behavior of my redfoot

Question
QUESTION: My male redfoot is almost 2 and is a handsome fellow. At nite I keep him in a small tupperware drawer with a heating pad. During the day weather permitting{ and it usually is here in California} I keep him in a large out door enclosure. My question is, he spend s all of his time in his hut in either place so he is not very active. He has a good appetite,but has bowel movements only abt every 4 days.I feed him the recommended diet for redfoots He always has a bowel movement when I hold him.Is this fear or not wanting to soil his environment?  He seems to like to be held and petted,and is responsive to my voice. Does this sound like normal behavior. Also I have a great deal of trouble maintainingg proper humidity. He loves to be soaked so I do this every day. Thx Claudia

ANSWER: Congratulations, Red-foots are wonderful animals. You may want to do some research on them, however. For example- there is no reliable way to sex a Red-foot, or most other tortoises and turtles, until they are nearly sexually mature. In Red-foots, this is about 5-6 years old. Also, turtles and tortoises do not respond to sound or voices, but are very responsive to vibrations, visual cues, and scents.

I'm not a fan of shuffling them between habitats. I strongly recommend making one or the other good enough to be the main habitat. That will reduce handling and stress. These guys DO NOT LIKE CHANGE, like being moved back and forth a lot.

Infrequent bowel movements are not, by themselves, a big deal- quite honestly, it may be having more and just eating them. However, it MAY also be a problem with diet, humidity, etc. You say it eats the recommended diet, but a lot of books and sites recommend a very poor diet for Red-foots.

There are a few sites that may help-
http://www.turtletary.com
http://www.tortoisetrust.org
and
http://www.tortoiseforum.org which is a great place to chat with other keepers on many issues.


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QUESTION: I know he is a male because he displays his penis very often. Could he be 5 or 6 years old ? The pet shop where I purchased him said he was only a year,but they must have been wrong. Thx for your answer. I have done a fair amt of research on the species but I will try to keep him in his outdoor habitat more esp during the summer. Claudia

Answer
I'm sorry for the delay- I thought I answered this but apparently it did not go through.

Knowing the size can help estimate sexual maturity. In Red-foots, that happens when the straight-line carapace length hits about 6" long. At 2 years old, it would only be about 3.5-4" long.

If you pop over the http://www.tortoiseforum.org you can get answers from several keepers and post photos, etc. more easily.