Tortoise balm

[Riles15]

Hi. New to having a tortoise. I have a 9 month old cherry head. Are these tortoise balms for the shell useful or just a waste of money? Thanks for your help!

 

[Blackdog1714]

just use coconut oil and rub in gently- you can seearch it on here and there are some threads. I have some handmade shell balm from a deceased member that I have used for years

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hi. New to having a tortoise. I have a 9 month old cherry head. Are these tortoise balms for the shell useful or just a waste of money? Thanks for your help!

Personally I wouldn’t bother, but that’s just me, if you’re going to use something, coconut oil would probably be cheaperjust make sure it gets cleaned off after it’s been allowed to sit for a bit

 

[Sarah2020]

Hi, I use coconut oil, I think it beneficial for the new growing shell. The most important is hydration, diet, heat, light and calcium.

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome.
Can you post some pictures of your tortoise?
No balm or oil should be necessary, in my opinion, if all the proper conditions for that species at this age are met, especially when it comes to hydration and humidity.

 

[Riles15]

Hi and welcome.
Can you post some pictures of your tortoise?
No balm or oil should be necessary, in my opinion, if all the proper conditions for that species at this age are met, especially when it comes to hydration and humidity.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I hope you don’t mind the friendly pointers, especially because there is already some pyramiding happening, but do you have a cover on this enclosure? I know I touched on before how unfortunately these commercial tortoise houses aren’t appropriate, so perhaps this is temporary?

Another thing is, I believe you’re using coco husk chips, unfortunately the fibres do pose an impaction risk, you can see some of them on the food, you want fine grade orchid bark.

For a water dish I’d switch to a clay terracotta, it’s much safest and easier for the tortoise to navigate

 

[Riles15]

I don’t m

I hope you don’t mind the friendly pointers, especially because there is already some pyramiding happening, but do you have a cover on this enclosure? I know I touched on before how unfortunately these commercial tortoise houses aren’t appropriate, so perhaps this is temporary?

Another thing is, I believe you’re using coco husk chips, unfortunately the fibres do pose an impaction risk, you can see some of them on the food, you want fine grade orchid bark.

For a water dish I’d switch to a clay terracotta, it’s much safest and easier for the tortoise to navigate

I don’t mind at all. Like I’ve mentioned before I’m new to keeping tortoises and we all have to learn somewhere and I appreciate the pointers. It is temporary. I’m in the process of building an outdoor enclosure for when the weather warms up in my area and when she moves outside I will be building a more appropriate indoor enclosure for the winter months. I do not have a cover on it but I keep the humidity at 80% with a humidifier. I will switch the substrate thanks for the help.

 

[COmtnLady]

As long as we are giving constructive criticism (Please don't be offended - this is given with best intentions for your tortoise)...

The kind of water dish you have is tricky for tortoises to get out of. The way the sides are so vertical is a bit of a barrier, plus the surface of the bottom is too slippery, provides poor traction. While you get kudos for it being a nice size (your tortoise can turn around without problems) a better choice would be a large terracotta plant saucer. Those have sides that slant outward, which when sunken down into the substrate, are easy to walk into and out of. They provide great traction, and also help keep the nails worn down to a good length (I've had my tortoise for seven years and never needed to trim her nails).

Also, it appears the only thing your tortoise has to eat is fruit? While RedFoots can eat fruit and other species can't, their diet should still be majority of leafy greenery.

What is the white-ish cheesy looking stuff on the fruit? It kind of looks like you are feeding a fruit salad that ladies clubs from the 1950s called Ambrosia. I'm betting its not that, but what is it?


RedFoots are a tropical species. They need 84% humidity or a little higher, and mid-80sF temps ALL the time, for their entire lives. The only way to accomplish this is to have a top on your enclosure to hold the humidity and temperature inside - unless you happen to have a whole room that can maintain mid-to-high-80s % humidity and mid-80sF, 24/7/365... or if you live in Costa Rica.

Every species of tortoise also needs these temps and levels of humidity for their first two-to-three years of life, so your little RedFoot needs these from both the angle of its species and its age. Double Dip needing a closed chamber.





