Red Foot Not Eating

[Gillian M]

Hi @Michalla and welcome to the forum!

I've noticed that torts do get into "weird" moods (if so I may call them when Winter approaches. I for one live in Jordan (the Middle East) where it gets FREEZING cold in Winter with SNOW! Oli becomes very inactive and loses appetite. (He does not hibernate any more, don't know why).

Since the climate here is very dry, I give Oli daily soaks in warm water and I spray his enclosure with water each and every day.

By the way, your tort is a gorgeous one.

 

[Michalla]

Ok, your not doing anything vastly wrong in my opinion.
My diet is mainly weeds/greens and a bit of fruit or mushroom every day. They get one piece of fruit or mushroom slightly bigger than their head then rest is weeds.
Out of your list I don't feed kale, cucumber, carrots or peas. I also don't give apple to my babies.
For fruit try mango, papaya and plums. They love mushrooms. Can you get weeds.
Your not at the panic stage, probably just slowing up a little, it may be even be because as your feeding regime kicks in he doesn't need the continuous amount you was seeing for the first couple of weeks.

How Often are you pouring 1ltr of water in and I wouldnt have that fogger on 24/7.
All I have is 2 water trays, the evaporation from them keeps humidity up, I never pour water in. I spray my torts twice a day(just the tort not the enclosure)

I put the water in usually in the morning or afternoon, and I have to or else my substrate is completely dried out. And i shouldn't say it's on 24/7 I put it on in the morning before I go to work, it says on for 4 hours, and then I put it on when I get home and over night. I will go today to get a digital hygrometer to ensure that my humidity is good. And thank you for your food suggestions I will definitely give it a try.

 

[Gillian M]

I put the water in usually in the morning or afternoon, and I have to or else my substrate is completely dried out. And i shouldn't say it's on 24/7 I put it on in the morning before I go to work, it says on for 4 hours, and then I put it on when I get home and over night. I will go today to get a digital hygrometer to ensure that my humidity is good. And thank you for your food suggestions I will definitely give it a try.

Good luck and keep us updated please.

 

[Michalla]

Hi @Michalla and welcome to the forum!

I've noticed that torts do get into "weird" moods (if so I may call them when Winter approaches. I for one live in Jordan (the Middle East) where it gets FREEZING cold in Winter with SNOW! Oli becomes very inactive and loses appetite. (He does not hibernate any more, don't know why).

Since the climate here is very dry, I give Oli daily soaks in warm water and I spray his enclosure with water each and every day.

By the way, your tort is a gorgeous one.

Thank you I think he is pretty cute myself! I love him so much already, that I think I get a little paranoid since I'm still new to this.

 

[Anyfoot]

Thank you I think he is pretty cute myself! I love him so much already, that I think I get a little paranoid since I'm still new to this.

Is he active. I don't mean constantly on the move, but do you find him in different areas of the enclosure.

 

[Anyfoot]

I put the water in usually in the morning or afternoon, and I have to or else my substrate is completely dried out. And i shouldn't say it's on 24/7 I put it on in the morning before I go to work, it says on for 4 hours, and then I put it on when I get home and over night. I will go today to get a digital hygrometer to ensure that my humidity is good. And thank you for your food suggestions I will definitely give it a try.

Your substrate looks like coir, is that correct. If so, it does dry out quick, like sand would on the beach. Soon as the sun comes out the top layer of sand dries out, however if you found a log on the beach and moved it, it would still be moist under the log. It's the same principle, if you put orchid bark and/or cyprus mulch on the coir, the coir keeps moist because your heat source(s) can't directly dry the coir out. This in turn keeps humitiy up.

 

[Michalla]

Your substrate looks like coir, is that correct. If so, it does dry out quick, like sand would on the beach. Soon as the sun comes out the top layer of sand dries out, however if you found a log on the beach and moved it, it would still be moist under the log. It's the same principle, if you put orchid bark and/or cyprus mulch on the coir, the coir keeps moist because your heat source(s) can't directly dry the coir out. This in turn keeps humitiy up.

