Couple of questions....

[Zoo4705]

Hello everyone!
I have a couple of questions concerning our new RedFoot tortoise, Aslan. 

First we have noticed that his eyes are watery - from what I've seen there are no "tears" its just clear moisture around his eyes, kinda like when you yawn a lot.  Is this ok? Bad? What is going on? We have changed his carpet to substrate - 50/50 play sand/coconut coir with a bed of timothy hay on the bottom and mulch/timothy hay on top (mainly to keep it clean when we open the door) - and we do our best to keep it moist (at least spray it down everyday).  He gets a soaking every other day - and he sticks his whole head underwater for almost a minute!!! Crazy man So I feel that he has enough humidity and drinks enough water.

Second, Aslan spends a lot of time in his "basement". We are worried about him not getting enough UVB light. 
Here is our light set-up - bottom has red night heating light and cermanic heat emitter (both on 24/7); top has a long UVA (?) light, a UVB light, and a plain basking light (on for at least 12 hours a day).  Both has basking spots in the middle to high 80s (bottom is slightly warmer) and cool spots. 
This is what Aslan has been doing everyday since we got him - wakes up around 10am, stays in the basement until almost 5 or 6pm (he just sits infront of his light and heat emitter warming up), walks up his ramp and stands in his water under the upstairs lights, goes up and down the ramps a lot during the evening and "goes to bed" by 11pm.  We are worried because it seems like he only gets maybe a total of 3 hours of time under his UVB light.  Doesn't he need more?!?!?!!?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[-ryan-]

Red foots are not typically 'baskers'. They're more comfortable in a dark, warm area than out in the brightness. Don't worry about UVB. If you are feeding him well it won't be a problem. There are a lot of successful keepers and breeders that don't use UVB bulbs at all with red footed tortoises.

Mine has a heated rubbermaid bin full of moss in his enclosure. He sleeps in there all night long, and in the day he comes out a bit in the morning (for maybe an hour) and again in the evening. That's about it.

[Zoo4705]

Oh my! lol - so did I spend an extra $50 for nothing?? I had bought a new UVB bulb asap.......
Another question about redfoots - how often can you feed fruit? Would one smaller piece for a "dessert" every evening be ok?? I know they are a bit different than the russians...
Thanks!

[KQ6AR]

I think the UV is beneficial if not important for all living things. Don't consider you're money waisted.

[Joe H]

Red foots are not typically 'baskers'. They're more comfortable in a dark, warm area than out in the brightness.

That isn't true. All of mine bask....from hatchlings to breeders.

Don't worry about UVB. If you are feeding him well it won't be a problem. There are a lot of successful keepers and breeders that don't use UVB bulbs at all with red footed tortoises.

Sure you can breed them without UVB. But thats not in their best interest.

For some reason there are those that feel they live in deep shade of the jungle. However those that study them in the wild don't agree.

And even if they lived in shade. They still get plenty of UVB, more than most realize. http://redfoottortoise.com/Redfoots_in_the_shade.htm

[Zoo4705]

So should I be moving my UVB light to downstairs? Or should I trust that Aslan is able to regulate himself??

[Joe H]

I would put it where he hangs out the most