red foot tortoise/help wanted

[Steele]

my room mate's rft shell on his belly is geting a ridg on it We think that he is eting rright his poo looks the same as when he got him he is still petty young.Eny help would be gat thankes

[Bartman]

take him to the vet and dont wait until it gets to bad to fix. Thats my only advice.

[red bootz]

Whawazzat?
I'd like to help but can you be a little more specific? What type of "ridge". How old is the RFT in question. What is it eating, how is it kept, etc.etc.

[Steele]

Thank you red and bart man . he is probly .5 year old he is 2.5/3 inches long he seems helthy and hapy very elert eting well.The rige goss across his/her bellyright at half way between his frunt and back all the temp and humidity are good lots of good lite and exersize.thankz STEELE.

[red bootz]

By ridge do you mean that its folded? When chelonians come out of the shell their carapaces are folded over somewhat, but at half a year this is probably not the cause. What's it eating? Calcium defeciencies often make themselves evident in the carapace. What do you mean by good light? Nothing beats sunlight...

[Steele]

He comes out sid some times and he has a uvb in his home he get hibiscus flowers, dandlion, repcal,roman let,pears, peach,watermelen and reeds torties food.It is more like a dip then a fold and some times he will balence on that spot on his food bowl. Thank you agine
STEELE

[red bootz]

Judging by the sounds of things it seems your little RFT is alright. As long as there's no oozing, discoloration, and he's eating and eliminating I'd say he's okay. Some Red foots tend to get pinched near the mid body (especially males) so maybe this is what is developing. The diet sounds okay too, but try to stay away from too many fruits as they tend to have a bad calcium to phosphorous ratio. I don't know about the reed's stuff but give it sparingly. I was away overseas for a year and for the sake of convenience I instructed my brother to feed them pretty pets tortoise food and veggies. Needless to say, when I got back they had some ugly pyramiding developing. I have heard good things about Mazuri tortoise diet which was developed for the closely related Galapagos tortoises so I am trying that out with my baby right now in addition to its veggies and I am seeing excellent result (smooth carapace and absolutely no pyramiding). So if the convenience of prepared foods appeals to you, this is something I would recommend.

[Steele]

Thank you alot so Icould be looking for a little ladey for him.

[red bootz]

Don't be betting anything just yet. You won't know until he/she's abput 6 to 8 inches. That's probably not for a few years.

[Linds]

Originally posted by red bootz
The diet sounds okay too, but try to stay away from too many fruits as they tend to have a bad calcium to phosphorous ratio.

Redfoots need a much higher percentage of fruit in their diet than msot other torties do. In the wild, during the wet season fruit makes up for 70% of their diet. Though most fruits have a poor C:P ratio, its best to just keep a varied diet, and balance the poor c ratio with high calcium greens and veggies. Variety is key in vegetarian diets, as well as proper supplements. What may be lacking in one food (bad c ratio for instance), it may be very high in other vitamins, etc. Calcium is a very important part of the diet, but it can't be the sole focus either.

This is a great site for figuring out the c ratio of foods... http://www.iwrc-online.org/rehab/calphos2.html