Baskden a warm den for reptile folk

🩺 Your free vet-prep sheet

Your Red-Footed Tortoise Vet-Prep Sheet

Reptile vets are rare, and it is easy to freeze in a crisis. This is the one page to have ready — how to find a vet, what to bring, what to tell them, and the questions to ask. This helps you prepare for a visit — it is not a way to treat at home. Print it and keep it with your care notes.

Black & white saves ink and prints cleanly on any printer.

Not sure it’s a vet trip yet? Try the Is this normal? triage first — many worries turn out to be a husbandry fix.

Baskden a warm den for reptile folk · baskden.com
Red-Footed Tortoise — Vet-Prep Sheet

🔍 Find a reptile / exotics vet — before you need one

  • Search the ARAV Find-a-Vet directory (the Association of Reptilian & Amphibian Veterinarians), or in the UK the RCVS Find-a-Vet — or search "reptile / exotics vet near me".
  • Call ahead and ask the key question: "Do you see reptiles?" Not every practice does.
  • Ask the exam fee when you call. Knowing the cost up front removes the money-panic in a crisis.
  • Find and save one now, while things are calm — not in the middle of an emergency.

📇 Fill this in now — before the crisis

Two minutes now saves ten in a panic. Print it and keep it with your care notes.

My reptile vet
My red-footed tortoise
What I'm seeing

🚨 Is this an emergency now?

See a reptile vet promptly if you notice any of these:

  • Runny nose, bubbling/mucus around the mouth or nose, open-mouth breathing, or wheezing — possible respiratory infection; see an exotics vet.
  • Soft, flexible, or deforming shell, or rubbery jaw — signs of metabolic bone disease (usually UVB/calcium related).
  • Not eating for more than a week, sudden weight loss, or a sunken/lethargic tortoise — get it checked.
  • Straining, no urates/feces, blood in stool or urine, or visible stones/grit — possible bladder stone or obstruction.
  • Prolapse (tissue protruding from the tail end) is an emergency — see a vet the same day.
  • Deep or spreading shell damage, cracks, or foul-smelling soft/discolored shell areas (shell rot) — needs veterinary treatment.

When in doubt, a vet call is never wrong — most issues are reversible if caught early.

🚗 On the way / while you wait

✅ Do

  • Keep it warm at a safe transport temperature — a cold reptile crashes fast (a warm car or a covered container with a warm, not hot, pack helps).
  • Keep it calm, dark and quiet in a secure, ventilated container — stress makes almost everything worse.
  • Bring it in its own container so the vet sees it as it lives.

⛔ Don't

  • Don’t offer food, or any OTC, aquarium-shop or online-forum remedy — many are useless or harmful and can mask the signs.
  • Don’t let it get cold on the way in.
  • Don’t handle it more than you must.

🎒 What to bring

  • A short video and a couple of clear photos of the behaviour or sign — it may not show it in the clinic.
  • A note of your setup (basking, cool-side and night temperatures, UVB, humidity, substrate) and exactly what — and how often — you feed.
  • Your reptile, transported safely in its own secure, ventilated container — kept warm (see below), not in a cold car.

🗣️ What to tell the vet

A general vet may not know this species. Come ready to explain its correct care:

Temperature
A warm basking spot of about 90–95°F (32–35°C) under the heat/UVB lamp. Cool end around 75–80°F (24–27°C); daytime ambient across the enclosure should stay warm (roughly 74–85°F / 23–29°C). This is a tropical species — don't let it get cold. Night can safely drop to about 68–75°F (20–23°C). If your room falls below that, use a thermostat-controlled ceramic heat emitter (no light at night).
UVB & lighting
Yes — daily UVB is essential to prevent metabolic bone disease. Use a linear T5 HO tube (e.g. Arcadia 6% or Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 over a screen; a 12%/10.0 if mounted higher/behind mesh), roughly half the enclosure length, mounted over the basking zone to give a UVI of about 2.0–3.0 where the tortoise basks. Run lights ~11–13 hrs/day (shorter in winter) and replace UVB tubes every 6–12 months even if they still glow.
Humidity
High — target roughly 60–80% (vet clinics often cite 50–70% ambient with a moist "humid hide"/dig box near 80%). Provide a large soaking dish, a damp mossy or dig-box area, and daily misting. Critically, pair humidity with good airflow — stagnant humid air causes respiratory and shell problems.
Enclosure
Bigger is always better. Aim for a minimum of about 8 ft × 4 ft (roughly 32 sq ft / 3 sq m) of floor space for one adult, using an open-topped tortoise table or large custom pen rather than a glass tank. Outdoors is ideal in warm weather: a predator-proof, dig-proof pen with walls at least 2 ft tall and a barrier sunk ~12 in into the soil, plus a shaded hide and a shallow water/wallow area.
Substrate
Deep, richly organic, moisture-retentive substrate (topsoil/coir/cypress-mulch blends) at least 4 in deep indoors, deeper outdoors, topped with ~1 in of leaf litter for foraging and humidity. Spot-clean daily; keep it damp enough to hold humidity but never waterlogged or mouldy.
Diet
Broad-leaf grazer and opportunistic omnivore — the key difference from Mediterranean tortoises. Base the diet on dark leafy greens, weeds and flowers (dandelion, plantain, clover, hibiscus, mulberry leaf, spring greens, leaf lettuces, opuntia/prickly-pear pads). Red-foots genuinely eat fruit in the wild — offer modest amounts of soft fruit (papaya, melon, guava, berries; go easy on banana) as a real part of the diet, not a rare treat. They also naturally eat mushrooms and a little animal protein. Avoid large amounts of goitrogenic/oxalate-heavy foods (kale, broccoli, spinach) and never feed dog/cat food as a staple.
Supplements
Dust food with a calcium (D3-optional if UVB is strong) supplement 2–3× weekly and a reptile multivitamin ~weekly; leave a cuttlebone available for self-regulation. Small amount of animal protein about once weekly (e.g. a couple of earthworms, or a small portion of low-fat protein) — red-foots need a bit more protein than grassland tortoises, but too much causes shell pyramiding and kidney strain.

⚕️ Reptiles are ectotherms kept at species-specific temperatures — a cold reptile can’t metabolise medicines properly, so tell the vet your exact temperatures and keep it warm for transport. Reptiles are prey animals and hide illness until it is advanced, so early changes matter. Mention your UVB/lighting and any supplements or remedies you’ve already used, and ask for reptile-safe products and doses.

Then note which of the warning signs (above) you are seeing, when they started, and whether they are getting worse.

❓ Questions to ask

  • Do you routinely see reptiles? If not, can you refer me to a vet who does?
  • What are the likely causes — and could my setup or diet be contributing?
  • What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for at home?
  • How do I prevent this from happening again?