sick baby red foot

Yvonne G

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Your vet told you exactly the right thing to do. When you're treating a sick tortoise you put it into a smaller, hospital tank and raise the temperature to about 85F. It's ok to keep the substrate slightly moist, but you don't really need a humidifier. Just cover the tank to keep the warm air inside.
 

Yvonne G

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temp is 80 in warm spot 75 on cool side. There is also a heat mat under the tank on warm so it is very likely warmer on the substrate. humidity is only 70% after misting

While your baby is sick, put it into a smaller hospital tank, and keep the temperature about 85F. Cover it to keep the cool house air out.
 

Diane Berner

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got a new digital hygrometer and thermometer. actual read on this is 88% humidity and 90 temp. cost 20 bucks but i see it's worth it now. Also got strip light with 5.0 reptisun uvb bulb hope this works better than the coiled bulb
 

Diane Berner

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i put plastic tupperware lids on there for now. they seem to be working. got strp light fixture made by zoo med and put 5.0 reptisun bulb in it. new digital hygrometer and thermometer too. everything looks good now.
 

newCH

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Good luck with your little guy. Hope he feels better soon !
 

Mantissa3

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Cypress mulch mixed in with the coco coir is a very good choice (forest floor brand at amazon.com or your local big box pet store). I had my rf babies on only coir and its fine grain irritated their eyes and breathing- cypress mulch is much better, and will hold humidity without the "dust". Also- as above, cover the tank and use a mercury vapor bulb for full spectrum sun.

Make sure you put in some clean (well-rinsed) silk or plastic plants so your baby can get shade- they live in the forest floor or tall grass plains in South America where they get dappled sunlight most of the time- only coming out to bask for a very short time- they are not desert torties and like the shade as long as temps are up and humidity is 80% - 85%. Make sure s/he has a half-log or a well-rinsed small plastic box with an end or side cut out for a warm, moist "hide".

If your baby has the opportunity for water, dark, light, and various temperatures from 85 - 95 degrees, don't mess with the hospital tank every day. Give them a couple of days to snoop around and you will discover their preferences, as long as it is not life-threatening- again, the basics are essential as spelled-out here- clean dark and light opportunities with a mercury vapor bulb (amazon has everything and will deliver to your door), cypress mulch mixed with just a bit of coco coir and a bit of spaghnum moss, and plants so they can get in the shade or have the choice of "full sun" if they want that for a bit.

I have two redfoot rescue babies, as shown in my signature picture here. The largest one LOVES the dark, hot humid plastic box hide I gave him. The other pouted and stayed far away from the plastic box until I pulled it out and put in a very well-rinsed terra cotta flower pot on its side, with a layer of hay/dried grass over the flower pot. (They both crawl into flower pots that I clean regularly, and give them to stay dark and moist. You can put a bit of dried hay or grass so they are not lying on wet terra cotta, but so that they have dark, the drain hole provides air for them when they are in there, and the terra cotta provides a bit of moisture if you wet it by pouring warm water over it.)

I also use Repti-Safe for all water I give them to drink and put into their environments. I don't know if it matters to take the chlorine out of our city water before providing it, but it makes me feel better... I think pool chlorine is an irritant to my eyes, so why would I leave chlorine in the water I give to my babies to drink and bathe in?

PM me if you want pictures of our habitats or want to bat ideas around.

One more thing- red foots really, really love their routines. You could set your watch by my first baby's routine. Try to get some piece of the routine the same each and every day- for instance, always bathe her/him at the same time every morning, and provide new food or misting at the same time every day. Sometimes the routine comforts my babies when they are fussing about some change- like swapping a plastic box for the flower pot last week. :>)

Hope this helps, and you are doing really well to reach out here and listen for solutions- good for you,
Karen
 

Mantissa3

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Here are a couple of pics of one of our habitats. Two of my babies are "brush pile sleepers" in that we "fluff up" clean dried yard grass and hay into piles, and heat the substrate, then warm pockets of air develop in the brush piles and they bury in at various angles. Two of them are also "wedgers" in that they don't always like to sleep flat on their plastrons. We find them in different positions, including kind of standing up in the brush piles sometimes, with their heads higher than their tails, or with one side higher than the other side, fast asleep in the warm brush.

There are some images floating around on various websites showing that rainforest red foot tortoises like to sleep with their back legs extended and the front of their shells on a tree root or tangled in some plants, so we try to emulate their natural environment to the extent we know about it.

I use a dense shade cloth over the brush pile (it breathes and doesn't mildew) and then apply household aluminum foil and sometimes towels in the winter when the house gets colder, so that the brush pile-hide is always the same temp- around 85 - 90 degrees F.brush_pile_sleeper01.jpg IMGP4648.JPG indoor_habitat01.jpg indoor_habitat02.jpg indoor_habitat04.jpg mvb_70W.jpg
 

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