Re: Please Help...Baby redfoot!!!

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Posted by Elizabeth and Beasley on February 17, 1999 at 12:49:51:

In Reply to: Please Help...Baby redfoot!!! posted by Derek on February 16, 1999 at 20:53:15:

: Someone please help me. I have a red foot that is very stubborn and is not eating well. I have tried all kinds of greens, Romaine, Kale, Mustard greens, Parsley...etc. I tried grapes, apple, plum, cucumber, mango and he just takes a small taste and walks away. I dont have time to watch him all day but he eats very little. I have and adult redfoot i also recently purchased that eats like crazy, everything i give her. The only thing the little guy will consistantly eat is mushy pears but i dont want to just feed him that. I dont even know if its good for him. I have him set up in a 10 gal tank now with a 10 degree temp gradieant 75-85 degree's. Full-spec light, heat lamp, and the food is constantly available, but again little is eaten. He is sprayed one a day in the afternoon and given a daily water bath. I also hae a young sulcata that eats 5X as much as the young red foot, what am i doing wrong? Alos, is there any info on captive breeding these species that anyone has come accross that would be informative reading?

Marissa already sent you to my site. Hope it helped some.

Other have suggested a *larger* enclosure -- I found that a larger one just encouraged Beasley to hide in the cool side, and the result was that he was too cool. So I moved him to a smaller enclosure.

That said, I think 10 gal. is *too* small. It's really hard to set up a good temp gradient in a 10 gal. I use a Rubbermaid container (see website) that is about 30" long. Gradient is 75-95 degrees. He has ferns for cover, and he hides there a lot. He also has trays of grass (Annie's Pasture Mix) so he can graze whenever he likes.

A few questions:

1. What are you using for substrate? Plain topsoil is best for humidity-loving species b/c it holds moisture. Check out Hatchling Haven, which has a fantastic description of an appropriate habitat for humidity loving torts like red-foots.

2. Are you using a UVB tube? Reptisun 5.0?

And a final comment: There is evidence that in the wild, hatchlings may live on their yolk sacs for up to *9 months to a year.* So that may well account for their not always eating like pigs in captivity! There is info on this at this article on pyramiding. That would mean that we don't need to worry as much as we do about their eating really well as babies. And that may also account for why CB torts sometimes pyramid at least slightly no matter whether they have a "perfect" diet or not.

Hope this helps. Hatchling Heaven is your best bet!

Elizabeth and Beasley

Beasley the Red-Footed Tortoise

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: : Someone please help me. I have a red foot that is very stubborn and is not eating well. I have tried all kinds of greens, Romaine, Kale, Mustard greens, Parsley...etc. I tried grapes, apple, plum, cucumber, mango and he just takes a small taste and walks away. I dont have time to watch him all day but he eats very little. I have and adult redfoot i also recently purchased that eats like crazy, everything i give her. The only thing the little guy will consistantly eat is mushy pears but i dont want to just feed him that. I dont even know if its good for him. I have him set up in a 10 gal tank now with a 10 degree temp gradieant 75-85 degree's. Full-spec light, heat lamp, and the food is constantly available, but again little is eaten. He is sprayed one a day in the afternoon and given a daily water bath. I also hae a young sulcata that eats 5X as much as the young red foot, what am i doing wrong? Alos, is there any info on captive breeding these species that anyone has come accross that would be informative reading? : Marissa already sent you to my site. Hope it helped some. : Other have suggested a *larger* enclosure -- I found that a larger one just encouraged Beasley to hide in the cool side, and the result was that he was too cool. So I moved him to a smaller enclosure. : That said, I think 10 gal. is *too* small. It's really hard to set up a good temp gradient in a 10 gal. I use a Rubbermaid container (see website) that is about 30" long. Gradient is 75-95 degrees. He has ferns for cover, and he hides there a lot. He also has trays of grass (Annie's Pasture Mix) so he can graze whenever he likes. : A few questions: : 1. What are you using for substrate? Plain topsoil is best for humidity-loving species b/c it holds moisture. Check out <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/index.html">Hatchling Haven</a>, which has a fantastic description of an appropriate habitat for humidity loving torts like red-foots. : 2. Are you using a UVB tube? Reptisun 5.0? : And a final comment: There is evidence that in the wild, hatchlings may live on their yolk sacs for up to *9 months to a year.* So that may well account for their not always eating like pigs in captivity! There is info on this at <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/keratin.htm"> this article on pyramiding</a>. That would mean that we don't need to worry as much as we do about their eating really well as babies. And that may also account for why CB torts sometimes pyramid at least slightly no matter whether they have a "perfect" diet or not. : Hope this helps. Hatchling Heaven is your best bet! : Elizabeth and Beasley

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