Vomit

Kingkeeper

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Hello everyone, my red foot has been with me for about 3 weeks now I am not sur it’s age he is about 4 inches. He will eat at times if I put him in front of the food but seems to be very picky. I am having trouble getting him to really want the greens. Yesterday he devoured a baby carrot cut up for him and today I can in to a pile of carrot regurgitated. There was no bile he is pooping but it is a little soft I believe it’s the lack of fiber in the greens. Please help with any info I am new to toartises.
 

Cherryshell

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Give this caresheet a read, it'll give you an idea of what kind of food you can give RFs. Can you show us some pictures of the enclosure and tort? Also what are your temps and humidity levels in the enclosure?

 

Jan A

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Hello everyone, my red foot has been with me for about 3 weeks now I am not sur it’s age he is about 4 inches. He will eat at times if I put him in front of the food but seems to be very picky. I am having trouble getting him to really want the greens. Yesterday he devoured a baby carrot cut up for him and today I can in to a pile of carrot regurgitated. There was no bile he is pooping but it is a little soft I believe it’s the lack of fiber in the greens. Please help with any info I am new to toartises.
As you're finding out, carrots are not a great food at this stage for your tort. They just bite off, they don't chew. The care sheet should help explain. I"ll leave it up to the experts to advise you further. Welcome to the forum!!
 

ZenHerper

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A Redfoot should be able to manage a carrot.

Your habitat temps may be too low. If a tortoise gets too cold, it will stop digesting, and not be interested in food. Redfoots are heavy eaters, when healthy.

Regurgitation is quite concerning.

Please review the care information here:


@Toddrickfl1 @ZEROPILOT @jsheffield
 

Kingkeeper

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A Redfoot should be able to manage a carrot.

Your habitat temps may be too low. If a tortoise gets too cold, it will stop digesting, and not be interested in food. Redfoots are heavy eaters, when healthy.

Regurgitation is quite concerning.

Please review the care information here:


@Toddrickfl1 @ZEROPILOT @jsheffield
 

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Kingkeeper

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My humidity stays around 60% I can’t get it to stay higher than that. I live in a very dry area. He used to stay on the plant side which is the cooler side now he is hanging on the high temp side just about all day.
 

ZEROPILOT

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What is the temperature inside that tank?
You need an ambient (all over) temperature of between 80 and 86.
In my opinion, the perfect number is 82.
You can increase your humidity by placing a portion of plexiglass over the part of the tank that is exposed.
You need a very varied diet.
Carrots and greens are not a varied diet.
Your Redfoot can eat a diet of up to 60% fruit.
Fruit, greens, veggies, flowers, mushrooms and animal protein.
I'm sorry. But so far, we just don't have enough information to give you much advise.
My guess is stress caused by incorrect lighting and/or temperature.
But it's nothing more than a guess.
If you feed carrots, grate them into slivers with a peeler tool. They are a good treat. But definitely not a staple food. And they might be too large and solid to comfortably get down his throat the way you are offering them.
For now. Just stop the carrots.
You have a known issue with them already
 

Kingkeeper

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Hmm. He's got his face jammed into that corner. Redfoots don't need a lot of light (and their eyes may indeed be over-sensitive) since they live in deep forest.

What specific type (brand, light, radiation output) of bulb is on the planted side?
It is a 100 w che that side stays on all night left side goes off with the uvb around 6:00
What is the temperature inside that tank?
You need an ambient (all over) temperature of between 80 and 86.
In my opinion, the perfect number is 82.
You can increase your humidity by placing a portion of plexiglass over the part of the tank that is exposed.
You need a very varied diet.
Carrots and greens are not a varied diet.
Your Redfoot can eat a diet of up to 60% fruit.
Fruit, greens, veggies, flowers, mushrooms and animal protein.
I'm sorry. But so far, we just don't have enough information to give you much advise.
My guess is stress caused by incorrect lighting and/or temperature.
But it's nothing more than a guess.
If you feed carrots, grate them into slivers with a peeler tool. They are a good treat. But definitely not a staple food. And they might be too large and solid to comfortably get down his throat the way you are offering them.
For now. Just stop the carrots.
You have a known issue with them already
i have plexiglass on a good portion of the lid. I give him a a large variety, all different greens. He ate carrots for the first time last night.
 

ZenHerper

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Youngsters are very sensitive. Moving home is stressful...stressed animals need to hide. I'd suggest adding many more plants all over the habitat. This will also help keep the humidity up.

Without high humidity, this species can develop serious respiratory illness, and/or kidney stress. Add a pitcher of water to the substrate directly under the CHE bulbs so that the evaporation produces higher humidity on the substrate surface. Replenish as needed.

Bump the thermostat on the cool side up to 82*F. The entire enclosure must stay no lower than 80*F overnight. Reset the left side CHE to 82*F in the evening, if needed. If s/he's huddling over there for the heat, falls asleep, then gets too cool at night...that is a problem.

Having a veterinary office send a stool sample for parasite analysis is a good idea with regurgitation. Treatment for tortoises is specialized - there are medicines they should not be given, and some that are less preferred. Make sure that any prescriptions are done by a practitioner who specializes in reptiles or who at least sees wildlife on a routine basis (and therefore have an interest in continued education in non-cat-dog species).
 

jsheffield

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I'd try a mix of a couple of my Redfoot's favorite foods chopped up really small and mixed:

Papaya, mushrooms, mazuri, butternut squash, radicchio, liver or shrimp or salmon

For the first year with my Redfoot, I fed her during a daily soak in warm water, putting the food on an upside-down plant underpot.

