Redfoots

[sarah]

I believe UVB is needed but not as much. Some people use Trex uvb and heat bulbs in one and then an extra heat source like a 60- 100w bulb or 60w-100w bulb and a uvb strip light.

[Laura01]

Ok thankyou.
What do you use to measure the humidity??

[pawsplus]

For fruit, I try to stick with things that a redfoot might find in the wild or similar to such foods: mango, papaya, plum, and also kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, and occasional banana.

You can get a hygrometer to measure the humidity. I have a digital min/max thermometer that is also a min/max hygrometer.

Esp. in a house in the winter you will have a hard time getting the humidity of the entire enclosure up to 70-80%. But you can create a microclimate in part of the enclosure with damp spaghnum moss. Provide a water dish that is plenty large enough for the tortoise to soak himself when he wants to (plus a largish pool will increase the overall humidity). Esp. young RFs need to be soaked (by you, no choice in the matter) in warm water daily (15 min or so).

Redfoots are not actually forest-dwelling tortoises the way hingebacks and yellowfoots are, and I don't buy the "need less UVB" thing. They are usually found on the edges of forests and in grasslands in the wild, in a part of the world (very near the Equator) where the UVB is MUCH stronger, for more of the year, than in the Mediterranean. They need UVB as much or more than Med torts. Get a good mercury vapor bulb for heat and UVB and put it in one corner of the enclosure. Enclosure should be large enough to create a good temperature gradient (90F under the light, 75F in the middle, 65-70 in the cool side where the hide should be).

Most important is to keep the tort outside as much as possible. I realize many people don't agree w/ me, but I do not think that the UK is an ideal place to keep large tortoises who require high temps. Dedicated people on this forum can and do keep them well in the UK -- it's certainly not impossible! Just a lot of work and clearly the # of days a year that a RF will be able to be outside in the UK is significantly less than in the Southern US where I live (and I wish Beasley could be out more than she is!). So just take all this into account!

a hygrometer is used to measure the ground humidity for the reds

i believe dazza sell them http://www.kimbosreptileworld.co.uk/

[Laura01]

Are the exo-terra hygrometers ok to use? or does it have to be a digital one?

Originally Posted by Laura01

Are the exo-terra hygrometers ok to use? or does it have to be a digital one?

well it does not need to be digital

but it does need to be quite accurate

i think the ones you are referring to are not very accurate

[piglet]

In 1995 I was very privileged to go on a 6 month field trip to South America, reason work , studying toco toucan behaviour in wild birds, we where trying to establish a natural feeding pattern and behaviour that may help breed these birds more successfully in a captive environment.
Anyway I ended up tagging along with some German/french students that where studying the population densities of red/yellow footed tortoises and gather data that showed there natural behaviour,what they feed on etc.
Anyway the location we were at was palace called Saint-Laurent Du Maroni a place that was dense tropical rain forest with a supposedly high population of toucan species and also wild redfoots .
We camped in an area of dense hot humid forest with a a few full fruiting wild trees the most active being (spondias mombin) the mombin fruit tree, others in the same area but not as well populated where Annonaceae(sugar apple) and wild papaya (cauicaceae).
Toucans where few and very difficult to watch as they where very nervous of human activity due to there constant capture for the pet trade,so I ended up tagging along with the redfoot researchers .
What was found in this locality where that redfoots gathered in huge mixed age and sex groups around these fruiting trees where in the slightly cooler mornings when humidity was a bit more bareable the tortoises emerged to feed on the fallen fruits on mass, they seemed to feed exclusively on the fallen fruit for several hours before disappearing back to there retreats , usually buried in deep leaf cover and amongst tree roots,
The forest was so dense that natural sunlight rarely hit the forest floor and no tortoise was ever found basking in the pockets of sunlight that did push its way through the canopy.
Also the area was heavily hunted for bush meat redfoots included , I know that the native hunters who collected the tortoises for either food or the pet trade allowed the researches to examine the slaughtered animals gut content , it was found that over the 3 month fruiting period the tortoises stayed almost entirely around the trees (certain large individuals where tagged with carapace markings (paint) to allow the researches to recognise individual animals ) there stomachs contained almost entirely fruit gathered from the Mombin tree together with mombin leaves and some soil and termites very little else was found in there system except the odd individual who had probably been feeding out in the forest before finding the fruiting Mombin trees .
After the trees had finished fruiting the redfoots vanished back into the forest which I might add was incredibly dense with no areas that would allow enough sunlight to penetrate that could be used as a basking site , as said no tortoise was ever observed basking.
Anyway second half of the trip found us in a another location again where redfoots/yellowfoots where to be found in dense populations
This second locality was also in French Guiana but bordering tropical forest and open wet grassland it was prior to the dryer season of the area.
Toucan populations where slightly higher and birds where more abundant and not so nervous I was able to do my own research now but was far more interested in the tortoise studies.
This time tortoises where found both yellow and reds out in the more open areas feeding on fungi that grew in profusion around the rotten felled trees that had been removed for fruit tree planting and timber sales.
Again the humidity was great and at times totally unbearable the heat and sunlight where extreme also.
both tortoises and toucans where really if ever found out in the extreme heat but stayed well hidden in the forest and forest fringes ,again no tortoises where found basking in full sunlight at all this again was over a 3month period, the grassland was also extremely dense and full of small shrubs any tortoise wishing to bask amongst these grasses would need to break down the area selected to allow themselves exposure to enough sunlight to make basking worth while .
Anyway this post is getting to long to carry on but the point is redfoot and yellow foots aren't what we call basking species they retire to or inhabit dense Forest or dig deep in to thick cover when the sun is at its highest, yes agree med species also do this but redfoots tended to forage in the misty early mornings as they never needed to bask to raise there body temps unlike med types as the ambient temps are always adquet enough for them to keep a steady body temp.but they did feed quickly before the soring heat and sunlight became intense I will agree that UVB exposer was gained through there forageing in the early morning as higher UVB levels can still be gained even in dense undergrowth in these areas of the equater where UVB levels are extremley high but the animals did hide when heat levels rise to the extreme and where never seen basking as med tortoises do at all.
Here in the UK its not a problem keeping redfoots or yellow foots as long as winter housing can be sort that's to there liking something I find very easy indeed I feel that people don't really understand are British climate we don't live in the ice age here .

Darren

[niamherrity]

Darren i loved reading that What a life you have Really brilliant

Im coming back in my next life as you

Originally Posted by niamherrity

Im coming back in my next life as you

Even better I want to come back in my next life as one of Darren's torts... they have the best life ever.

[niamherrity]

Ye but debs i get to look after you