Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to this deserty area, but not new to reptiles...I moved to North/Central WA from Oregon a few years ago and I recently got a small redfoot tortoise. I'm not sure of the age or sex..but it is active, feeds well, and has a good shell (no pryamiding). It is currently about 4-5" from front of shell to back of shell. It is housed in a large, custom cage with coco fiber bedding that is misted a few times per day and one end has a "pit" I made using a rubber maid lid filled with drenched coco fibers. The tortoise also has a shallow soaking pan and access to fresh drinking water. I feed it a variety of fresh fruits and veggies every day as well as moistened tortoise diet. I have two temp/humidity gauges in the enclosure, one at each end. The "cool" end of the enclosure is around 74 degrees with 21% humidity. The "hot" end of the enclosure is generally in the low 90's with 23% humidity in the hidey box. The box is a small rubber maid tub with a hole cut out at one end. I also have two pots of water on our wood stove which evaporate (I add more water several times per day) and I have a humidifier in the same room. But I'm unable to raise the humidity any more in there.

What can I do? 23% certainly does NOT sound high enough for a tropical species...and I'd like to breed these guys, one day. I had to stop breeding my beardies because I was unable to maintain high enough humidity to get the eggs to hatch.

I keep two Yellow Foots (I understand they need more humidity than Red-Foots). You sound as if you have done the right things. If you want to give them more humidity – try putting a hide in their enclosure (Micro environment for your red foots to enter). I personally do not have a hide – but do mist my tortoises every time I pass them.

About your sexing – I believe it is hard to determine the sex of your Red Foots until they are a little bigger/older. My Yellow Foots are a little larger than your Red Foots – they weigh about a pound and a half each. Anyways I think I have a boy and girl because
- One is rounder and wider than the other
- One bobs it’s head when it comes in contact with the other one or another Tortoise looking animal
I will probably find out in about another 2 or 3 years when they become sexually mature.

About your beardie – They should be fine to bread a low humidity as they come from desert country.

One last thing – air-conditioning takes the humidity out of the air in a big way – so try evaporative air cooling

Good luck with your Red-Foots

I do have a hide box...but that's as humid as I can get it.

I'll try to post pics if I can ever find my digital camera battery charger! (Camera's dead).

As for the eggs & humidity, they need to be more humid than I can make it so they end up drying out.

Currently, it's 10 degrees here and we have 4 feet of snow at our house (we live at almost 3000' elevation), so A/C is not happening right now. And we don't even have A/C in our house...even though it gets 100 almost every day, July through August. We just have decent insulation and lots of screened windows.

Thanks!

During the winter I have a tough time as well keeping the humidity up. I might have to look into a mister or humidfier system just to keep it up. Misting 3-4 times a day is hard if you are not around as often as you would like.

I have read about from respected breeders that you should buy Long Fibered Spahgnum Moss and decent amount (2-3" deep) in the hide. Keep this moist, not drenched as it retains water pretty well. I have this in my hide and my little one loves it! It keeps the humidity in the hide to 80-90% for awhile. Check it and then mist it again if it seems to dry out.

As for the rest of your enclosure I would try to use a plexiglass or some kind of cover to retain moisture. I lost any humidity I added without one.

I hope this helps.

Thank you!

Hi,

Ive owned a couple of redfoots for the last couple of months and ive had the same prob.

23% is very low and ill bet that if you look at the guy his eyes are watering. I originaly made an open top tortoise table and like you could only keep the humidity up around 23-30. i since have built a top of plywood and lexan and installed a big apple mister. i now have a humidity of 75% most of the time. I am using mulch as a bedding which seems to hold the moister pretty well(better than the peat moss i had originaly). I think the most important thing is to get the hides humidity up. Im sure he spends most of his time there so at least if that is up he will be doing better. just get a flowwer pot of tupperware container and put some spagnum moss in it, mistit a few times a day and you will see that it keeps the humidity up well. I also soak mine for 15 mins every day. One great thing ive noticed about this is that they always seem to go to the bathroom when i soak them...this means that the enclosure is not getting dirty!

I would highly recommend going to www.redfoots.com. Lots of great no nonsense info there.

good luck!

Thanks for the info & the link!