Help! Is this normal behaviour for a 7month old red foot?! :(

[Ichabod]

Hello!

Im worried about my red foot tortoise. Herman has been acting lazy and always in its hide. I follow the feeding guidelines of redfoots.com and everything. My temp is at 80-85 and I try to keep it humid as possible (ranging from 78-85%). All my tortoise does is hide either in its hide or under the substrate (long fibered spag moss). Herman sometimes wont even touch his food.

He also wont poop without me bathing him. Ill take him outside to roam around in the backyard or front yard but Herman just tries to hide. I keep its tank very moist and I bath him once a day so Herman doesnt dehydrate.

I have a 20gallon tank that has a hide, pothos plants and a water dish that is always filled with water.

Is there something wrong with my little guy or am I just a worry wart?!

 

[Seiryu]

Hello!

Im worried about my red foot tortoise. Herman has been acting lazy and always in its hide. I follow the feeding guidelines of redfoots.com and everything. My temp is at 80-85 and I try to keep it humid as possible (ranging from 78-85%). All my tortoise does is hide either in its hide or under the substrate (long fibered spag moss). Herman sometimes wont even touch his food.

He also wont poop without me bathing him. Ill take him outside to roam around in the backyard or front yard but Herman just tries to hide. I keep its tank very moist and I bath him once a day so Herman doesnt dehydrate.

I have a 20gallon tank that has a hide, pothos plants and a water dish that is always filled with water.

Is there something wrong with my little guy or am I just a worry wart?!

Well for starters, Pothos are poisonous (everything on them). So if he happened to nibble on it (which it seems young tortoise nibble on everything), he could be sick. I would take it out and even take out the substrate and put fresh stuff in.

I would say also that a 20g is VERY very small even for a 7 m/o.

Also maybe beef the temps to 83 as low, 88 as high? I think 80 might be too low.

 

[Ichabod]

I got a veglist from this forum about safe plants/veg/plants and pothos is listed on them. What is the normal behaviour of a redfoot?

The temps are usually 85 but only drop a bit when I spray it with water to make it humid.

Herman is 3inch long. The guy who sold me the redfoot didnt know his age, he told me 7months, but Im not sure if thats how old Herman is or not.

 

[Seiryu]

I got a veglist from this forum about safe plants/veg/plants and pothos is listed on them. What is the normal behaviour of a redfoot?

The temps are usually 85 but only drop a bit when I spray it with water to make it humid.

Herman is 3inch long. The guy who sold me the redfoot didnt know his age, he told me 7months, but Im not sure if thats how old Herman is or not.

I am not sure where you got your safe plants list from but Pothos are toxic and should be removed. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Epiprau.htm

I suggest reading up at redfoots.com and turtletary.com

The guy who owns those websites is actually a member here as well. Hopefully he will shed some light for you.

Both sites also list a great feeding schedule, things to eat, temperatures, humidity and how to build a tort table for a redfoot.

 

[Ichabod]

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-7510.html

That is where I seen the list. If you look at the picture she posted after, its an organized list of safe plants, fruits, and veggies..But anyways, the plants are out. What do you recommend me doing? Do you think he is sick or is that normal behaviour?

 

[Neohippy]

3" makes Herman there bigger than both of mine, and my little Woodrow will be 1 year old next month. I'd say Herman is more around 1 yearish.
Sounds like humidity is fine, temp could use maybe a small boost, and a larger terrarium so he can have a warm side and cool side at all times.
How are you heating the enclosure? Top heat or bottom heat, and are you using a heat lamp or heat emitter?

Bright lights make them wanna hide.

But it's always good to remember that the younger critters of this species are just tasty morsels in a hard to open container for anything larger than them in the wild, so they like to hide... alot. You could do everything right, and he may very well still keep on hiding. My little Cordelia is a hider, Woodrow... well, he's kinda... special, or simple if you will. He doesn't hide much.

 

[Ichabod]

I am using a heat emitter and a fluorescent uvb bulb. Heat comes from the top.

Herman eats when I take him out for a bath.. But its like Herman waits for me to feed and bath him. So Im not sure if Im spoiling Herman too much or what

 

[Neohippy]

Ditch the floure... I hate spelling that word. Ditch the UVB. No need. They get all that jazz from eating other critters. Good o'l leafy greens, fruits, and crawlies.
They don't dig the bright lights since they would be covered by trees in their natural habitat, and sittin' pretty in the cool (85-90F) shade. Pothos would not offer enough cover unless there were lots, and he'd still need room to romp around in them.
They will sometimes burrow to avoid heat, thus bottom heat sucks. I say sometimes, 'cause other times, it's just great to burrow for burrowing sake.

In way less words: Drop the UVB, and I bet just that will perk him up.

 

[Ichabod]

So how will my RF get UVB rays? I try to take him out on the high temps days but that wont be enough.

Dont redfoots need light and UVBs though? My heat emitter doesnt emit light, only heat.

