So I am new to the world of tortoises. I have several friends who own russians but due to our location (central South Carolina) and interest in a personable tortoise, we brought home a redfoot female yearling (almost, she's 22 months according to the breeder). Her name is Rosie and so far she's doing well with eating, activity, etc. She weighs 5.75 oz and I hope this is where she should be weight-wise! We've had her for 2 days.
Currently she lives in a underbed storage tub with organic sphagnum moss substrate. She has some fake plants, a hiding hut away from the heat/light, a 5.0 UVB lamp, a heat lamp over the soaking dish (kept around 92 at her level), a water bowl, a cuttlebone, and a feeding plate to keep debris out of her food. Eventually she will have an outdoor pen for the spring-fall here.
I've been feeding her a mix of romaine, turnip greens, and escarole which she eats heartily. I sprinkle phosphate free calcium powder but could only find the kind with D3. Her UVB light is kept on for about 10 hours a day and I've been keeping the heat lamp on constantly since the far end of her pen is about 75 degrees, around 80 in the middle, and 90-93 under the heat lamp. I mist the whole tub 3x a day to keep it around 60-80% humidity (more so by the basking dish and heat lamp). She likes lying in the ceramic wallowing dish and also hiding out in her hut in the far end for naps. She is pretty active and I put the lid on half the container and a lid from a 10 gallon across the other cornered end to deter climbing out which I haven't noticed any of so far.
I'll post pictures when I can of her set-up. So far she's pretty curious and doesn't mind an occasional head-scratch.
They said she was handled a lot and has always eaten well.
And oh yeah, I joined because I want to make sure I'm caring for her right and get good ideas on safe plants/set-ups for an outdoor pen! Sorry for the novel! But here's a picture of her to make up for all the boring reading
Currently she lives in a underbed storage tub with organic sphagnum moss substrate. She has some fake plants, a hiding hut away from the heat/light, a 5.0 UVB lamp, a heat lamp over the soaking dish (kept around 92 at her level), a water bowl, a cuttlebone, and a feeding plate to keep debris out of her food. Eventually she will have an outdoor pen for the spring-fall here.
I've been feeding her a mix of romaine, turnip greens, and escarole which she eats heartily. I sprinkle phosphate free calcium powder but could only find the kind with D3. Her UVB light is kept on for about 10 hours a day and I've been keeping the heat lamp on constantly since the far end of her pen is about 75 degrees, around 80 in the middle, and 90-93 under the heat lamp. I mist the whole tub 3x a day to keep it around 60-80% humidity (more so by the basking dish and heat lamp). She likes lying in the ceramic wallowing dish and also hiding out in her hut in the far end for naps. She is pretty active and I put the lid on half the container and a lid from a 10 gallon across the other cornered end to deter climbing out which I haven't noticed any of so far.
I'll post pictures when I can of her set-up. So far she's pretty curious and doesn't mind an occasional head-scratch.
They said she was handled a lot and has always eaten well. And oh yeah, I joined because I want to make sure I'm caring for her right and get good ideas on safe plants/set-ups for an outdoor pen! Sorry for the novel! But here's a picture of her to make up for all the boring reading
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