My redfoot is not basking

[reginatn]

Hi, I'm from California and a new member of the forum. I have had my first redfoot tortoise for around 3 weeks, and I'm worried because he is not basking at all. His shell length is 2.5'. The enclosure is 18" x 36", with a mercury vapor bulb on one side, his hide out and a ceramic heat lamp on the other side. Temperature inside his hide out ranges from 78 to 82. Room temp is around 70 day time and 60 night time. I also spray water everyday to keep it moist. For 3 weeks, he stayed sleeping inside his hide out all day only to come out to eat and poop. He looks fine so far, eats a lot and poops 1-3 times a day, except the fact that he wont bask at all. Couple days I brought him out for a natural light and he kept moving around the enclosure and eventually end up hiding in a shade. I also tried a lower wattage mercury vapor bulb (75W) since the first one was too bright, the situation doesn't get better. The only source of Calcium he has right now is calcium powder I sprinkle on his food once a week. I've talked to the shop and they suggested me to get one more redfoot so he wont be lonely, and that may change his behavior. Im worried about my little guy now. Does anyone have any advice, I really appreciate that. Btw, do you know how old he is for that shell length?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

If the ambient temperature is correct. A Redfoot may not EVER bask.
Mine live outdoors and I've never seen it.
They like it a little cooler than some species. Right above 80 is ideal.
Anything much hotter and they need to be able to get away and into a cooler spot so that they do not overheat.
Mine retreat into the bushes, their houses or into a pond during the hottest parts of the day.
They also prefer shade to bright lighting.

 

[reginatn]

If the ambient temperature is correct. A Redfoot may not EVER bask.
Mine live outdoors and I've never seen it.
They like it a little cooler than some species. Right above 80 is ideal.
Anything much hotter and they need to be able to get away and into a cooler spot so that they do not overheat.
Mine retreat into the bushes, their houses or into a pond during the hottest parts of the day.
They also prefer shade to bright lighting.

May I ask how long you have it, and any sign of MBD in your redfoot? do you give it any other source of Vitamin D and Calcium except its daily diet? Thank you

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Some Redfoots bask others don't. One of mine does the other doesn't. Babies are going to spend 95% of their time hiding.

 

[jsheffield]

Darwin basks daily...

J

 

[ZEROPILOT]

May I ask how long you have it, and any sign of MBD in your redfoot? do you give it any other source of Vitamin D and Calcium except its daily diet? Thank you

As mine live outdoors, the sun and diet provide my nutrition and UV requirement.
A few hours of supervised actual outdoors sunshine a week can be your only UVB source.
I've kept Redfoot outdoors for around 30 years.
I do not provide any supplements other than cuttlebone tossed around the pen(s).
I feed a very varied diet.
I also don't soak mine because Redfoot with access to water will soak themselves.
Also, the humidity and heat in my area are both high.
Today it's 82 degrees and 88% humidity. I don't need to do a thing except feed them and turn on the overhead rain system for a few minutes.
Easy. And I take it for granted.
Your situation is probably not the same.
Since my ambient temperature stays warm, my tortoises have no need to seek out a warm area to bask.
So, weather they bask or not depends on weather they need to get warm or not I suppose.
What part of California are you in and what is the weather like?
Cold?
Rainy?
Warm?
Dry?
Location determines how simple keeping different tortoises outdoors will be.
For Redfoot, warm and rainy is what they'd like replicated.

 

[reginatn]

To ZEROPLOT:
Looks like south FL is a near-perfect habitat for RF. I live up north of California where is dry and cold. It's also raining these days due to storm. Temps during winter months can get low to 40s. Summer temps range form 70s to 90. Indoor enclosure is the only option I have now. Anyway, that makes more sense to me that RFs dont bask a lot since they live in south America where they get little of sunlight through rainforest canopies. I guess it depends on each individual. I just leave it an option to bask if it needs to. I don't feed my RF cuttlefish bones but sprinkle some calcium powder on its food weekly, is that fine?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

To ZEROPLOT:
Looks like south FL is a near-perfect habitat for RF. I live up north of California where is dry and cold. It's also raining these days due to storm. Temps during winter months can get low to 40s. Summer temps range form 70s to 90. Indoor enclosure is the only option I have now. Anyway, that makes more sense to me that RFs dont bask a lot since they live in south America where they get little of sunlight through rainforest canopies. I guess it depends on each individual. I just leave it an option to bask if it needs to. I don't feed my RF cuttlefish bones but sprinkle some calcium powder on its food weekly, is that fine?

