Help? Inside set up for baby yellow ft

[redsn8k]

Hi

I am a very nervous parent and Daughter of a new baby yellow ft. We have had him/her for about two weeks. To preface this, I have owned and cared for reptiles most of my life but this is my first rainforest animal. I want to be sure he/she has the appropriate humidity without the risk of shell rot.

We have set up the enclosure using a large plastic storage bin for now. I have an inch of organic top soil on half the bottom of the bin covered by cypress bark. I have a 65w Che and a 5.0 UVA/B bulb hanging about 12" above the soil but over the enclosure. Temps in basking are are 90 and 78-80 in cool side. It does not get below 70 at night.

I have a reptile-fogger on through a hole in the lid by the basking area. However what I find is that it gets the top layer of bark wet. In order to keep humidity up to 85-90% I have to continually run the fogger.

I opened the hide log today to see if it was wet under it and it was. He/she had also popped in it and was laying on it. I cleaned him up and put down a layer of Timothy hay for him/her to lay on under the hide.

He/she eats fine each day. Growing some bird seed grasses in the enclosure as well (thanks for the hint LLL). Also poops regularly during soaks and on his own.

Here are some pictures of the set up. Any pointers on keeping humidity levels up without soaking the ground would be great. his/her name is Taco. Thanks. Jeff and Isabella.

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Also, is ground turkey meat ok for protein?

 

[immayo]

Very cute little one! Everything looks good to me at the moment

 

[Bryan]

How high is the humidity when you don't run the fogger? Perhaps you could run it for a day and then leave it off for a few days so that you cut down your chances of shell rot? Is the air in your home dry or humid? I'd assume that drier air would harbor less fungus/mold/etc.

 

[redsn8k]

It drops to zero when I turn it off. I have not put it on a timer/scheduler yet. We live in San Diego so it is relatively dry.

 

[Bryan]

It drops to zero when I turn it off. I have not put it on a timer/scheduler yet. We live in San Diego so it is relatively dry.

Wow! All the way to zero? Maybe keeping a water dish under the basking area would help? Sphagnum moss holds moisture quite well as well.

 

[redsn8k]

Here are some better pics

 

[redsn8k]

I was trying sphagnum moss but He/She kept eating it. I was conserned that it would cause a blockage. I will see if I can move the water dish up to the top area where it is closer to the heating element. I was considering a small under tank heater but with a plastic bin not sure about that idea. I had read somewhere that a person put one in between two ceramic tiles and then put a towel in between the tile and the bin. Thoughts? That would at least help make the ground water evaporate into the air above and hot air rises... Does the bottom shell pic above look normal? I get concerned with the dark areas. Also, I believe Taco is a male based on the anal scute shapes?

 

[Bryan]

Even when an animal is from the rain forest it likely won't have 90%+ humidity at all times. A friend of mine had a beautiful Amazon Basin Yellowfoot that he grew up to 50+ lbs. and she was outside in an area that had and average humidity I'd guess of 50-60%. But she also had an area to go into water and it was heavily planted as well so she could have some humid hides. I also know of someone that had adult Yellowfoots and they were outside animals as well albeit somewhere where the humidity was about 10-20% higher than at my other friends place. My friends Amazon Basin YF he gathered ate a rat that had been poisoned and he lost her a few years back Her shell was very smooth and she was a real beauty. The moral of the story IMO is that maybe you can cut the humidity down a bit as long as you have a nice humid hide. That said I've never kept juvenile YF's so I'm just guessing based on what their habitat would be like in the wild. If you can put a water dish under the heating element and that can somehow take you to 50-60% humidity and then you run the mister less that might work out well for you IMO.

 

[redsn8k]

Thanks for your input. I will try that and see how it works out.

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Sorry to hear about your friends YF. That really stinks.

 

[redsn8k]

Also one other question I have is if I should have a heat lamp over the hide? I read on the Redfoot Forum that Terry does not provide a basking spot because they are rainforest dwellers and that he heats the hide to 80-85 and uses plain CF plant aquarium lights to light the other side of the enclosure?

 

[Bryan]

Also one other question I have is if I should have a heat lamp over the hide? I read on the Redfoot Forum that Terry does not provide a basking spot because they are rainforest dwellers and that he heats the hide to 80-85 and uses plain CF plant aquarium lights to light the other side of the enclosure?

Do you have a grassy spot outside with some shade that you could fence in for him to spend some time outside to get natural sunlight? Naturally it would have to be animal proof (cats/dogs/rats/birds/etc.). They won't bask all day in the sun naturally but by doing that you'd give him a chance to dry out a bit and bask as much as he wants. Usually my animals like to bask in the morning sun before it gets too hot. I also don't see how somewhere in the rain forest would maintain those temps 24/7/365 so as long as the enclosure is 70+ degrees at night and warmer in the day I think that you'd be fine.

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Thanks for your input. I will try that and see how it works out.

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Sorry to hear about your friends YF. That really stinks.

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No worries, I hope that things work out well for you and your tort. And yeah that really was sad, she was a magnificent animal.

 

[AnnV]

That is such a gorgeous tort! No advice from me, but I just wanted to say that. The yellow foots are really growing on me.

Ann from CT

 

[Baoh]

Bryan, can you rustle up some pics of the now deceased yellow foot?

 

[Bryan]

Bryan, can you rustle up some pics of the now deceased yellow foot?

I don't have any and I don't think that my friend was the picture taking type unfortunately. I'd still like to snap some pics of his Brazilians that he got in the 80's which are quite large, probably not Darth Maul (cdmay's female) large, but big enough in their own rite. I only saw her a couple of times, she was something to behold. I'm not a really big fan of regular yellowfoots, but I'd consider raising Amazon Basin YF's down the road. I'll ask him if he has any pics of her when I talk to him again.

