Housing Redfoot Question

[Zergy]

I have been wanting a Red Foot for a long time now (over a year). I have researched and read as much I can about them, but still questions come to mind. I am hoping someone can help.

First off I live in central western Florida. Summers are humid and hot, with summer temperatures reaching the 90s in the day and low 80s to upper 70s at night. Right now the temperatures are between 70s to low 80s in the day and drop to 50s-70s, depending. I keep my house about 80F during the summer and let it fall to low 70s in the winter. Humidity is obviously lower inside the house than outdoors. Winters are a bit dry right now with the summers being sticky humid with the rain.

I have a small back yard with no fence or border between neighbors on side and back. My house doesn't have a back yard door either, so I have to walk out the front door and walk around the side of the house to get to the backyard. The backyard faces northwest, so it gets plenty of afternoon sun, which in the summer means HOT!!!!

The front of the house has a good sized patio with roof and covered on sides with screen. (Keeps those pesky squirrels out.) The patio door leading to the driveway is locked and the only living creature inside the patio are bugs and native tiny lizards (if you don't count plants). (Oh and the occasional black racer snakes.) It is easy to access the patio from the living room sliding door. This patio faces the southeast and gets morning and early day sun, but not much of it. There is a large 'squirrel' tree over the house which blocks out a good amount of sun on the patio, but as I said, some light does get through depending on the angle of the sun relative to the location of the tree. Sunlight is splotchy and random on the patio at best.

I could put a hatchling to yearling enclosure in the house, but the concern is humidity. I am afraid of getting mold. Plus there are 2 cats and 2 dogs in the house, although the enclosure for the tortoise would be placed in a 'safe' area.

I don't have a red foot yet. I want to be prepared for its arrival instead of freaking out last minute about what I need for it. I plan to purchase a hatchling (under 6 months old) as soon as I find the perfect one, but that probably won't be for at least a month or more. (Most likely more.) By then the temperature should be going up.

Will my future hatchling need an indoor and outdoor enclosures? Or can a hatchling do fine outdoors on my 'intermittent sun but mostly shade during the hot summer' patio? Or do I need to put him in direct sun which only the backyard I have can give it, without roasting/baking it? Do I need to have multiple enclosures for the hatchling? I need to plan ahead for this... I planned on making its primary enclosure (outside patio I hope) between 1.5-2 feet wide by 3-4 feet long. If I need more than one enclosure, do they all have to be in that size range?

I also have questions about substrate. Not so much what type, but cleaning routine. How often do you have to clean the entire substrate out? Can creating a natural planted enclosure reduce this need and if yes, how does one achieve this? Or does the enclosure need to be cleaned out regularly anyways?

Otherwise, I have thought on lighting, heating, diet, etc. I think I understand those requirements.

 

[pdrobber]

welcome. I keep a 5" redfoot in a 55 gallon long tank, covered with a screen top with pieces of wood on top that basically cover the whole thing...It's not airtight, so some heat/moisture escapes as air flows but moisture and heat stay inside. The sides of the glass accumulate condensation and when I take off the wood from the screen I feel the warm humid air come out. I use soil and cypress in it and pour water into the water dish (a plant pot saucer) and it overflows into the substrate which is about 5 inches deep, the bottom inch is usually always saturated so as to produce humidity. I use a ceramic heat emitter in the center and two under tank heat mats on either end. A long strip tube UVB light is at one end. I have not had problems with mold ever.

During the summer here in NY I put her outside and she lives in a kiddie pool, with soil, coir and cypress as substrate. It is covered with a top made of hardware cloth with a wooden frame. The pool is about 6' in diameter and I have an old recyclables bin upside down as a hide with a doorway hole cut out at one end. Weeds and grass seeds have blown in over the year and I can see some tiny hints of growth already.

In your situation, a well off young redfoot I believe would do well outside for the summer. you can use one of these too while your tortoise is small... http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...re-is-my-little-garden-in-a-bin#axzz1lc25KvZj

At nights for such a small tortoise and being a redfoot, I strive for temps to not go any lower than 70s maybe, you may want to have an indoor setup for those cold nights or an additional heat source for the outdoor enclosure. For a young tortoise, I think the dimensions you mentioned would be sufficient.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[Zergy]

Thanks Peter for the encouragement that I can probably do an indoor enclosure without mold. I will think on a smaller enclosure for my bedroom. If I use a plastic container I would have to suspend the ceramic heat emitter in such a way it doesn't accidentally fall or touch plastic.

Thanks Dmarcus for the welcome.

 

[ascott]

When you have a baby tortoise it is a good idea to have an indoor as well as outdoor enclosure....just for a variety of circumstances that can arise, you know? Also I would not worry so much about mold...since you live in a beautifully humid place it would mean that you would not need to add as much water as often as oh let's say ME here in the primarily dry desert...

Also...you should have your indoor enclosure set to begin with and then you will figure also the particulars of the outdoor area incentive your tortoise grows and becomes larger...as ultimately these can get to be a good size tortoise and will eventually naturally gravitate to outdoors as a more full time desire...especially since you have wonderful weather for this species of tortoise....

---

Lol...apology I am using my dumb smart phone so in the last part of my prior post the word "incentive" should have been "as".....go figure...lol

Oh yeah! Welcome to the Forum

 

[Kasper2reds]

Redfoots r great pets. I live in the Midwest so my 2 reds have an outdoor summer home and and indoor winter home. Unfortunately my torts can only live outdoors for a short 3-4 months During the hot summer / pre fall. But even durin the hot months of summer I sometimes will take them inside because at night it still can drop down to the 50s and that just makes me uneasy. So overall I'd say it's a good idea to have both just for when circumstances arise

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Zergy:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

What would you like us to call you?

 

[Zergy]

Angela - It seems like having an indoor and outdoor enclosure is best so I will plan for that. I will also purchase a gauge to see what the indoor humidity is. Today we finally got some rain so it isn't as dry. My main reason for picking the red foots is because they would do well in my weather. All the drier tortoise may be a challenge to keep outdoors with all the natural humidity.

Kasper2reds - Yup, going to have to make an indoor and outdoor enclosure.

Yvonne - Thanks for the welcome. EDIT: You can call me Zergy.

I still do have a question about whether being on a shaded patio that gets intermittent morning and early noon sun is enough sunlight for a redfoot. Please correct me if I am wrong, but don't they come from the edge of the forests, thus not much of a basking tortoise?

Also, what about cleaning their cages? For pets like cats, hamsters, birds, etc you hear all the time about the frequency of cleaning their cages... but I don't hear much in that regard for tortoise. How often do you clean an indoor enclosure and what material was the bedding? How often do you clean the outdoor enclosure and what is the substrate? How much do they poop? Are they stinky? hehe

 

[Madkins007]

The majority of red-footed tortoises live in open savanna, thorn or scrub forests, and open forests. Although some do indeed live in rainforests, those tend to live on the edge or in openings.

However, baby torts and even adult torts generally do not like to be exposed to strong sun and predators, so make sure there is a lot of shade and hides available.

Tortoise habitats should be 'tidied' daily- remove uneaten food and droppings, change the water, etc. The substrate should be changed when it 'sours'- smells, looks odd, etc. This will depend on a lot of things, but I generally find that over the long Omaha winter, I can just start with fresh stuff and change it about New Years.

They may not poop much at all for a while (and will often choose to do it in the water dish), and then it seems like they will suddenly drop a big load. The smell is not usually terribly unpleasant unless they recently ate fish or some other meats, and fades pretty quick as the dropping dries out.