Have you had a chance to read this yet?:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

And this is specifically for our kind of tortoises:

Young red foot/ cherryhead set up

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...

tortoiseforum.org

Good thing to peruse:

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

And this is good background for RedFoots/Cherry Heads keepers:

Redfoot Tortoise Care Sheet

NOTE: I do not keep redfoots, and I only have one tortoise in total. With this in mind, remember that I am in no way an expert, and this should not be used as cold hard proof of how to raise a redfoot. I used information from great keepers on this forum to put everything together. This care...

tortoiseforum.org

I'll bet those will create a lot of questions, so ask away!



Welcome to the Forum!


____________________________________________________

P.S.

It is temporary. I’m in the process of building an outdoor enclosure for when the weather warms up in my area and when she moves outside

Your tortoise is too young to be outside 100% of the time in the summertime. It really does need 84% humidity and 84F all the time until two-to-three years of age. At that point it can be outside for a few hours, but it is a tropical species and needs the humidity (your state doesn't have that kind of ambient humidity) and temps (your state gets lower than 80Fs overnight even in the hottest part of the year...).






.

 

[Riles15]

As long as we are giving constructive criticism (Please don't be offended - this is given with best intentions for your tortoise)...

The kind of water dish you have is tricky for tortoises to get out of. The way the sides are so vertical is a bit of a barrier, plus the surface of the bottom is too slippery, provides poor traction. While you get kudos for it being a nice size (your tortoise can turn around without problems) a better choice would be a large terracotta plant saucer. Those have sides that slant outward, which when sunken down into the substrate, are easy to walk into and out of. They provide great traction, and also help keep the nails worn down to a good length (I've had my tortoise for seven years and never needed to trim her nails).

Also, it appears the only thing your tortoise has to eat is fruit? While RedFoots can eat fruit and other species can't, their diet should still be majority of leafy greenery.

What is the white-ish cheesy looking stuff on the fruit? It kind of looks like you are feeding a fruit salad that ladies clubs from the 1950s called Ambrosia. I'm betting its not that, but what is it?


RedFoots are a tropical species. They need 84% humidity or a little higher, and mid-80sF temps ALL the time, for their entire lives. The only way to accomplish this is to have a top on your enclosure to hold the humidity and temperature inside - unless you happen to have a whole room that can maintain mid-to-high-80s % humidity and mid-80sF, 24/7/365... or if you live in Costa Rica.

Every species of tortoise also needs these temps and levels of humidity for their first two-to-three years of life, so your little RedFoot needs these from both the angle of its species and its age. Double Dip needing a closed chamber.





Have you had a chance to read this yet?:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

And this is specifically for our kind of tortoises:

Young red foot/ cherryhead set up

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...

tortoiseforum.org

Good thing to peruse:

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

And this is good background for RedFoots/Cherry Heads keepers:

Redfoot Tortoise Care Sheet

NOTE: I do not keep redfoots, and I only have one tortoise in total. With this in mind, remember that I am in no way an expert, and this should not be used as cold hard proof of how to raise a redfoot. I used information from great keepers on this forum to put everything together. This care...

tortoiseforum.org

I'll bet those will create a lot of questions, so ask away!



Welcome to the Forum!


.
.

It’s not fruit it’s cut up zucchini and bell peppers. The white wet stuff is calcium powder sprinkled on top of the vegetables she walked on top of it after taking a soak which made it look wet. It’s 88 degrees during the day with it going no lower then 80 at night.. the humidity stays between 75-85%. I will change the water dish. Thanks for your help.

 

[COmtnLady]

Ahhh! Yo shouldn't be able to see the calcium. Its way too much if that picture is what you usually give. Try a sparse pinch between index finger and thumb sprinkled over the whole pile, and only a couple days per week. Keep a cuttlebone (like for birds) in the chamber all the time. The tort will ignore it until/unless it wants more calcium.

Also, consider getting Mazuri 5M21.
Its a balance tortoise diet, specifically tailored to species. Wet the pellets (they are fairly large, so much easier for torts to eat when softened that way). They contain the calcium needed so don't add any the days you feed Mazuri.


