My new and first Redfoot Nameless

[DanB]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10213476528890823

Hello all, as mentioned in my introduction post I'm new to Tortoises but not to reptile care. My wife is totally in love with all turtles and Tortoises, if we are driving and she sees one on the road we stop and get them out of harms way, this happens a lot here in S Florida. For Christmas I decided to get her (and myself LOL) a Redfoot which she fell in love with instantly. We are not sure what sex it is so for now we are calling him Nameless.

For now it will live indoors, we are in a condo with a small patio and not much room for his enclosure, I'll put him outside when I'm home but I'm afraid to leave hit out unattended due to the frequent heavy rain storms we get, don't want his home turning into a swimming pool. We will be moving back to the west coast of FL in a few years where we have a house with a large back yard where I plan on making a large pen for him and any others we decide to get.

Nameless lives in a large sweater box with ceder mulch covering 90% of the bottom and stones in the other 10%. He has a few spider plant babies in his area along with some rough flat stones to grind his nails down on. He has a water bowl for drinking/soaking, A food dish which is his favorite hang out and a hiding spot. I have two lights over it, one for UVA/UVB which is over the mulch and plants and another for viewing light/heat over the stones. The temps around the stones is in the low 90's and around the mulch is in the low 80's. At night I turn both off and his hiding/sleeping area is around 76. Its humid here in S Florida so keeping that in range is very easy even with it being winter and our dry season (LOL Winter in S Florida).

When it comes to feeding I decided to start off as he needed everything, so day one he got spring mix, shredded carrots and forest tortoise pellets with some vitamin powder sprinkled on it . Day two I gave him some melon, strawberries and blueberries, Day 3 he got some high protein dry cat food soaked in some water along with some mushrooms. After that I started two days of veg, two days of fruit rinse and repeat. I plan on dusting his food with the vitamin powder every two weeks and a calcium dusting on his food every other day. Every few days I plan on giving it cuttings off the safe plants we keep around the house as well as flowers I can find that are safe.

His daily routine is as follows, I turn his lights on at 6am and mist his enclosure, when I get home at 4PM I mist again and give him a bath in 80 degree water for about 20 minutes. Next I feed him and give him fresh water. He spends most of his time in his hiding spot but when out is very active exploring his area. He likes to nibble on the spider plants but has not destroyed them yet. His lights go out around 9pm and I take any food he has not eaten out at that point.

Here are some pics of the little fellow.

 

[jsheffield]

Welcome to TFO from another redfoot lover.

Jamie

 

[daniellenc]

He's adorable!! Just a small note Red foots hate light and are dumb enough to eat rocks. You can use a large piece of slate rock to feed which will handle the nails without risk of impaction and just use the cypress mulch for substrate. They also don't need calcium every other day added and can become ill from calcium toxicity. Just focus on calcium rich greens and use calcium supplements once a week. Lastly, RF's aren't going to die in night temps in the 70's but do best with stable temps in the 80's. I'd dial in your CHE or RHP to maintain these temps at night as well as temperature drops interrupt appetite and activity. Other than those nitpicking observations (sorry btw) you did awesome. I too did as you did and researched ahead, set things up prior to bringing him home, and then tweaked as advised here.

 

[DanB]

I'm trying to get his inside temps to match what his outside temps will be when he moves outside full time. Our normal lows during the summer here are in the mid 70s.

 

[TechnoCheese]

I'm trying to get his inside temps to match what his outside temps will be when he moves outside full time. Our normal lows during the summer here are in the mid 70s.

The problem is, your redfoot will be a lot older or larger when he moves outside full time, and he will be able to handle lower temps. Hatchlings cannot, so you should definitely boost your temps.

 

[DanB]

Thanks for the info, Will do.

 

[DanB]

Here are a few more pics of Nameless and his home. Can anyone tell the sex yet.

 

[Cheryl Hills]

I believe he is way too young to tell the sex.

 

[daniellenc]

Yes RF’s aren’t sexed usually until closer to three years old though some show as male a bit younger.

 

[TammyJ]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10213476528890823

Hello all, as mentioned in my introduction post I'm new to Tortoises but not to reptile care. My wife is totally in love with all turtles and Tortoises, if we are driving and she sees one on the road we stop and get them out of harms way, this happens a lot here in S Florida. For Christmas I decided to get her (and myself LOL) a Redfoot which she fell in love with instantly. We are not sure what sex it is so for now we are calling him Nameless.

For now it will live indoors, we are in a condo with a small patio and not much room for his enclosure, I'll put him outside when I'm home but I'm afraid to leave hit out unattended due to the frequent heavy rain storms we get, don't want his home turning into a swimming pool. We will be moving back to the west coast of FL in a few years where we have a house with a large back yard where I plan on making a large pen for him and any others we decide to get.

Nameless lives in a large sweater box with ceder mulch covering 90% of the bottom and stones in the other 10%. He has a few spider plant babies in his area along with some rough flat stones to grind his nails down on. He has a water bowl for drinking/soaking, A food dish which is his favorite hang out and a hiding spot. I have two lights over it, one for UVA/UVB which is over the mulch and plants and another for viewing light/heat over the stones. The temps around the stones is in the low 90's and around the mulch is in the low 80's. At night I turn both off and his hiding/sleeping area is around 76. Its humid here in S Florida so keeping that in range is very easy even with it being winter and our dry season (LOL Winter in S Florida).

When it comes to feeding I decided to start off as he needed everything, so day one he got spring mix, shredded carrots and forest tortoise pellets with some vitamin powder sprinkled on it . Day two I gave him some melon, strawberries and blueberries, Day 3 he got some high protein dry cat food soaked in some water along with some mushrooms. After that I started two days of veg, two days of fruit rinse and repeat. I plan on dusting his food with the vitamin powder every two weeks and a calcium dusting on his food every other day. Every few days I plan on giving it cuttings off the safe plants we keep around the house as well as flowers I can find that are safe.

His daily routine is as follows, I turn his lights on at 6am and mist his enclosure, when I get home at 4PM I mist again and give him a bath in 80 degree water for about 20 minutes. Next I feed him and give him fresh water. He spends most of his time in his hiding spot but when out is very active exploring his area. He likes to nibble on the spider plants but has not destroyed them yet. His lights go out around 9pm and I take any food he has not eaten out at that point.

Here are some pics of the little fellow. View attachment 259919 View attachment 259920 View attachment 259921

Hi and welcome. A beautiful little redfoot!
One thing I noticed, in your introductory post third paragraph you said "...with cedar mulch covering 90%....". I suppose you meant Cypress mulch? Cedar is toxic to reptiles.

 

[DanB]

Yes cypress.