just a little worried

[Olive's Mom]

Hi everyone! I am a little concerned right now about my red-foot and was hoping that someone could offer their advise/reassurance.
Olive will be with me for one week tomorrow. As far as I was told, she is a year and a half old. I have her in a 40 gallon glass terrarium. I have noticed that she is just not very active. She tends to burrow herself down in the corner under the basking lamp, half hidden under a plant, and is content to stay there all day if I let her. She is a good eater and will come out for food but will go right back to her spot when she is done. Is this typical behavior for a red foot or is it possible she is just simply still adjusting to her new home? Another thing that is concerning me is that she only is pooping in her soaks or when I hold her....and it is runny and stinks!! Could that be stress as well?
Also, temps and humidity have proven to be a real issue for me to regulate. I changed the substrate to cypress mulch earlier today and the humidity is worse....do I have to really drench it to have the level stay in the 70-90% range? I added a plexiglass cover over half of the top as well as added a live plant and it is still not any better. The temp in her enclosure won't stay up either, regularly wants to drop to the 70's. I am always misting to get the humidity up and trying things to get temps to stay up....I'm so afraid the fluctuations and too low temps will make her sick.
I'm so sorry for all of the questions but everyone has been so knowledgeable and helpful. I have to go back to work on Monday and I am so worried.....please help.

 

[Madkins007]

Hiding a lot: Very typical. Unless they are eating, looking for food, trying to warm up, or checking things out, they are pretty sedentary- but they also have an incredible slow metabolism, so it is OK for them.

Runny/stinky poop: This is probably due to what she is eating. What is her typical diet?

Heat/humidity: Ah, the dreaded Catch 22. Misting drops the heat. The open top just lets the warm, mist air rise up and out.

You see, covering it 50% may as well be no cover at all. Think of the tank as being full of marble-sized helium balloons, and your goal is to keep as many of the balloons as close to the substrate as you can. You really need to cover most of the tank to trap the balloons up high so they sort of 'back fill' and start to touch the surface.

Of course, we also need SOME airflow to prevent stagnation, mildew, etc.

Try making a tent of foil or heavy clear plastic over the whole top, with the light and heat safely located inside and see if that helps. You can make it prettier later.

 

[Olive's Mom]

this was a big help and reassuring too...thank you!! The helium analogy was great!! I will cover the rest of the area tomorrow. The mildew and stagnation was a concern of mine, maybe a few airholes to help?? In regards to the temperature, how low can it go in there for her to be safe and comfortable? A guy I spoke with at a local petstore said 75 was fine but I read 80-85!!
Her diet so far has consisted of dandelions and clover from outdoors, romaine lettuce a handful of times, red pepper and a small amount of mango. I also added a plant of collards today to help with humidity and she was loving that, she pigged out for a bit!!

 

[ascott]

DITTO

 

[Maixx]

You could try switching out the plexi with a wet towel, just leave a good air gap. I do this with my snakes to get the humidity up to 80%+ when they are in shed. I find I have to change the towel every 3-4 days and re-wet it daily.
One thing if you use drier sheets or other laundry additives, its a good idea to hand wash the towels first to get as much of that out as possible.

 

[fhintz]

In my experience (just a single Redfoot I've had about two and a half years), a tortoise does hide a lot no matter what, probably more than one might expect. That said, I would say that from what I've seen, in terms of activity, temperature really impacts that. Mine is most active with temps in the mid 80s (say 84-87 or so). Keeping the temperature right and balancing it with humidity was certainly a challenge for me, too. I ended up going with a small humidifier, which maybe isn't the best solution (since it's not "natural"), but it seems to work.

For diet, your choices sound okay; I would adjust a bit to make leafy greens the staple and mix in the other stuff here and there; I usually feed Endive, or Escarole, and occasionally the bagged Spring Mix from the store.

Ultimately, you'll figure out what works best for you after all the advice you get on here. I'm definitely not the most knowledgeable person here. There's definitely an adjustment period for both the tortoise and yourself. It took me a good week or two to get things even remotely right.

Good luck and welcome!

Frank

 

[Olive's Mom]

thanks everyone!!! This is certainly a work in progress to get everything just right!!