Care
Red-foot tortoises are native to South America where they live in hot and humid conditions which vary only slightly throughout the year. I, however, am a native of the United Kingdom where conditions vary considerably from season to season. Therefore we keep our Red-foots inside for most of the year allowing them into the garden whenever possible during the summer months. Since Red-foots live in tropical conditions all year round they do not hibernate.
Red-foot tortoises (Geochelone carbonaria) typically grow to a carapace length of 10 to 14 inches. Males can be identified by the narrowing of the waist giving them an hourglass appearance when viewed from above. Males also have a concave plastron. I have found them to be intellegent animals with great personalities that make excellent pets.
Recreating hot and humid conditions whilst keeping the energy bills down is not easy in a terraced house in the UK. After looking at a number of styles of vivariums and tortoise-tables I have designed and built a vivarium style enclosure. See the vivarium construction section for more details. Tortoise tables are better from a ventilation point of view, however this same ventilation makes it more difficult to maintain the high temperature and humidity these animals prefer. Our hatchlings have gone on to live in both types of enclosures, being happy in either.
The hot end of the enclosure is maintained at 30 °C during the day which drops by a few degrees at night to about 25 °C. I use a Day/night thermostat connected to a ceramic heat bulb to achieve this. The tortoises tend to sleep in the shelters at the cool end of the vivarium. Lighting in the vivarium is provided by three 5% UVB tubes. The tortoises have a supply of water for drinking and bathing. For substrate I use a mixture of Peat moss compost and orchid bark.
The adult red-foots are fed on a diet consisting of leafy greens, lettuces (not iceberg), plums, oranges (occasionally), mushrooms, pears, kiwi fruit, peaches, mango, strawberries, raspberry, nectarines and apple. Foods to avoid are spinach and banana.
Red-foot tortoises (Geochelone carbonaria) typically grow to a carapace length of 10 to 14 inches. Males can be identified by the narrowing of the waist giving them an hourglass appearance when viewed from above. Males also have a concave plastron. I have found them to be intellegent animals with great personalities that make excellent pets.
Recreating hot and humid conditions whilst keeping the energy bills down is not easy in a terraced house in the UK. After looking at a number of styles of vivariums and tortoise-tables I have designed and built a vivarium style enclosure. See the vivarium construction section for more details. Tortoise tables are better from a ventilation point of view, however this same ventilation makes it more difficult to maintain the high temperature and humidity these animals prefer. Our hatchlings have gone on to live in both types of enclosures, being happy in either.
The hot end of the enclosure is maintained at 30 °C during the day which drops by a few degrees at night to about 25 °C. I use a Day/night thermostat connected to a ceramic heat bulb to achieve this. The tortoises tend to sleep in the shelters at the cool end of the vivarium. Lighting in the vivarium is provided by three 5% UVB tubes. The tortoises have a supply of water for drinking and bathing. For substrate I use a mixture of Peat moss compost and orchid bark.
The adult red-foots are fed on a diet consisting of leafy greens, lettuces (not iceberg), plums, oranges (occasionally), mushrooms, pears, kiwi fruit, peaches, mango, strawberries, raspberry, nectarines and apple. Foods to avoid are spinach and banana.