.

 

[Riles15]

Ahhh! Yo shouldn't be able to see the calcium. Its way too much if that picture is what you usually give. Try a sparse pinch between index finger and thumb sprinkled over the whole pile, and only a couple days per week. Keep a cuttlebone (like for birds) in the chamber all the time. The tort will ignore it until/unless it wants more calcium.

Also, consider getting Mazuri 5M21.
Its a balance tortoise diet, specifically tailored to species. Wet the pellets (they are fairly large, so much easier for torts to eat when softened that way). They contain the calcium needed so don't add any the days you feed Mazuri.


.

 

[Riles15]

Yeap….i realized i was adding too much calcium and started sprinkling I do it 3 times a week. I added a cuttlebone this week. Also got that mazuri last week and I do not not add calcium powder when I feed the mazuri.

 

[Riles15]

I’d like to say I appreciate all the feedback and I’m trying to be positive. I did say this is my first tortoise so the fruit salad comments when it’s actually vegetables, you where there once when you first got a tortoise. I get you like to put funny jokes in but just remember you were in my shoes once.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I don’t m

I don’t mind at all. Like I’ve mentioned before I’m new to keeping tortoises and we all have to learn somewhere and I appreciate the pointers. It is temporary. I’m in the process of building an outdoor enclosure for when the weather warms up in my area and when she moves outside I will be building a more appropriate indoor enclosure for the winter months. I do not have a cover on it but I keep the humidity at 80% with a humidifier. I will switch the substrate thanks for the help.

I wouldn’t recommend a humidifier, especially for this species, humidifiers temporarily boost your levels by getting the surface area wet, which is the opposite of what you want for a red foot, they’re particularly prone to fungal infections. The evaporation effect can cause temperature fluctuations too and it’s really not idea for them to breathe in the water droplets, perhaps this idea in particular might be of help to you? But please do check out the visual inspiration thread for more closed chamber options

 

[TammyJ]

Your Redfoot is adorable.
Remember that this species of tortoise eats animal protein and should be getting stuff like hard boiled eggs, pinky rats, chicken meat and sardines (no salt or additives) regularly.
My Redfoots also loved pumpkin vine leaves and flowers, okra, opuntia cactus, dandelion and clover among other weeds.

 

[Riles15]

Your Redfoot is adorable.
Remember that this species of tortoise eats animal protein and should be getting stuff like hard boiled eggs, pinky rats, chicken meat and sardines (no salt or additives) regularly.
My Redfoots also loved pumpkin vine leaves and flowers, okra, opuntia cactus, dandelion and clover among other weeds.

Thank you! Yes she really likes hard boiled eggs. Thank you for the other ideas!

 

[Riles15]

Your Redfoot is adorable.
Remember that this species of tortoise eats animal protein and should be getting stuff like hard boiled eggs, pinky rats, chicken meat and sardines (no salt or additives) regularly.
My Redfoots also loved pumpkin vine leaves and flowers, okra, opuntia cactus, dandelion and clover among other weeds.

I’ve tried dried crickets but doesn’t seem to go for them

 

[Riles15]

I hope you don’t mind the friendly pointers, especially because there is already some pyramiding happening, but do you have a cover on this enclosure? I know I touched on before how unfortunately these commercial tortoise houses aren’t appropriate, so perhaps this is temporary?

Another thing is, I believe you’re using coco husk chips, unfortunately the fibres do pose an impaction risk, you can see some of them on the food, you want fine grade orchid bark.

For a water dish I’d switch to a clay terracotta, it’s much safest and easier for the tortoise to navigate

I switched the substrate and with this. Seems to hold humidity a lot better but a mess. It’s driving me nuts with how dirty Ivys face is. I’ll try the orchard bark next.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I switched the substrate and with this. Seems to hold humidity a lot better but a mess. It’s driving me nuts with how dirty Ivys face is. I’ll try the orchard bark next.

Have you hand packed the coir tightly? Some people find that a layer of orchid bark on top of the coir is enough to keep the enclosure less messy, some prefer all orchid bark.