Red foot care/Enclosure

[antoniocormier]

i made a YouTube video giving advice on red foot tortoise care and it was mainly on the enclosure but could some of you tell me how i did/ if i missed anything else important?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxBnkXNY1h0

 

[abclements]

It is really dry in there. You want the Coco Coir to be moist all the way through. The spray bottle only moistens the top. My enclosure is set up so that the cooler side is propped up about 2 inches higher than the warm side. To get the substrate damp, I usually make a little hole in the coir on the higher end and dump about a gallon of water (yours will be about half a gallon) into that hole every week or so, depending on when the coir gets dry. Then i spray the enclosure twice a day with a full bottle of warm water. Make sure it's on "mist" not "stream".

The Sphagnum Moss should also be damp. I couldn't really tell how damp that was in the video, but the best thing you can do to the moss is to soak it in a bowl of warm water and then squeeze it until the water no longer drips out, fluff it up and put it in the enclosure.

Also a plant or 2 would help tremendously, even fake ones. I found a whole bunch of "Reptile Safe" plants at Petco or Petsmart (don't remember which) for like 3 dollar each and they are awesome! They help with humidity and give your RF another place to hide.

Also, some people are against the Red Heat Light, Tortoises can see the red light unlike most reptiles and it can disrupt their sleep patterns.

Diet sounds great! You've sure learned a lot. Basically, you've just got to get the humidity thing taken care of and the rest looks great. Try to get the Humidity and Temp Gauges ASAP, because those are imperative to a healthy RF. Good work on asking questions and getting advice!

 

[terryo]

Nothing is written in stone, and each of us has a different way of doing things that work for them. I don't care for the red light, and only use a CHE, which produces no light, and only heat. For the UVB, I use a 5.0 long tube light. Some people don't use any UVB at all, but I always thought that it wouldn't hurt to use it. When I first got mine, I was told...low light and warm humidity. I keep the hide warm and humid with the long fiber moss, wet, squeezed out and fluffed up, too. To keep in the humidity, I use a lot of plants, especially over the hide, which I spray twice a day, when feeding them. This is just what works for me.

 

[antoniocormier]

It is really dry in there. You want the Coco Coir to be moist all the way through. The spray bottle only moistens the top. My enclosure is set up so that the cooler side is propped up about 2 inches higher than the warm side. To get the substrate damp, I usually make a little hole in the coir on the higher end and dump about a gallon of water (yours will be about half a gallon) into that hole every week or so, depending on when the coir gets dry. Then i spray the enclosure twice a day with a full bottle of warm water. Make sure it's on "mist" not "stream".

The Sphagnum Moss should also be damp. I couldn't really tell how damp that was in the video, but the best thing you can do to the moss is to soak it in a bowl of warm water and then squeeze it until the water no longer drips out, fluff it up and put it in the enclosure.

Also a plant or 2 would help tremendously, even fake ones. I found a whole bunch of "Reptile Safe" plants at Petco or Petsmart (don't remember which) for like 3 dollar each and they are awesome! They help with humidity and give your RF another place to hide.

Also, some people are against the Red Heat Light, Tortoises can see the red light unlike most reptiles and it can disrupt their sleep patterns.

Diet sounds great! You've sure learned a lot. Basically, you've just got to get the humidity thing taken care of and the rest looks great. Try to get the Humidity and Temp Gauges ASAP, because those are imperative to a healthy RF. Good work on asking questions and getting advice!

Could i just put sphagnum moss all throughout the terrarium and have like a part in there with coconut fiber and plants growing from the coconut fiber?

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It is really dry in there. You want the Coco Coir to be moist all the way through. The spray bottle only moistens the top. My enclosure is set up so that the cooler side is propped up about 2 inches higher than the warm side. To get the substrate damp, I usually make a little hole in the coir on the higher end and dump about a gallon of water (yours will be about half a gallon) into that hole every week or so, depending on when the coir gets dry. Then i spray the enclosure twice a day with a full bottle of warm water. Make sure it's on "mist" not "stream".

The Sphagnum Moss should also be damp. I couldn't really tell how damp that was in the video, but the best thing you can do to the moss is to soak it in a bowl of warm water and then squeeze it until the water no longer drips out, fluff it up and put it in the enclosure.

Also a plant or 2 would help tremendously, even fake ones. I found a whole bunch of "Reptile Safe" plants at Petco or Petsmart (don't remember which) for like 3 dollar each and they are awesome! They help with humidity and give your RF another place to hide.

Also, some people are against the Red Heat Light, Tortoises can see the red light unlike most reptiles and it can disrupt their sleep patterns.

Diet sounds great! You've sure learned a lot. Basically, you've just got to get the humidity thing taken care of and the rest looks great. Try to get the Humidity and Temp Gauges ASAP, because those are imperative to a healthy RF. Good work on asking questions and getting advice!

i just re-did his terrarium. I took away the heat lamp and now about 85% of the terrarium is moss. I added a sunflower and bell pepper plant with his basking spot in between the plants and his water dish. does it look better?