 

[redsn8k]

I have a guinea pig cage that I could clean up to let him outside in once a week? It is a plastic tub with a metal frame caged top.

Thank you all for your help and nice comments. We are very happy with him.

Is there any way to tell if this is an amazon basin? I think my wife would kill me if it gets bigger than a normal yellow foot.

 

[Baoh]

Most have a look to them. Not all, but most.

You have a typical animal.

Your wife really would probably not care and I would not have to know her to think that. Since the growth does not happen overnight, one becomes accustomed to whatever the current size is. Numerical increases usually present a bigger issue that partners may raise complaint over than individual tortoise sizes. Usually, anyway.

 

[mikeh]

He looks great, has nice reversed pyramiding going on, and that's good. Means he was/is getting good humidity/moisture. Keep that humidity up, but especially the hide and make sure he sleeps in it. Moist substrate is ok but not wet. Yellow/red foots are susceptible to shell rot. His plastron should be able to dry out during the day. Hay will mold fast. If you are using wooded hide that will mold on the inside too. Keep checking it. Bark is no good. Coconut coir holds moisture but its messy, Coconut husk chips are good, no mess, no insect. Cypress mulch, or dirt are other options. All of the these will help with humidity.

sent from mobile device using TFO app

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Even when an animal is from the rain forest it likely won't have 90%+ humidity at all times. A friend of mine had a beautiful Amazon Basin Yellowfoot that he grew up to 50+ lbs. and she was outside in an area that had and average humidity I'd guess of 50-60%. But she also had an area to go into water and it was heavily planted as well so she could have some humid hides. I also know of someone that had adult Yellowfoots and they were outside animals as well albeit somewhere where the humidity was about 10-20% higher than at my other friends place. My friends Amazon Basin YF he gathered ate a rat that had been poisoned and he lost her a few years back Her shell was very smooth and she was a real beauty. The moral of the story IMO is that maybe you can cut the humidity down a bit as long as you have a nice humid hide. That said I've never kept juvenile YF's so I'm just guessing based on what their habitat would be like in the wild. If you can put a water dish under the heating element and that can somehow take you to 50-60% humidity and then you run the mister less that might work out well for you IMO.

Rainforest floor rarely fall below 90-95% humidity. At night its most likely always 100%. Weather forecasts measure humidity much higher then 1" of the ground where hatchlings reside.
If your friends tort had 50-60% humidity (assuming this was during the day), then we can safely say night time humidity was on average 85-95%.

sent from mobile device using TFO app

 

[redsn8k]

Thank you all for your input. I moved the water dish tonight. I will see what it does to the humidity level.

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I will also watch the grass and log for mold. Good point.

 

[Bryan]

He looks great, has nice reversed pyramiding going on, and that's good. Means he was/is getting good humidity/moisture. Keep that humidity up, but especially the hide and make sure he sleeps in it. Moist substrate is ok but not wet. Yellow/red foots are susceptible to shell rot. His plastron should be able to dry out during the day. Hay will mold fast. If you are using wooded hide that will mold on the inside too. Keep checking it. Bark is no good. Coconut coir holds moisture but its messy, Coconut husk chips are good, no mess, no insect. Cypress mulch, or dirt are other options. All of the these will help with humidity.

sent from mobile device using TFO app

---

Even when an animal is from the rain forest it likely won't have 90%+ humidity at all times. A friend of mine had a beautiful Amazon Basin Yellowfoot that he grew up to 50+ lbs. and she was outside in an area that had and average humidity I'd guess of 50-60%. But she also had an area to go into water and it was heavily planted as well so she could have some humid hides. I also know of someone that had adult Yellowfoots and they were outside animals as well albeit somewhere where the humidity was about 10-20% higher than at my other friends place. My friends Amazon Basin YF he gathered ate a rat that had been poisoned and he lost her a few years back Her shell was very smooth and she was a real beauty. The moral of the story IMO is that maybe you can cut the humidity down a bit as long as you have a nice humid hide. That said I've never kept juvenile YF's so I'm just guessing based on what their habitat would be like in the wild. If you can put a water dish under the heating element and that can somehow take you to 50-60% humidity and then you run the mister less that might work out well for you IMO.

Rainforest floor rarely fall below 90-95% humidity. At night its most likely always 100%. Weather forecasts measure humidity much higher then 1" of the ground where hatchlings reside.
If your friends tort had 50-60% humidity (assuming this was during the day), then we can safely say night time humidity was on average 85-95%.

sent from mobile device using TFO app

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He kept the place moister than the environment around him so that would be an accurate assessment IMO. I would suppose the humidity in the rainforest would depend on the type of canopy and the time of year as well, I couldn't see it being a consistent 90-95% even on the ground unless you're talking a place that gets 250"+ of rain on average. I can't speak to the conditions in their native range, but I would be surprised if this were the case throughout their range.

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I have a guinea pig cage that I could clean up to let him outside in once a week? It is a plastic tub with a metal frame caged top.

Thank you all for your help and nice comments. We are very happy with him.

Is there any way to tell if this is an amazon basin? I think my wife would kill me if it gets bigger than a normal yellow foot.

I'd even try to get him outside more often than that if possible. Give him a water dish to soak in in the cage if he so desires, you are in a place where you can give him natural sunlight 365 days a year if you wanted to, you may as well take advantage of it IMO. Maybe 2-3 days a week?

 

[redsn8k]

Sure in the afternoons when my daughter gets home from school. As for grass area, our landlord has a Gardner fertilize the grass so that would not be good. When he is bigger I will build an outdoor enclosure and properly plant it.