Sluggish Redfoot....Please Help!

[endless_abyss]

I just bought a Redfoot Tortoise two days ago. He's younger, about 4 inches wide. I have him in a 20 Long Tank with alfalfa pellet bedding. I have a UVB light, a UVA light, and Black Night Bulb. He always has one bowl of fresh kale, carrots, mealworms, and mangoes (all dusted with Calcium and D3); and one bowl of pelleted tortoise food. He has a half-log hide and a wading pool. I also have a sponge in the tank and constant water sprays for the 70%-90% humidity. I live in Pennsylvania, so currently he can't play outside. My house temp stays around 60-70 degrees. He has no visible health problems.

My Problem: He likes to stay in one spot (normally in some kind of corner) for hours. (Example: I worked 12:30PM-9:00PM today and he didn't move once.) He will move when I move him. He eats like a fiend when I move him too. I don't think I've seen him really be too active on his own yet!

What wrong with him or is this normal behavior? I love the little bugger a lot and I want him to have the best life possible. What should I do? Please help!

 

[Neohippy]

Careful, that bedding will not hold the humidity you require and not mold or mildew. Switch to a mulch or coco coir to retain humidity and cut down on fungi and mold. Moss (sphagnum) will increase humidity and acidity, thus keeping micro nasties away. Also, cut back on visible light spectrums for heating. A basking area is fine, but also provide a dark, warm, escape, should the little tort require it.

Edit: Forgot to mention, he is friggen adorable!

 

[Meg90]

You need to change that substrate, and his lighting.

Rabbit pellets are a terrible choice. They are mainly composed of protein, and will mold in high moisture environments (which is what a red foot needs). What are you using for UVB? Red foots don't like bright light, so it is advised to use a CHE or a red light bulb for their heat, and a tube UVB (5.0) for their full spectrum lighting requirements.

He should have ecoearth as a substrate, or cyprus mulch. Basically, something that can hold moisture, and be kept moist without molding.

Your diet is incorrect also. I can try to dig up the link to an awesome care sheet for you...but I don't keep reds, so I will have to poke around for a bit. IMO you should follow it. Terry (the caresheet writer) backs up all his claims with years worth of photos. Countless babies have been raised on it, and they come out flawless. Hopefully Terry (Redfoot Nerd) finds this thread and posts the link.

 

[galvinkaos]

Terry's site is redfoots.com (He has others too)

I don't have redfoots either, but my memory is the same as meg's.

Dawna

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I don't keep Redfoots either, but I know rabbit pellets are not a good substrate. You need something like cypress mulch that you can keep moist. Here's a link that you need...

http://www.redfoots.com/

 

[galvinkaos]

Thanks Maggie. I didn't know how to make it a link.

Dawna

 

[Madkins007]

I just bought a Redfoot Tortoise two days ago. He's younger, about 4 inches wide. I have him in a 20 Long Tank with alfalfa pellet bedding. I have a UVB light, a UVA light, and Black Night Bulb. He always has one bowl of fresh kale, carrots, mealworms, and mangoes (all dusted with Calcium and D3); and one bowl of pelleted tortoise food. He has a half-log hide and a wading pool. I also have a sponge in the tank and constant water sprays for the 70%-90% humidity. I live in Pennsylvania, so currently he can't play outside. My house temp stays around 60-70 degrees. He has no visible health problems.

My Problem: He likes to stay in one spot (normally in some kind of corner) for hours. (Example: I worked 12:30PM-9:00PM today and he didn't move once.) He will move when I move him. He eats like a fiend when I move him too. I don't think I've seen him really be too active on his own yet!

What wrong with him or is this normal behavior? I love the little bugger a lot and I want him to have the best life possible. What should I do? Please help!

Hi! and welcome to the Tortoise Forum

New animals often act funny because of all of the changes. This usually only takes a few days, but can take a week.

I am not sure where you got your care info, but it is not the greatest. Some things I would change, if I were you, would be:
- Substrate. As has been mentioned, pellets are not good for a lot of reasons. It was popular about 20 years ago, but has proven not to be great. In a 20L tank, I would recommend long-fibered sphagnum moss (Mosser Lee brand from Lowes and Home Depot for example, back in the house plants sections). Terry at www.turtletary.com has good instructions for using it.
- Too much D3. D3 comes from diet, supplements, and lighting. To do it in all three ways is overkill, and you CAN overdose on it.
- Every UVB light offers all the UVA the animal needs- you don't need both and too much of any UV light is risky.
- The diet is not quite what we would recommend, and it sounds like it is being overfed. Turtletary has good advice about diet as well.

Another thing that kind of concerns me is the temperature- you do not tell us what the temps are in the habitat and where the tortoise is sitting. As a general rule- if it is staying in a hot location, the rest of the tank is too cool. If it is in a cool corner, the rest is too warm.

Your little guy is cute, and I am sure everything will be fine. Make some adjustments and see what happens. Generally I suggest only changing one thing at a time to see what 'fixes' the problem- this time I would start with the temps.

(By the way, tortoises are measured in a straight line from front to back. This is called the Straight-line Carapace Length or SCL)

 

[terryo]

Please go on this site and go to the top of the page and click on the care sheet for the age of your tortoise. I have been following this care sheet for two years now since my Cherry Head was a hatchling with great results. Right now things aren't too right for your Redfoot, and you need to do some changes. I hope this will help you.
http://www.redfoots.com/redfoot.htm

 

[tortoisenerd]

Welcome to the group! You got some great suggestions to make your little one happy and healthy--changing the substrate to a moist one, redoing the diet, no UVA in addition to UVB, limiting food, and recognizing your actual enclosure temperature gradient. I have a few more. You need to obtain an accurate thermometer, ideally a laser one so you point and click to find the temperature at any single point at the substrate level. With inactivity, you want to first look at the temperature, for Redfoots it there is too much light, then think about health and other husbandry problems. If you chose to use UVB, I don't think you should also use D3 as the tortoise makes the D3 from the UVB and it can build up to toxic levels. A pure calcium powder is appropriate. Is he eating? Redfoots love ground cover such as plants. Even fake ones can work. They live in a low light environment. Lots of hiding places and less light could also get him moving around more. Cute! Best wishes and good luck.

 

[fhintz]

Themistocles, my Redfoot, is most active when temps get up over about 82, with the optimum range being mid to high 80s. I use a ceramic heat emitter to keep her home a bit warmer than the rest of my place. She was super shy when I first brought her home also. I did need to fix some things to get her home better suited for her though. I pretty much follow Terry's caresheet that's been mentioned already. I use sphagnum moss for my substrate. I generally use escarole as my usual greens. On the caresheet, it says light on kale.

You'll find a lot of helpful folks on this site, so I'm sure you'll have him comfortable and poking around in no time. Welcome to the forum!

 

[endless_abyss]

Thanks for all the great help! I changed a lot of things in my tank now, almost to the point where its a replica rainforest edge! I bought new Sphagnum bedding, I got him a new wading pool, lovely fake plants, and I switched up his diet and his lighting/heating pads. I also found this awesome coconut fiber backround for hermit crabs, it works wonders for keeping humidity! Chompers was so happy when I put him back in his new home. He went to his one food dish, then to his other, then back again, then back again, then into his pool, then he stared at his plants for a while, then into his hide, then back out, etc...

I am so very happy, both Chompers and I want to thank you all greatly!

 

[Meg90]

Aww, I'm glad! I'd love to see some pictures of your mini rainforest!