An adult doesn't need that powder if its fed well enough.
I leave cuttlebone for my group because they're all females and I get a few eggs out there from time to time and the cuttlebone helps them replace lost calcium.
Its probably totally unnecessary.

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome to the site!
Just a few observations/suggestions.
How do you maintain the humidity level in that open enclosure?
It's recommended to have high humidity along with warm temperatures for redfoots.
He does NOT need a companion like the shop told you. It will create problems and your having to build another enclosure and separate them very soon, they should not be kept in pairs.
The shop wants to make money and sell you another one!

 

[TammyJ]

Oh, one more thing...as to how old he is for that shell length.
He is an absolutely enormous redfoot, but I would not venture to guess his age.
Just joking, obviously you meant a different size when you wrote shell length 2.5' (feet!).

 

[TammyJ]

My redfoots live outdoors too, as I am in Jamaica in the Caribbean and our weather is very similar to that of South Florida.

 

[Tortalini]

I was just looking at the last picture with your red foot in it, and it looks like one or two of his scutes on the back of his shell are cut in half. It looks like weird shell formation, but it could just be the picture. Does anyone else see it?

 

[Toddrickfl1]

I was just looking at the last picture with your red foot in it, and it looks like one or two of his scutes on the back of his shell are cut in half. It looks like weird shell formation, but it could just be the picture. Does anyone else see it?

Those are extra scutes, it's fairly common.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't think anyone has addressed your lighting. I like to use a softer light for RF tortoises, so I use the tube type fluorescent UVB bulb. About your MVB - you shorten the life of it when you mount it in a clamp fixture as they need to be hung straight down, not at an angle. Also we've read horror stories on the Forum about the clamp fixture failing and the light falling down into the substrate. What's mounted in that other fixture? It seems to be mounted too low.

In my opinion, your baby isn't warm enough, there's not enough humidity and the light is too bright.

 

[reginatn]

Oh, one more thing...as to how old he is for that shell length.
He is an absolutely enormous redfoot, but I would not venture to guess his age.
Just joking, obviously you meant a different size when you wrote shell length 2.5' (feet!).

Lol! thanks for pointing that out. His shell length was 2.5", I guess he is around 6 months old. Now his shell length is 2-3/4" after a month. I spray water on substrate 1-2 times daily,

 

[reginatn]

I was just looking at the last picture with your red foot in it, and it looks like one or two of his scutes on the back of his shell are cut in half. It looks like weird shell formation, but it could just be the picture. Does anyone else see it?

Hi Tortalini, yes he has an unusual shell formation with triangle like shape scutes and that just makes me love him more!

 

[TammyJ]

His shell pattern is cute and unusual. But you need to address the issues with the temperatures and humidity in particular. I think I already see early pyramiding.

 

[reginatn]

I don't think anyone has addressed your lighting. I like to use a softer light for RF tortoises, so I use the tube type fluorescent UVB bulb. About your MVB - you shorten the life of it when you mount it in a clamp fixture as they need to be hung straight down, not at an angle. Also we've read horror stories on the Forum about the clamp fixture failing and the light falling down into the substrate. What's mounted in that other fixture? It seems to be mounted too low.

In my opinion, your baby isn't warm enough, there's not enough humidity and the light is too bright.

I mounted the clamp fixture straight down shortly after that, 13 inches away, and nothing changed. On a couple of sunny days I tried to bring him out to natural light and he just got into some shade. I think it depends on each individual, some enjoy basking and others don't, like Toddrickfl1 mentioned above. Anyway, looks like he is thriving well and I am less concerned about him basking now. I still have the UVB light on several hours a day in case he needs. Thank you

 

[reginatn]

His shell pattern is cute and unusual. But you need to address the issues with the temperatures and humidity in particular. I think I already see early pyramiding.

Do you have any advice of how to maintain the humidity in the open enclosure like mine? Thank you

 

[Tortalini]

I have your same problem because I also have a open tank enclosure. There isn't many ways to boost the humidity if you have an open top tank. One thing is to have a substrate in the tank that is very absorbent, and lots of it. You could install a misting meconium, but sorta pricy and the water soaks through the wood bottom. I think the best option would be to install a fogger. Works great for me, and it doesn't make puddles in your tank. I suggest the zoo med repti fogger or the betazooer reptile humidifier off of amazon.

https://www.chewy.com/zoo-med-repti...MIj8HryLHb5gIVB9bACh2FvQv2EAQYBSABEgJ1dfD_BwE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J4PD3BZ/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20