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Red-footed Tortoise (Cherry Head)
Chelonoidis carbonarius "Cherry Head"
Morph Cherry Head. The 'Red-footed Tortoise'. Spectacular tropical South American tortoise (14 inches). Famous for its explosive cherry colored scales on head and legs ('Cherry Head') against a very black shell. Unlike the arid European or African tortoises, it demands the jungle: suffocating humidity, no scorching sun and a crazy omnivorous diet (ripe fruit, mushrooms, even carrion and worms).
Class:Testudines
Order:Testudines
Family:Testudinidae
Genus:Chelonoidis
Species:Chelonoidis carbonarius "Cherry Head"
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Environment
Terrestrial
Humidity
70 - 90 %
Day temperature
24 - 35 °C
Night temperature
21 - 24 °C
Adult size
60 cm
UVB
Medium - High
Species description
Geographic Origin and Habitat: No additional source-verified editorial notes are available about geographic origin and habitat for Chelonoidis carbonarius "Cherry Head". Consult this record's parameters and sources.
Taxonomy and Genetics: No additional source-verified editorial notes are available about taxonomy and genetics for Chelonoidis carbonarius "Cherry Head". Consult this record's parameters and sources.
Behaviour and Habits: No additional source-verified editorial notes are available about behaviour and habits for Chelonoidis carbonarius "Cherry Head". Consult this record's parameters and sources.
Morphology and Sexual Dimorphism: No additional source-verified editorial notes are available about morphology and sexual dimorphism for Chelonoidis carbonarius "Cherry Head". Consult this record's parameters and sources.
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: SHADED OUTDOOR CAGES AND INDOOR TROPICAL TERRARIUMS (Minimum 72x36 inches indoor for winter). THEY DO NOT LOVE arid lawns in the sun. They need a dense cover of bushes, rotting foliage to root in (Cypress bark, sphagnum) and gigantic warm and muddy pools to spend whole hours bathing.
Lighting and Heating: THEY MUST NOT BAKE IN THE SUN. Mild basking at only 88°F (31°C) covered by leaves. Jungle ambient 79-82°F (26-28°C). UVB radiation only 5% or diffused (not the scorching desert light of Sulcatas). Below 68°F (20°C) they collapse irreparably.
Humidity and Hydration: Suffocating and Foggy Humidity (70-90%). They love sprays and rains. 'Dry-Out' (domestic drying of the winter terrarium) is fatal, creating horrible shell pyramiding or eye inflammations leading to blindness.
Feeding and Supplementation: JUNGLE SCAVENGERS (100% Omnivores). The only tortoise that must eat a lot of rotting tropical FRUIT (Mango, Papaya, Melon), wild weeds AND 10% of REAL ANIMAL PROTEIN every week (Neonatal pink mice, fat earthworms, snails). If you feed them only hay, they will die wasted.
Compatibility: Hyper-sociable and docile. Tamable and tame, they rarely bite or hiss, they enjoy 'scratches' on the shell (sensitive) and tolerate peaceful coexistence even among males.
Health and Common Diseases: Decay from genetic misunderstanding (Chronic Shell Pyramiding ). If kept like arid 'little desert tortoises', with salad and dry heat, they will grow with shattered lungs, spire-deformed shell, and broken kidneys from the absence of prolonged hydration and protein-free diets.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
This species originates from: Sudamerica (Brasile, Colombia, Venezuela).
Origin
Selective breeding and cultivarsExtra-Amazon South AmericaAfrica and MadagascarEurope, Mediterranean, and West Asia
Reptile profile
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- 60 cm
- Lifestyle/Microhabitat
- No verified data available
- Activity cycle
- No verified data available
- Sociality
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Handling tolerance
- No verified data available
- Brumation
- No verified data available
- Molting
- No verified data available
The catalog's scalar value is 60 cm. The ReptTraits v1.2 source reports a maximum adult measurement of 60 cm for this species, recorded as straight carapace length (SCL). These figures are not interchangeable: the first is the profile's editorial reference, whereas the second is a published maximum under a specific measurement convention; differences among sources can reflect sex, population, life stage and measuring method.
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
Related species
Recommendations grouped by close relatives, companion choices, and similar care.
