Box Turtle and Tortoise Discussion :: Cherry head owners

[TupacTheTurle]

hello, i own a RES named tupac and was tossing the idea around of getting a tortoise. I've looked at a few and i was looking at the cherry headed red foot. I wanted to se what people thought about them and maybe a few pictures of your setups to see how much room im going to need to clear out.

Thanks in advance.

[TupacTheTurle]

anyone?

[RESnTX]

Ummm, my sister has one. I don't know if it's the breed, but hers is boring. lol. I'm used to a turtle moving around non stop. Her cherryhead is a couple of years old and has had many health problems. She is a pretty turtle but just eats and sleeps alot. When you take outside for playtime she is more active. They do require alot of room, but I'm not much help with the other stuff required.

[steve]

Terryo has a beautiful one. She has posted plenty of pics, just go through some of her posts.

[Terryo]

Thanks Steve. Pio, my cherry Head is 14 months old now and is in a 75 gal planted vivarium. I put plenty of plants to hold the humidity. They come from tropical forests and need to have filtered sunlight.

[Sassamo]

Wow she is beautiful
I love how natural her tank looks too

[Take-One]

Alot of times I have trouble believing thats a tank TerryO. It's amazing how it looks like that.

And cherryfoots get HUGE. They need tons of humidity, not the easiest to take care of.

[TupacTheTurle]

beautiful tort, terry.

Take 1- i heard that the regular red-foots get big. and that the cherry heads are a "dwarf" version maxing out at like 8-10 inches?

[jenaero]

I don't know how much smaller the cherryheads are, but I know they don't get as large as the redfoots. Seeing as how a redfoot can get up to 24in, I think 8-10 sounds a bit too small for a cherryhead. You'll want to look into this a bit more.

[Terryo]

Thank you. When I first got him I was disappointed. He is my first tortoise and I expected more. I had him in a plastic storage bin like everyone advised. It didn't look very nice, and I couldn't keep up the humidity at all. He stayed in his hide all day except for an AM and late afternoon feeding, which I had to initiate. He was really boring. Being he was so small, I got a glass tank (30 gal) and planted it like a terrarium with plants on the list that were OK for him to eat. I put a screen top with a heat emitter on one side and a long tube UBV on the other side and covered the rest with clear wrapping tape. It looked really nice and held the humidity very well. When he got bigger I upgraded to a 75 gal. After I made his environment more interesting for him he came out much more to investigate and he stays out much longer now. He is beautiful and I love him, but I have to say that my boxies have much more personality. I made him an enclosure in the yard for the coming Spring, but I will have to think of something for inside when he gets bigger.

[TupacTheTurle]

wow, terry thanks. thats kinda what i was looking for...

how big do you think Pio will get?

[Terryo]

I talked to many breeders, and they all say the same thing no such thing as a dwarf Redfoot. I wish he were so I wouldn't have to keep upgrading...As I said I love him and he will be mine forever now, but I still think that Boxies have much more personality. My little Three Toed makes me laugh all the time, and I will be sad when it is time to put her outside for good in another year or so. Hee's Izzy going "all the way" trying to catch a worm.



resting with her litt paw (?) in the water

[steve]

I love that digging picture! Turtles and tortoises are such amazing animals to observe.