Gohan my Cherry Head Red Foot Tortoise

Gohan!

 Here is our little banana eating explorer, and my one true love, Robert! (If you read my previous blog, that's "him"!) We got him April 20, 2018 as a little hatchling. As soon as I put him in his home he immediately went to his food and started eating. For the next hour, he went from his home to his food, constantly. I could tell he was happy, couldn't make his mind up. Sleep or eat? At first, we had him in a small glass tank, and I knew it wasn't going to suit him because he was so active. We then made him (out of a Rubbermaid tote) a bigger enclosure! 

Here you can see his whole enclosure. He has his food and water bowl, and he insists on climbing through his water bowl and I have to change the water almost every few hours. He also loves to take his food and prefers to eat on the ground. Here you can see he has carrots, but he had already eaten most of the romaine lettuce, so I cleaned it up. Next to his food is that long white thing, it helps him keep his beak down and prevents him from chewing anything else. At the far end of the enclosure, you can see his home and another bowl. In fact, he loves climbing onto his home and basking because of the "sun" above it. Another thing Gohan does almost daily is splashes around in his watering hole, making it dirty and climbing all over. He loves to burrow next to the humidifier tube, loves the wetness. I have planted plants all around his enclosure (they haven't grown in this picture) and he either tramples them or eats them! Too cute.

Eating is literally his favorite thing to do. Anything you set in front of this little Cherry Head Red Foot he will devour. At first, he didn't eat all of his food, but now he does and I have to feed him twice a day! I would have to say his favorite food all time would be bananas. Gosh does he go to town! Next would be cucumbers (picture to the right). This picture of him to the right, eating the cucumber, is right after his bath on National Turtle Day! A tortoise is a turtle, but a turtle isn't a tortoise (fun fact). 

A little bit about Gohan, if you don't know anything about Cherry Head Red Footed Tortoises, is that he is a tropical little guy. He loves the water, and without humidity, he would basically dry out. You have to keep up with it too, I'm usually spraying down his enclosure and making sure the humidifier has enough water. Not hard work at all. Also, daily bathing is very necessary, and I do bathe him daily unless I notice he's been playing in his water, then I give him a break. Also, another critical thing with these guys is the lighting. You have to have UVA, UVB, and heat for lighting. My bulb has all of that in one. In his enclosure, there are two thermometers, to keep up with the temperatures and humidity. One side needs to be 100 degrees (or so) and the other roughly 75 to 80 degrees and humidity always as high as possible.

He LOVES going outside, and I mean he will literally run in every direction checking everything out. And by checking everything out I mean by taking a bite of everything. He also won't stay still for a good picture as you can see in the above picture to the right. His shell is gorgeous, and actually, the Vet Dr noticed his shell is not symmetrical, so he's very very special! He's so beautiful, and actually (another fun fact) we don't know if he's a boy or girl yet. He needs to be a good five years old to really tell, so if he's a girl; any name suggestions?

We occasionally take him to the park, or to the doctors, so I had to create something to carry him in, but also so he wasn't scared. A little home away from home we call it. Here is just a simple cardboard box, with a door as you can see. I've placed his soil and moss in it so he can hide if he wants to. You can see he's eating in this picture. Go figure right? This day we took him to the park on National Tortoise Day (like I mentioned before) and the little kids, and adults actually, loved him. He was so good with them too, actually really liked one of the little girls, he kept walking towards her. He got a lot of attention! Everyone kept asking "what's in the mystery box?" 

Well, the mystery box contains the cutest, most precious little baby I could ask for! The perfect experience for my first pet. I really want to get a second one, but have to know the sex first (males can get aggressive).

Love, Gohan