Tortoise home

[Animals1234]

Hello Everyone

My redfoot is not bright in colors at all she is very dull. She looks like she may not be getting the correct care and I am worried about her.Im going to build a new tortoise enclosure to hold in some humidity and hopefully change her attitude and looks. The problem is I don't know where to start. I see a lot of enclosures are aquariums but I heard that those can be to small. Ive also seen some made of wood. She currently is in a large wooden box (3 shelf bookcase with shelves removed) She likes it but only sits in the one corner. has no ambition to be by her Uv light or pool. Can anyone please send some pictures of what they use!? I live in MN so no outdoor enclosures please!

 

[crimson_lotus]

What are your temps currently? Is the large wooden box open completely on the top? And do you have any pictures of your red? Hard to tell but my tortoise was really dried out when I got her. Her colors are a lot more vibrant now that she has the correct humidity and she's hydrated with soaks every other day.

Here's my set-up, although I'm planning on building a larger one this summer. It's 4x4 and we just drilled some plexiglass into a wooden frame to make the top. She has 80-90% humidity but I also use a misting system that goes off every 3 hours since I work all day.

 

[crimson_lotus]

Do you have a picture of your current enclosure?

 

[Animals1234]

Not at the moment. I can for sure get some. It is not fully enclosed. I did cover half of it but didn't do anything. I think I need it like yours (fully) enclosed. Im not being very helpful! I do not have the temps. I will get some pics soon. I also need some suggestions on (flooring,bedding) I bought a roll of the thick flooring that is used to hold moisture in planters but I feel like I need a dirt!? Thank you for the input!

 

[Chenderson]

I use sphagnum moss, cypress mulch mix, with a clay/playsand mix underneath that to hold moisture, extra sphagnum moss in hide areas. 90-95 degrees at hot end, and 80-85 at cool end. I keep the humidity at 70-80% through manual means, once or twice a week I pour water at the corners of the inclosure(so it seeps into the under substrate and keeps the top dry) and spray with a mister once a day, making sure to cover plants etc.

There is a lot of useful information on here, it may be worth spending some time looking at others setups and recommendations before making too many changes. If I was to rewind time, I would have liked to have purchased a large plastic storage container for my RF making it easy to simulate day/night humidity, and further modulate if needed. Rather than the closed vivarium I use now, which to be fair seems to work fine, but maybe the humidity is too stable not raising during the night.

 

[Chenderson]

By the way, my Redfoot is quite dull coloured looking at others on the forums. It does not seem to affect her health though.

 

[tinkerbell1189]

I'm no expert, but to me that looks like a yellowfoot?

 

[crimson_lotus]

It does not look like a yellow to me, but I can see why you would think that.The color of the shell is a lot lighter.

I use coco coir and pile sphagnum moss in her hides and in some of the corners of her enclosure. She loves to snuggle into the piles. I use the coco coir because it holds humidity in very well, it does not mold, there are no bugs, and she can ingest it and pass it with no issues.

If you do not have anything to measure temperatures and humidity, I would get one asap. It's very important and will keep your tortoise healthy and comfortable. If they are too cold, they will be lethargic and sometimes will not eat, and they may also catch a respiratory infection from high humidity and low temperatures. I use this:

http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00325-Comfort-Monitor-Black/dp/B004K8RF10/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426891832&sr=8-1&keywords=acu-rite hygrometer

It tells me the humidity and the temperature, it's cheap, and it's accurate. I put one under her heat lamp and another on the coldest side of her enclosure on ground level.