Good luck, and keep reporting back with any news!

Jamie
 

Kingkeeper

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I just fed him some melon and he devoured that. But mix it up is a good idea . I don’t want to give him to much sugary fruit I read that is not very good for them.
 

zovick

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I just fed him some melon and he devoured that. But mix it up is a good idea . I don’t want to give him to much sugary fruit I read that is not very good for them.
As ZenHerper said, regurgitation is a concerning symptom in tortoises. Is this the first time it has done so?

If it has happened previously or if it continues to happen, it could be a sign of a Cryptosporidium infection or Intranuclear Coccidiosis (INC), neither of which are good.
 

Cherryshell

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I just fed him some melon and he devoured that. But mix it up is a good idea . I don’t want to give him to much sugary fruit I read that is not very good for them.

Actually this is one of the few species that can handle sugary fruit in moderation. I believe the caresheet I posted says you can give them a piece of sugary fruit once a day thats about the size of the tort's head.
 

ZenHerper

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This species should actually be eating a fair amount of fruit. Introduce them slowly, but get this wee one eating all sorts of healthful, brightly colored fruits. When temps are in the Optimal range, fruit sugars will digest and metabolize easily into energy.

I think of Redfoots as a sort of evolutionary mid-point between turtles and tortoises: they are omnivorous, they like water and can swim, avoid long exposure to bright light, and require high humidity through all life stages. Redfoots tolerate neither cool nor blazing hot temps at all, and are provisionally communal (yet remain primarily anti-social).
 

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I just fed him some melon and he devoured that. But mix it up is a good idea . I don’t want to give him to much sugary fruit I read that is not very good for them.
On the contrary. Redfoot are an exception to that rule.
You say you offer a variety of greens. But I only offer about 10% greens and it's usually in the form of hibiscus leaves.
During certain parts of the year, I feed fruit daily as part of the diet.
I mean variety in the kinds of foods. Not a variety of the same type of foods. Leafy greens are probably my tortoises least favorite foods. Luckily, they get less picky as they get older.
A Redfoot diet is very different than any other species. Take advantage of it by broadening the menu.
Wherever you've gotten your past information from. It is incorrect.
However, not feeding fruit is absolutely true of most other species.
 
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Kingkeeper

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As ZenHerper said, regurgitation is a concerning symptom in tortoises. Is this the first time it has done so?

If it has happened previously or if it continues to happen, it could be a sign of a Cryptosporidium infection or Intranuclear Coccidiosis (INC), neither of which are good.
This is the first time
This species should actually be eating a fair amount of fruit. Introduce them slowly, but get this wee one eating all sorts of healthful, brightly colored fruits. When temps are in the Optimal range, fruit sugars will digest and metabolize easily into energy.

I think of Redfoots as a sort of evolutionary mid-point between turtles and tortoises: they are omnivorous, they like water and can swim, avoid long exposure to bright light, and require high humidity through all life stages. Redfoots tolerate neither cool nor blazing hot temps at all, and are provisionally communal (yet remain primarily anti-social).
My warm side is around 92 my cool side is 84 ambient is 82. Warm side and uvb goes off at 6:00 pm back on 6:30 am. Humidity is the hardest thing to keep consistent. Will fluctuate humidity harm him? I have really dowsed the substrate with a pitcher of water and covered a good portion of the top with plexiglass. It stays around 50%. Goes really high after a good mist but then slowly drops.
 

ZenHerper

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This is the first time

My warm side is around 92 my cool side is 84 ambient is 82. Warm side and uvb goes off at 6:00 pm back on 6:30 am. Humidity is the hardest thing to keep consistent. Will fluctuate humidity harm him? I have really dowsed the substrate with a pitcher of water and covered a good portion of the top with plexiglass. It stays around 50%. Goes really high after a good mist but then slowly drops.
Fluctuating humidity is fine...as long as it is much closer to 75%. Misting only puts water droplets into the air temporarily, and that dissipates quickly. Wetting the substrate will give you a more uniform humidity down where your tort hangs out. If you are using a plain bagged bark substrate, try mixing it 50:50 with coco coir (the bricks). The coir will hold a great deal more moisture in place.

****************

What is the ambient temperature Overnight? If turning off the basking CHE drops the overall temp below 80*F at any point before 6.30am (and youngsters should stay a bit warmer as insurance)...then you need to keep more heat overnight. One way to do that is to change the basking CHE to 82*F when the Day cycle ends (and the uvb tube goes Off). This is a Tropical species, and the ambient air temp on the ground must stay warm overnight...even dips into the high 70s can cause issues of poor immune, digestive, and circulatory function.
 

Kingkeeper

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My night ambience temp was 77 so I turned the basking CHE back on up to 82. I wi play with the temp until it’s right.I have about 3 inches of coconut coir on the bottom cover with 2 inches of cypress mulch.
 

ZenHerper

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My night ambience temp was 77 so I turned the basking CHE back on up to 82. I wi play with the temp until it’s right.I have about 3 inches of coconut coir on the bottom cover with 2 inches of cypress mulch.
Tomorrow try mixing the two sub layers together to let the water in the coir get to the surface more readily.
 

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