 

[Neohippy]

Bingo. That can get what they need from infrequent outings, or even some indoor lighting getting into their terrarium. Only have a light if it serves a purpose other than the tort. In mine I've got a mini jungle started, so that's why I have a light. Cordelia likes to burrow under a fern on the cold side alot.
Protein and calcium are key. Calcium is taken in from the goodies they get from eating animal proteins. Follow that dude's diet plan thingy, and the rest is cake!... Or a tedious balance of humidity and temp... But Cake!

 

[terryo]

http://www.africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm
I have been using this list for a while now, and have had no trouble with pothos and I have many in my torts indoor enclosure. He had never tried to eat them, as he is on a feeding schedule and only is interested in his food. In the indoor enclosure, I have a long tube 10.0 UVB tube light on one side (he is in a 75 gal planted vivarium) When he was smaller, and was in a smaller enclosure, I had a 5.0. On the other side is the heat emitter. The long tube light is the only light source he has. When my Cherry Head was small, he stayed in his hide most of the day. Only coming out in the AM to eat and then again in the late afternoon to finish his food. Those were the only two times he came out of his hide. Now that he is older and outside he comes out much more. If you feed him the same time each day, he should know his schedule and come out on his own. If he doesn't, I would take him out and put him in front of his food. While he is eating, mist him until he is wet. This has worked for me for two years now.....not saying it is right...just works for me.

 

[Madkins007]

Pothos: This is a good example of the problem with plant lists. Pothos is considered dangerous to cats and dogs by vets. The idea seems to be 'better safe than sorry' and a lot of plants that are dangerous for humans, dogs, cats, or livestock get considered unsafe by default.

Herman: Young torts are shy. They are even more shy if the lights are bright, temps are low or high, they are being stressed (noises, being stared at, crowding, etc.)

The hiding and not pooping part does not worry me much, but the not eating part does a little. Not eating may be due to many things- cool temps, overfed, stress. How much are you feeding him? At a year, a meal would be about the size of a teaspoon or so as a rough guide.

20g tank is not my favorite choice, but I don't think that is a big issue right now, although you might try adding a sight barrier along the lower several inches so the tort cannot see out. That often helps them feel more secure.

UVB: It is not the UVB they need, it is the vitamin D3. UVB can make D3 in the skin, but they only need a fairly short exposure. It is easy to 'blast' little torts with UVB which can irritate their eyes, etc. You can help this by showing the light through some foliage, etc. (I used a piece of foil that had a biggish hole, surrounded by some little holes to make a dappled pattern). Terry's diet plan offers the D3 in the cat food- D3 does occur in some meats, vitamins, and supplemented foods, and seems to work OK in tortoises this way as well.

Oddly, you cannot overdose on D3 if it is absorbed from UVB, but you CAN overdose it if you offer it as a supplement. Even though you cannot OD on D3 from UVB (hey, it rhymed!), too much UVB can cause other skin and eye issues, so we need to offer some shade, and young torts need a LOT of shelter to feel safe and escape the sun.

 

[terryo]

I agree with the filtered UVB...I have a screen on top, which filters a lot of the light, and loads of plants for hiding also. You are making me nervous about those pothos though....if I ever see him taking a nip out of them, I will definitely remove them. Thank you.

 

[Millerlite]

I would not worry Terry, tortosises have millions of years of evolution on us, even if he took a test bite out of it, he will know its bad and wont touch it. Plus if you keep them fed they wont even have the urge to eat it, I have snapdragons in my enclosure and those are poisonous.. Mine took a bite and never touched it after that.

 

[treshell]

I do not find Araceae on the list Ichabod sighted? I love the images on terryo's post above. She shows her gorgeous Redfoots under pothos. Follow terryo's site info, I find pothos listed in the primrose family. Pothos - Epipremnum. When our 6 year old Redfoot is out for his walk, reminding us that sage brush is not a rain forest, he bites on two members of the primrose family. He does not like the 2 members of the Hibiscus family growing outside or the hothouse type inside. Time to find the Hitchcock from college days. See if I can still follow a key? Don't remember who gave us this list but its my new plant bible. http://www.africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm
treshell

 

[Ichabod]

Thank you very much Terryo!!!! You guys helped me out alot. Herman is doing better today. He went to his food by himself today

Do you think Im stressing him out too much by taking him out and bathing him every day?

 

[Neohippy]

Just mist him down daily and it'll be fine. As long as he has a shallow dish to soak in when he needs it, no need to remove him to bathe him. I'd figure you should only need to remove him to socialize and bask in his awesome tortoisness.

 

[Madkins007]

When my guys are outside, we use a sunken large plant saucer for the water, with a nice pile of rocks to help the small guys in and out on one side.

Every day I'll put a a tort or two in there. Sometimes, they soak and drink, other times they walk out as quickly as they can. What is fun to watch is the times they clamber out, then turn around and take a deep drink or nose something in the water.

I wish I could do this when they were indoors more easily- by giving them a choice, I think it puts less stress on them.