is the two-toned striped spiky plant something else?

Yes it's a spider plant. I like trying out one of every tort-safe plant in the enclosure to see how hardy they are. I have about 6 types of plants in there and always looking to add more.

Wait.. which two-toned? The white and green or the reddish and green? The reddish-green is a dragon dracaena (dracaena marginata).


Redstrike said:
Good looking group, keep the pictures coming!

Thanks Chris and everyone else. I'll keep the pictures going. I'll probably have boatloads once the weather starts warming up outside.. if that ever happens!
 

MyTrek

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pfara said:
MyTrek said:
your babies are cute!!!!!
Is the common name of one of the plants in your enclosure a "spider plant" or is the two-toned striped spiky plant something else?

Yes it's a spider plant. I like trying out one of every tort-safe plant in the enclosure to see how hardy they are. I have about 6 types of plants in there and always looking to add more.

Wait.. which two-toned? The white and green or the reddish and green? The reddish-green is a dragon dracaena (dracaena marginata).


Redstrike said:
Good looking group, keep the pictures coming!

Thanks Chris and everyone else. I'll keep the pictures going. I'll probably have boatloads once the weather starts warming up outside.. if that ever happens!



Originally I was asking about the spider plant but I did some major reading up on plants today so that much I figured out. I am curious about the drecaena and how well it does. I love plants and growing things for the habitat will be fun. Thanks for your reply. How's the new addition?
 

pfara

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The dracaena care is similar to spider plants. Make sure to use fluorine-free water (tap water conditioner or RO water) as both plants are very sensitive to it (you can tell by the brown tips). I have a 5 gallon home depot bucket always filled with conditioned water that has sat out overnight to water all the plants in my enclosure. Make sure you get the right dracaena. Top of my head.. marginata and warneckii are the non-toxic dracaenas. There are tons of plants I have yet to put in my enclosure but I fear I might never see my tortoises or be able to grab the water dishes to wash them lol..

And as for the new addition, that wasn't me :p
 

pfara

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Been a while since I last posted something on my guys. I just took down the barrier in their indoor tort enclosure and now they have full use of it.

Daytime shot of the full enclosure:


Evening shot of the enclosure:


It definitely wasn't an easy task trying to upgrade their digs. Punch kept running over to wherever I was trying to help me dig. Five minutes later, the other torts were running around taking bites of dirt and plants. No matter what I did, I had a tort in my way.

I added 3 more jumbo cork flats, a large slate tile for another basking spot, and another plant saucer for a total of 4 sources of water. Yeah, it's kind of a pain to wash all those large saucers on a daily basis but I love my guys to death.

For those who want to know what plants I have in there: spider plant, bromeliad, dracaena marginata, lipstick vine, tradescantia zebrina (wandering jew), pothos, prayer plant, wax begonia, bird's nest fern.

Size comparison of torts vs. enclosure (kinda):


More tort pics:


(Yes, reds can bask.. and mine do so on a regular basis)

Loki and Punch are pushing 6" at almost a year and a half and Sunset and Jingle are around the 5" mark. No, I haven't been giving them steroids. I've tried greatly reducing the amount of food I give them but they seem to skip days on their own. I'm not too worried though; their growth has been coming in smooth and steady. Maybe I'm subconsciously plumping them up to hasten gender identification, lol..

Hope you like the pics. The end:
 

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