Baby cherry head redfoot not eating

noein

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Hello!

I have had this baby for about 1.5 weeks now, and since we've received him, hes shown very little interest in food. At first, we had him in an open air setup and realized over a few days that we weren't able to keep his humidity up to acceptable levels. Also, the care sheets that I had read said to create a heat gradient with a basking spot which I did. We had a basking spot of ~90F, however the cold side would get to room temperature of about ~71F. We housed him in a kiddie pool with coconut coir and sphagnum moss for the substrate with several hides scattered throughout, all with moss in them. After 4 or 5 days, we noticed he wouldn't really open his eyes unless we soaked him. While soaking, he would open them all though they did look irritated, then eventually after his soak he would close them again. We started doing more research and noted that there were several things wrong with his set up and corrected them immediately. Also worth noting, we had a coil UVB bulb which we have replaced with an 80W powersun mercury vapor lamp. We replaced the coil UVB bulb when we noticed he started having eye issues.

Now, his current setup hes been in for about 3 days and his eyes have improved significantly, however still no interest in food. He does open his eyes like normal without soaking, and seems to get around just fine. I was actually surprised at how fast he can stomp around. His current setup is a large tumble ware container with 2 inches of coconut coir on the bottom and sphagnum moss on top. He has a small water dish, a few hides, and some fake plants in there. We have 2 lights, a 80W powersun mercury vapor lamp which runs ~12 hours a day paired with a 60W red heat bulb for nighttime. I read that a ceramic heat emitter is better then the red bulb for nighttime, and have such ordered one and expecting it any day now. His day temperature reads 88 degrees on the hot side and 84 on the "colder" side. At night time, it falls to around 84 degrees on the hot side, 82 degrees on the cold. I check these temperatures with a heat gun a few times a day. We also have a heat prob which is in his main hide he likes to stay in which reads ~85 degrees during the day, ~83 at night. Humidity has since been above 75 percent all time, typically above 80. I spray the sides of the habitat heavily a few times a day. To maintain the humidity and heat, about half of the container has a makeshift lid, the other half is open air which has the lights above it.

For feeding, we've been offering a mix mustard greens, dandelion pieces from the yard (washed first - we do not treat our yard with any pesticides), kale, watermelon, banana, Mazuri tortoise diet pellets, and thrive dried fruit and veggie mix. When we first received him, he was eating very small amounts if we offered in by hand, which he seemed to enjoy banana. I would mash a little bit of banana into some greens and offer them to him. Then over the week he stopped eating or taking anything from me with the exception of small pieces of fruit every once in awhile. Now, since I have moved him to his new habitat I have not seen him eat anything. All water is treated with Reptisafe. We have been soaking him daily, or sometimes twice a day. The other day, I did soak him in half water/half carrot baby food for about 20 minutes.

He weighs about 25g, and his shell is about 2 inches long. He does have his egg tooth still. Please see some pictures below.
Any advice would be fantastic! Thank you so much for reading.

Sam
 

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Joined
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Northampton
20 inches long, 14 inches wide, 12 inches tall.
Ok I think that it is because the enclosure is way too small that she/he is getting stressed I would definitely look into getting a 3ft one whilst he/she is a baby but when an adult 4ft . Hope this helps
 

noein

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Iowa
Ok I think that it is because the enclosure is way too small that she/he is getting stressed I would definitely look into getting a 3ft one whilst he/she is a baby but when an adult 4ft . Hope this helps

Thanks much for the suggestion. I actually have a spare animal plastic large PVC cage (6 ft, 3ft, 2ft) which has nothing in it currently, but figured it was to big for him and wasn't planning on putting him in that till hes a bit older. We had him in a 3 foot kiddie pool, but wasn't able to keep an ambient temperature and the humidity up. I could certainly increase the size of the tumble ware container if that would help for the time being to something closer to the 2.5ft-3ft in length range.
 
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Thanks much for the suggestion. I actually have a spare animal plastic large PVC cage (6 ft, 2ft, 2ft) which has nothing in it currently, but figured it was to big for him and wasn't planning on putting him in that till hes a bit older. We had him in a 3 foot kiddie pool, but wasn't able to keep an ambient temperature and the humidity up. I could certainly increase the size of the tumble ware container if that would help for the time being to something closer to the 2.5ft-3ft in length range.
Yes definitely it would be better to big than too small for the time being you should find he opens up more and hopefully eats ! Make sure that you soak him that helps too
 

method89

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Redfoot torts do not need a basking area, so your temps are out of whack. Give the caresheet a good read, make the corrections and you most likely will see an uptick in activity.
 

noein

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Redfoot torts do not need a basking area, so your temps are out of whack. Give the caresheet a good read, make the corrections and you most likely will see an uptick in activity.

