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Red-Footed Tortoise Help
Hello all, I usually only post about ball pythons, but I have some questions about this particular species. I'm going to apologize in advance for the lengthy post.
So, I work at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Virginia, and today we got in a red-footed tortoise that had been abandoned and I need some pointers on his care.
His story: the guy who brought him to us said that while he was visiting family over Christmas he saw this tortoise out in the yard and realized that it was not a wild turtle. They took him home, did some research and realized that they could not properly care for him, then contacted us. Other than some moderate shell pyramiding he seems fine, but will be getting full veterinary work up in the morning.
When he got to us, I also did some quick research and was hoping some one could point me in the right direction as far as husbandry and diet are concerned. I want him to be set up correctly until we can find him a forever home. His shell is about 10-11 inches from front to back, and he's almost 5 pounds.
So far this is what I have:
1) He is in a 4ft x 4ft pen (inside) with 2 inches of cypress/eco earth blend that is moistened
2) One heat lamp that is reading between 89-92*F as a basking spot, another on the other end that is keeping the ambient around 76-78*F, and a repti-sun UVB bulb on a 12 hour timer
3) He has the top of a cat litter pan as a hide that he can get into that is near enough to the heat lamp to be around 78*F, any closer and I was afraid it would melt
4) Right now, he does not have a soaking bowl since we did not have anything big enough for him to soak, but shallow enough for him to climb into - hopefully we can find something in the morning (any suggestions on what to use is appreciated)
5) For food tonight he got kale, romaine lettuce, tomato, cantaloupe, mazuri tortoise pellets, and 3 super-worms with calcium D3 powder
From what I read, they are omnivorous but really lean more toward the herbivore side of things. Various sites said that they need kinds of animal protein but the frequency ranged from every day to once a month, what frequency is best? We currently also have a sulcata that was abandoned two years ago that eats the mazuri pellets but I'm not sure if a grassland tortoise pellet will also work for this guy, so If we need a different kind, please let me know. Is there anything else that is unique to this species that we should know for his care?
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