Taking Care of the Red Footed Tortoise

The Red Footed Tortoises are friendly, cute, and they are great as pets. However, taking care of those animals is not as easy as you assume. It is true that it is not as hard as taking care of a dog, but a minimum of care is required if you want to have a healthy tortoise.

The Red Footed Tortoise eats leaf, fruits and supplements. It is important to ensure a good mix of those. This way, your turtle will be healthy for a long time. The leafy greens can ensure 70% of the food required by a red-footed tortoise. Lettuce, mustard greens and radicchio are perfect. At the beginning, only give them small quantities and see how they react. There are only general feeding rules for tortoises, but each one of them reacts differently to foods. While a tortoise might like the lettuce more than anything else, another one from the same species might not like it at all.

Unlike other tortoises that are really sensitive to certain types of fruits, the red-footed tortoise can eat a large number of fruits. Tomatoes, berries of any kind and apples are great. As for the supplements, you can choose the ones recommended by the veterinarian. When the turtle is still small, you need to ensure a solid quantity of calcium for the turtle. This can usually be taken from supplements. A turtle that lives freely in its natural habitat will know what food to choose, but if the tortoise stays at your home, it can only eat what you give her to eat, and this is why you should make sure that they have everything required.

The red-footed tortoise can be raised indoor and outdoor. For indoor housing, you should choose a special table that you can buy from the local pet store. Even if you choose to raise the turtle indoors, you should consider keeping it in the yard during the summer. When you make the switch from the indoor to the outdoor environment, take care of the turtle and make sure not to drop it. The carapace might be resistant, but the shock might damage internal organs of the pet. Moreover, if the carapace is not fully developed, a shock will probably damage its growth. The lighting is important for a tortoise also, as it should imitate the natural habitat perfectly. The tortoise also needs a place where it can hide, preferably made of stones to imitate a natural cave.  

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Taking Care of the Red Foot Tortoise

The red tortoise is a great companion, as they don’t require daily meals, they don’t leave hair around the house, they must not be walked, and they are also active and cute. They are also caring. For the adult tortoises, if you leave them free around the house, you will notice that they will look for you around the rooms, they will climb your shoes, and she will also want to stay with you on the couch when you watch TV. It is not proven that the red foot tortoise has the capacity to care, but the observation made by people raising red foot tortoises as pets state this matter.

As the red foot tortoise grows fast, it is important to secure a large space since the start, considering the fact that those are really active when they don’t hibernate. The tortoise is semi-aquatic, meaning that it needs to spend time on dry land and in water. However, they will spend a reduced time in water, so the shelter must be made of sand, grass and weed, rather than water. The tortoise has the tendency to hibernate during the winter, even if you ensure food and light, and for a few years, it is possible for it to hibernate. However, when the organism adjusts, the tortoise will probably stay awake during the winter, but this is only needed after a few years.



It seems complicated to take care of a red foot tortoise, but it is not that hard, as it adapts to the offered conditions. It is possible for it to get sick, but this happens rarely. They have sensitive eyes. They don’t like sudden temperature changes, so it is preferred to maintain a constant temperature in the house. Sometimes, they will need vitamins, and you can administrate those by dissolving them on water and food. The tortoises need to socialize, so don’t be surprised when she will take her head out of the carapace and she will look at you when you come home and talk.



The red foot tortoise is a friend that you will have for a lifetime, and this is not a word in vain. This tortoise lives for 30-50 years, so if you want one, you will take a long-term commitment. If you treat the tortoise with love and care, you will see that it will have the same behavior with you, but it will take some time, so you need to have patience with her, as it is just like a child that needs attention and care.

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