He seems to be moving around, and yes its is coir.. Where would I get cyprus mulch? Just a pet store?

 

[Anyfoot]

He seems to be moving around, and yes its is coir.. Where would I get cyprus mulch? Just a pet store?

Over here in the uk it's in reptile shops.

 

[Michalla]

Update: Today after his soak Charlie ate more than he had been earlier this week. He also spent a significant amount of time exploring his enclosure before having a nap.

 

[Ed mitch]

Could you show me your enclosure with the lid on?
Thanks

 

[Michalla]

in the near future I will be getting holes cut into the plexi for the lights so it is completely closed off

 

[Anyfoot]

in the near future I will be getting holes cut into the plexi for the lights so it is completely closed off

This may also be the reason your coir is drying out. Your humidity is going straight out through the gaps, that's why you are having to poor so much water in. Instead of cutting holes in your plexiglass get another piece of would like that on the left hand side and cut circles in that so you can lay a lamp shade over the holes.

 

[Anyfoot]

Something like this. The plant pot is to block middle hole off I don't need any more.

 

[Michalla]

Something like this. The plant pot is to block middle hole off I don't need any more.
View attachment 190064

That's the kind of lid I wanted, I;m just waiting for my brother to build it for me. I'm not very handy lol

 

[Michalla]

Ive come up with a temporary solution that blocks off the holes

 

[Anyfoot]

That will help for now.
If that was my set up I would add some orchid barkvand cyprus mulch.
Push the left hand plexiglass flush to the left hand piece of wood(I'm assuming that's a hide). The get another piece of wood, let's say 12" wide. Push that up to the left hand plexiglass then put your right hand piece of plexiglass on and push up flush to the new piece of wood.
In the new wood, cut a round circle to lay a lamp shade on with a CHE in on a stat. Also I would have a 15w 5.0 UVB florescent tube on the underside of the new wood. This will be so much cheaper to run and the che and florescent won't dry out your substrate as harsh as those heat sources you are using. Also it wont dry out your tort as much. I bet you won't need that fogger either. You could do all that for less than your next mvb bulb is going to cost.

 

[Anyfoot]

The bigger the shade is for your CHE the further away from the hole you cut out the CHE is. It's safer. For example if you had a 12" diameter shade you would be able to cut a 10" diameter hole, your CHE is approx 3" diameter. So it will be 3.5" away from any wood. Hope that makes sense.
You will only need a 100w CHE.

 

[Michalla]

Well everything seemed fine and dandy yesterday watching him walk around and munch on his food... Got home from work today put him in for his daily soak put him back in his enclosure after, he started making a weird noise, and looked as though he was maybe choking.. I'm pretty sure he isn't alive, but have him in his enclosure just incase, we shall see what happens by tomorrow.. I'm actually so heart broken..

 

[Anyfoot]

Well everything seemed fine and dandy yesterday watching him walk around and munch on his food... Got home from work today put him in for his daily soak put him back in his enclosure after, he started making a weird noise, and looked as though he was maybe choking.. I'm pretty sure he isn't alive, but have him in his enclosure just incase, we shall see what happens by tomorrow.. I'm actually so heart broken..

No no no thats crap. Feel sad now .

 

[jockma]

Well everything seemed fine and dandy yesterday watching him walk around and munch on his food... Got home from work today put him in for his daily soak put him back in his enclosure after, he started making a weird noise, and looked as though he was maybe choking.. I'm pretty sure he isn't alive, but have him in his enclosure just incase, we shall see what happens by tomorrow.. I'm actually so heart broken..

How is he now? I'm so sorry this is happening...respiratory infections can also affect appetite and in some cases they just don't have any obvious symptoms.

Can you give one of his limbs a tug and see if he responds? Maybe give him a warm soak, with the water below nose-level. I'm at a loss, I'm so sorry this happened.