Why won't they grow?

[JakeDevoe]

I got my rf tortoises when they were one year old and soon they will be 2 and they don't seem to have grown an inch there heat and humidity are perfect and they have food offers to them every day and I do supliment there food

 

[JoesMum]

I got my rf tortoises when they were one year old and soon they will be 2 and they don't seem to have grown an inch there heat and humidity are perfect and they have food offers to them every day and I do supliment there food

What exactly do you feed them?
How often and at what time of day?
What supplements do you use and how frequently?
What are the temperatures in the enclosure and what do you use to measure them?

 

[JakeDevoe]

A. Variety of fruits and vegis kale with lots of the meals and I grow spineless cactus and hibiscus and zucchini and squash not with every meal but I grow them and hosta I feed them in the afternoon and 93-98* degrees under the lamp and 79-80 all other places and I use a ruler to measure the temperatures.

 

[JoesMum]

I'm no redfoot expert but they need protein. What protein do they get?

And what type of "ruler" (aka thermometer) do you use? Digital, temperature gun, analogue...?

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

What are their plastron lengths at this time ?

 

[TammyJ]

Thanks for caring about your tortoises! This is a great site and I am learning very fast here.

Give these experts here all the information they ask for, please! That's the best way you can help your tortoises.

Most important things: correct diet, temperatures, humidity level.

 

[TammyJ]

Also when you say you feed them in the afternoon - mine start eating first thing in the morning! And protein is important, as has been said. Mine get snails, boiled egg, pink mice, dry cat food....not all at once! And of course the cuttlefish bone should be available at all times for calcium.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

This is just a guess so forgive me if it's incorrect, but are they housed together and is the enclosure maybe too small?
Stress can and will stunt growth.

 

[Anyfoot]

I got my rf tortoises when they were one year old and soon they will be 2 and they don't seem to have grown an inch there heat and humidity are perfect and they have food offers to them every day and I do supliment there food

I don't know why they are not growing, but I would do an overall with your set up.
Use a CHE for the ambient temp, aim for 82 to 88f. No basking spot. For light, use a strip uvb 5.0, half the length of your enclosure. Put the light at the same end as your CHE. Light on for 12hrs a day, CHE on a stat.
Substrate=. 2 to 3" deep of coir, with orchid bark or/and cyprus mulch on at least half the enclosure. Hides at both dark and light end with a bit of mosd in them. 2 sources of water, this will keep humidity up(80%+) spray your tort and the food lightly every morning.
Feed in the morning, not at night. Fruit/veg/greens/weeds/mushrooms and protein once a wk. Feed on a slate it flat Rock.
Closed enclosure type.

Sorry, jotted that down really fast.

If no improvements after that then it's back to drawing board, maybe split them up and/or seek vets help. But its not that stage yet.
Weigh your torts now and record date and weight and do it every week for now. I normally do it once a month.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yeah. Hi heat isn't something that they seem to like.

 

[JoesMum]

This is just a guess so forgive me if it's incorrect, but are they housed together and is the enclosure maybe too small?
Stress can and will stunt growth.

Housing together may also be a problem for bullying reasons, though usually one will do better than the other

 

[Anyfoot]

Yeah. Hi heat isn't something that they seem to like.

Ed, when I put my adults in there new enclosure, they seemed to be holding up a lot in hides etc. I was fetching them outside by carrying them, so activity was fine, and I just thought nothing of it.
For the last month or so I completed there hatch door so they can come and go as they please, trouble is, either they held up in hides or came out and would not go back in. I also noticed my 3 juveniles were less active too. The enclosure was set at 86/87F. It's quite accurate and stable to. I dropped the heat about 4 days ago to 83/84F and the difference in activity levels is astonishing. I can't believe the difference. Did I have it set just above their comfort threshold i ask myself.
Sorry OP for going off topic.

 

[TammyJ]

Can we please get some pictures of the setup and the tortoises? That would be a great help!

 

[MPRC]

You say they 'haven't grown an inch' - are you tracking their weights? Any changes there?

 

[JakeDevoe]

I do give them chicken and egg for protein sorry about the lighting the room is dim bc it's night time and as you can see they love being under the heat lamp and them being in a pair is not an issue they don't seem to care about each other and the enclosure is huge compared to them and I am moving them outside as soon as possible and I will get you guys the plastron length asap and I do use a temp gun.

 

[JakeDevoe]

Well you can't see gypsy but she is under the heat lamp

 

[Anyfoot]

I do give them chicken and egg for protein View attachment 186772 sorry about the lighting the room is dim bc it's night time and as you can see they love being under the heat lamp and them being in a pair is not an issue they don't seem to care about each other and the enclosure is huge compared to them and I am moving them outside as soon as possible and I will get you guys the plastron length asap and I do use a temp gun.

Jake, when I first joined this forum I had 3 4 month old redfoots in an open tort table, I had 3 heat sources in the table, humidity i had not thought about(15yrs prior to that when I had torts humidity just wasnt published). My torts in this table were very lethargic, I had to put them at the food to eat or they just would stay under the heat sources. If they are not warm they can't digest food.
After a wk of reading on here and listening to others and bit the bullet, ditched my £200 set up and got a closed system(vivarium in my case). The difference was ridiculous.
You are going to have to modify that enclosure, theres no ambient temps, just a warm area near the heat source, so basically your tort only like 1sq ft area of that enclosure, all the rest of the enclosure is pointless unless it's warm. The only way to guarantee correct ambient temp and humidity is to block the sides off and put a lid on it.
Those water dishes are no good, get 2 cheap terrocota saucers and put them to substrate level. The food dish is to high, feed on a slate or flat Rock so your tort doesn't have to reach over a lip to eat. Swap the light for a CHE on a thermostat.
Also if you close it up you will use a lot let electricity(probably half) to keep it warm.
Put some moss in the hide too.
You could modify that enclosure for very little cost.
If that room is at 82f or above and humidity is 80%+ then the above is void.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Ed, when I put my adults in there new enclosure, they seemed to be holding up a lot in hides etc. I was fetching them outside by carrying them, so activity was fine, and I just thought nothing of it.
For the last month or so I completed there hatch door so they can come and go as they please, trouble is, either they held up in hides or came out and would not go back in. I also noticed my 3 juveniles were less active too. The enclosure was set at 86/87F. It's quite accurate and stable to. I dropped the heat about 4 days ago to 83/84F and the difference in activity levels is astonishing. I can't believe the difference. Did I have it set just above their comfort threshold i ask myself.
Sorry OP for going off topic.

PM sent

 

[ZEROPILOT]

It would be virtually impossible to get up and keep up high humidity in such an enclosure. Or as Anyfoot says, to keep it consistantly warm.
Don't forget that the temperature overall needs to be at least 80 and you are shooting for over 80% humidity. (That's like a steamy bathroom after you've taken a hot shower.)
Your first post said that the heat and humidity were good. But I think that those are your issues.
Both Anyfoot and myself keep Redfoot.