Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two redfoots. These are the first tortoises's I have owned. They are set up properely according to everything I have read, ie proper temp, etc. They both are eating very well however they are not very active. They do race over to the food dish when I place it in their enclosure and eat very well. My question and concern is ...... do Redfoots slow down indoors during the winter months. My problem is that I do not know what the term " active " means for a Redfoot. Should they be moving around all day ? Right now they seem to be pretty inactive . Is this a normal occurance during the winter months?
Or does it sound like my R/F's are not healthy. I am having a problem keeping the humidity up over 60deg. I have purchased a misting machine but it is still a problem. The avg humidity is about 50 deg. Will this be a problem for the R/F. I try to spray them a couple times a day to increase the humidity.
Could use some advice . Thanks

Hey there,

This is also the first winter I've spent with my redfoot, as you may have noticed in my previous post (also cleverly titled "Redfoots in Winter" - great minds...). Ndugu has definitely slowed down - he often spends a day or two burrowed in his substrate, then wakes up, rampages around his enclosure, eats and goes back to sleep. He has "normal" periods of activity, as well. It seems like it depends on the weather. Since we've turned up the heat in the apartment, he seems more active (it boosted the temps in his enclosure, although we do have three ceramic heat emitters to provide him with basking spots). However, the heat also dries him out, so we've increased our Big Apple misting system frequency...

We have trouble with humidity, too. We do what we can, which basically means running the mister, augmenting it with a spray bottle, keeping fresh water in his home, and soaking him several times per week. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the reply. It's good to see that I'm not the only one fumbling through my first winter with my two R/F's. They are really interesting. I am looking forward to building their pen outside this Spring. They'll have the "Good Life "
Thanks for the information and your experiences.
Regards,
V

...if they are wc...chances are there's still a that BIG homeland CLOCK in them...

...if they got exposed to your winter climate (partial/draft)...any torts will cringe...

...if you want to control or try to control that humidrange manually...play around with substrates/enclosed humidbox...ect, the possibilites are almost endless...should NEVER LIMITS your quest, whatever you do...

Thanks for your reply. My two are not w/c , however I will take your advise and try different things to keep the humidity up.
Regards
V