CherryHeaded Redfoot Help

[Martin]

I could do with some help please. On thursday 31/8/06 i brought two cherryheaded Redfoot tortoises I had read up about them and had set up a tortoise table for them. I have used a 50/50 mix of top soil and play sand to depth of 8 inches. I keep the humidity between 70&80% and the temperature at 88'. One of the Cherryheads is eating fine, but the other one has not eaten and hardly moves. He keeps moving to the coldest end of the table 65-70`and only wakes up when bathed He has no discharge on his eyes or nose and when awake he looks ok, if only he would eat. I have tried mellon,Kiwi,Mango,Strawberry,and the weeds i grow for my Hermans. One of them eats anything and the other is eating nothing. Any help/advice greatly appreciated. They are both about one year old.

[Eire_Ade]

Hi Martin,

Welcome to this great forum.

I only have med species myself, but it sounds like the quiet one is just hiding, and is going to settle in in his / her own time. I wouldn't worry too much just yet.

The information you have provided seems to be ok from what I can remember about the set up for redfoots which is similar in humidity and temps etc...

Sometimes they take a little while to settle in to their new homes.

Hope this puts your mind at rest.

Ade

hi martin

give him time

he can go without food for quite a while .......... he is settling in


but please make sure you give him his baths about 20 mins per day so that he does not become dehydrated

give it a couple of weeks and everyhting will be ok

linda



EDITED TO SAY martin please listen to darren / piglet & lowe they are very experienced i am not

[imported_Lowe]

As said some do take a little longer to settle in than others.

Out of interest do you know the history of your new tortoses? Where did they come from?

[piglet]

Martin
How old are they were did you get them, this could be serious and may need veterinary attention straight away depending on there history.
Darren

what makes you say that Darren? What do you think it could be?

[imported_Lowe]

Some Cherryheads have a dubious history and have an over growth of a bacteria in the gut which makes them incredibly lethargic and they have a big loss of appetite. Eventually sadly it can cause death - it's what our male Redfoot had, but we managed to pull him through. A young tortoise might not be so lucky so it needs identifying ASAP

I see! is that specific to cherryheads or is it something we should all watch out for?

[piglet]

Many redfoots and including the type known as Cherry heads are imported a captive farmed in theory this means wild caught.
Alot of these animals endure a very stressful time whilst waiting to be shipped to there destinations no food or water for up to several weeks this puts a huge amount of stress on the animals system .

Wild caught animals are usually infected with a protozoa called heximita parva that lives in the urinary tract which will influx immensely when the tortoises system is under stress .

This is what i think the cherry has as when infection is at its peak animals show signs of lethargy not eating or having a will to live so to speak ,heximita is highly infectious and when dealing with this hand scrubs should be used at all times when handling infected animals or suspect animals .
urine samples can be taken to check for this problem
Treatment is easy usually administrated via stomach tube , the drug metronidazole works well with ridding the system of this problem 240mg per kilo repeated in 14 days is usually sufficient
Darren

Darren - your knowledge is awsome! Its great to have someone on here that knows so much!