My old enclosure there was a basking spot. However, in the new one, the temperature of the setup differs only between 3 or so degrees from one side to the other. I just checked and under his hide it's around 87 - and on the opposite side where his water is, the temperature is around 83. Is this to high? It seems to be inline with the care sheet you linked, or do you see something wrong here?
I'm going to up the habitat size tonight to a slightly large size rubbermaid bin as suggested above. Thanks for the reply and your response!
 

method89

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My old enclosure there was a basking spot. However, in the new one, the temperature of the setup differs only between 3 or so degrees from one side to the other. I just checked and under his hide it's around 87 - and on the opposite side where his water is, the temperature is around 83. Is this to high? It seems to be inline with the care sheet you linked, or do you see something wrong here?
I'm going to up the habitat size tonight to a slightly large size rubbermaid bin as suggested above. Thanks for the reply and your response!
I think you day heat could be a touch lower but it isn't way off. 80-85 i believe is the ideal.

Where did you purchase him from?

@Toddrickfl1 may be able to help here
 

noein

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I think you day heat could be a touch lower but it isn't way off. 80-85 i believe is the ideal.

Where did you purchase him from?

@Toddrickfl1 may be able to help here

I just adjusted the bulbs ever so slightly to hopefully bring down his temps a few notches. I did notice that it looks like he may have picked at his food a bit! I had some greens in there, mixed with a small piece of banana and watermelon. I will take note of how much food I put in next time, but it definitely looks like a little bit is gone!

I purchased him from tortoise town.

Thanks again for all the replies.
Sam
 

method89

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Great. hopefully he settles in now. Keep up the soaks and keep an eye out on those eyes. (pardon the pun) keep us updated
 

Toddrickfl1

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Sounds like your on the right track. They really don't like change. Let him get settled in for a few days and he should start eating.
 

noein

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How is he doing ?

Hello!

Unfortunately, nothing has improved that much. I still don't see him eating and he struggles to open his eyes till his soakings. I thought he was for a while, but i'm guessing he was just walking through the little container I set his food on and pushing it around. I still offer food daily, most of the time twice daily to freshen it up. Mix of greens, fruit (banana, watermelon, strawberry, apple offered so far), tortoise pellets, and mushrooms. He never seems to leave his hide however.

I have increased his habitat size to a larger Rubbermaid container. We're going to replace his MVB with a UVB tube today and see if that does anything, although I don't suspect this is the issue. I'm leaning towards vit A deficiency since he isn't eating and hasn't for perhaps a week now. I have been closely monitoring his temperatures, during the day they're around 86, at night they fall to about 82. Humidity is around 80 to 100 percent. While keeping his humidity as high as it's, the substrate is pretty wet. I'm going to work on rectifying that, but don't suspect that is the issue with his eyes. I have also removed the red heat bulb and replaced it with a CHE.

I thought his eyes were improving there for a bit, but they still seem to be shut in the morning and don't open on their own till he soaks. I'm soaking him in warm water twice daily, and in the morning with carrot baby food for 30 minutes. I do notice he is drinking it in the morning. After about 5 minutes of soaking (I notice he likes to duck his head under the water for a bit) he looks completely better. Eyes are wide open, he moves around and stretches his neck out, and attempts to climb out of the container hes in. I'm also using eye drops now - repti turtle eye drops once a day. His eyes don't appear to be puffy or swollen. I looked at them under the light and did not see any cloudy or white spots in his eyes also.

If he does not start perking up in a few days from the daily carrot soakings, I would think a vet trip is warranted, although a bit concerned at some of the horror stories from people taking their hatchling tortoises to the vet and get vit A shots then shortly after overdose.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 11, 2020
Messages
25
Location (City and/or State)
Northampton
Hello!

Unfortunately, nothing has improved that much. I still don't see him eating and he struggles to open his eyes till his soakings. I thought he was for a while, but i'm guessing he was just walking through the little container I set his food on and pushing it around. I still offer food daily, most of the time twice daily to freshen it up. Mix of greens, fruit (banana, watermelon, strawberry, apple offered so far), tortoise pellets, and mushrooms. He never seems to leave his hide however.

I have increased his habitat size to a larger Rubbermaid container. We're going to replace his MVB with a UVB tube today and see if that does anything, although I don't suspect this is the issue. I'm leaning towards vit A deficiency since he isn't eating and hasn't for perhaps a week now. I have been closely monitoring his temperatures, during the day they're around 86, at night they fall to about 82. Humidity is around 80 to 100 percent. While keeping his humidity as high as it's, the substrate is pretty wet. I'm going to work on rectifying that, but don't suspect that is the issue with his eyes. I have also removed the red heat bulb and replaced it with a CHE.

I thought his eyes were improving there for a bit, but they still seem to be shut in the morning and don't open on their own till he soaks. I'm soaking him in warm water twice daily, and in the morning with carrot baby food for 30 minutes. I do notice he is drinking it in the morning. After about 5 minutes of soaking (I notice he likes to duck his head under the water for a bit) he looks completely better. Eyes are wide open, he moves around and stretches his neck out, and attempts to climb out of the container hes in. I'm also using eye drops now - repti turtle eye drops once a day. His eyes don't appear to be puffy or swollen. I looked at them under the light and did not see any cloudy or white spots in his eyes also.

If he does not start perking up in a few days from the daily carrot soakings, I would think a vet trip is warranted, although a bit concerned at some of the horror stories from people taking their hatchling tortoises to the vet and get vit A shots then shortly after overdose.
The bulb sounds like the problem the tube will be better for him and have you tried giving him dandelions ? Good that he’s drinking the water though .
 
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