Red foots growth

[SWsarah]

I have done alot of research into red foots and one peice of advice was that when young and hiding at the bottom of the forest they would not come across any UVB.
Also i have had young reds (wild caught) and i subjected them to UVB from a trex bulb 5-6 hours a day, this cause eye damage where they were bumping into things and were trying to eat but could make out where the food was. These tortoises sadly died due to stress and high worm load.
Anyway i thought i would try no UVB no direct heat source (the garage is heated at 27-30c) and a diet of weeds and on the odd occasion bit of fruit and mauri tortoise pellet designed for reds (this baby has has about 3 little pellets thats it). So the main diet weeds.
Baby mango is very active and comes out for food all the time.
The growth is so smooth im really shocked
It hatched at 30g

Now at 3 months is 66g more than double its hatch weight



Im not telling people with red foots to not use UVB stick with what is working for you
Ed i would really like your opinnion on this please

[-EJ]

They are impressive looking little guys.

Your only saying what I've been saying all along only it applies to all tortoises.

I'll post a Mazuri update and some other tortoises which have not seen any UVB in 2+ years.

Ed

[SWsarah]

Now now ed dont get excited this guy has only had 3 pellets in 3 months, so not a staple diet. Its main diet is weeds

[-EJ]

Needless to say it is a very nice looking well developed animal.

Ed

Originally Posted by blondesarah

Now now ed dont get excited this guy has only had 3 pellets in 3 months, so not a staple diet. Its main diet is weeds

[fantapants]

good on you for being brave enough to try something new. even if it is a very tentative try! i think theories like Eds can be proven or disproven by people actually giving them a chance and seeing waht they can do in different circumstances. only by making changes and experimenting with techiniques can we hope to move the husbandry forward. be interetsing to see the results long term.

so do the pellets contain D3? and whats the nutritional values of it? does he seem to like it?

[SWsarah]

The pellets where given to by a friend who uses them on his red foots.

I agree if things arnt tried then how do we know?

[Tina]

Are you using vitamin and calcium supplements on the weeds you feed this one Sarah?

[littlefoot]

Hi Sarah I am curious to know about the humidity you use?

[SWsarah]

Yes i use limestone flour and nutrobal 3-4 times a week.

Humidity is at 70-80% this is done by providing a good layer of top soil and repti bark on top. The soil is kept damp where as the top layer of repti bark is kept dry. I hardly spray baby mango

[littlefoot]

how do you keep the soil damp and the bark dry?