My YF tortoises

[Yvonne G]

The first YF I got was a rescued full grown female in '04. Then I was given a male in trade for a gulf coast box turtle in '06. He looked to be a juvenile, but I think he's just a smallish specimen. I hatched out 3 YF eggs in 11/06, and this was before I knew how important humidity/moisture was for smooth shell growth. So they look like little pine cones. Then in '09 a young expectant mother-to-be brought me a young female YF up from Los Angeles. She was afraid she shouldn't be in contact with tortoises with her soon to be new baby. In the pictures, the male is on the left, the full grown female on next to him going towards the right, the rescued young female next to her then one of the pine cones.

 

[Redstrike]

They are marvelous!

 

[Yvonne G]

Thank you. The only ones I can take credit for (or blame) are the youngest pine cones. The largest female weighs 15lbs. When I got the male his shell was very rough. It almost looked and felt like he had been burned. But he has smoothed out over the couple years I've had him. They live outside in a rain forest environment during good weather, then in the winter they are confined to a shed with an attached, covered 'patio' and they get to go on the patio when the sun shines.

 

[tortadise]

Mannnnn. That adult female is spectacular. Love her shell. They look Yvonne. I've seen much much worse pyramiding.

 

[Yvonne G]

The Yellowfoot rain forest:



The area is about 24'x24'. It was a little too sunny over the middle, so I put up shade cloth to tone it down a bit.

This is their covered 'patio':



Here's what it looks like on the inside of the shed looking out:



The sun warms up the area through the plastic and even on a cold day it's nice and warm in there.

These are the other two pine cones. I am keeping them separate because they are so small. I have no idea why they didn't grow. I'm going to tell everyone they're that rare breed of dwarf YF tortoise. Calm down - it's a joke!

 

[Len B]

I love yellow foots, thought I had a pair until the male laid an egg, Some imports are coming in next month I will get a male from that group. On a side note I found a male leopard for Roberta my female, it could show up any minute, by FEDX. I worry about the temps for my yellow foots more than any other species I keep, they are the first set up for winter.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't treat mine any differently from any other on the property. That's probably why I have pine cones and dwarves, huh? Be sure to post pictures when your new guys arrive.

 

[stojanovski92113]

Your yellows are beautiful they look huge too!!

 

[bouaboua]

I don't treat mine any differently from any other on the property. That's probably why I have pine cones and dwarves, huh? Be sure to post pictures when your new guys arrive.

I like it.....

And I think I will have some update to do on my thread.......Beautiful YF.......They was all muddy the other day, did not shoe the true beauty of them. Now...........

 

[leigti]

I think they are all adorable. Including the "pinecones". maybe they are just taking after their dad and their little. how much smaller are they then the third one? Do you know the sex of the Younger ones yet?

 

[naturalman91]

i love yellowfoots wish we'd see more of them here

 

[Momof4]

Thanks for sharing! I love your rain forest!

 

[Yvonne G]

I think they are all adorable. Including the "pinecones". maybe they are just taking after their dad and their little. how much smaller are they then the third one? Do you know the sex of the Younger ones yet?

When the three of them hatched I kept them all together. Clear up until they were about 3 years old. They got along fine. When one started growing so much bigger than the other two I took the bigger one out and put him with the adult YF tortoises. Didn't make any difference, the smaller two stayed small. Not only that, they all have their tails bitten off...all three of them. So you can't tell if they're male or female because they have no tails. I'll try to get a picture later today for you, but today is my going-into-town-to-run-errands day, so I don't know if I'll be able to get to picture taking. I'm thinking they're female, but I've never been good at sexing the South American tortoises.

 

[christinaland128]

They're very lovely! All of them!

 

[naturalman91]

When the three of them hatched I kept them all together. Clear up until they were about 3 years old. They got along fine. When one started growing so much bigger than the other two I took the bigger one out and put him with the adult YF tortoises. Didn't make any difference, the smaller two stayed small. Not only that, they all have their tails bitten off...all three of them. So you can't tell if they're male or female because they have no tails. I'll try to get a picture later today for you, but today is my going-into-town-to-run-errands day, so I don't know if I'll be able to get to picture taking. I'm thinking they're female, but I've never been good at sexing the South American tortoises.

did they bite each other's tails off? i've never heard of that i know they can be aggressive but never heard of biting the tail i've heard of the feet being bitten

 

[Jacqui]

If you call them dwarfs, I bet you can sell them for more. I enjoy seeing yellowfoots. I am so glad I finally broke down and bought a hatchling this year. I really enjoyed them in the past and miss them. All of you on here with yellowfoots, get to breeding them, so I have some sources to buy a couple next year.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes, they bit each others' tails off. That's why I couldn't say that I had an aggressive one or not, because all had their tails bitten off.

Let me preface these pictures by saying I'm totally embarrassed and ashamed of how they look. When I hatched them out and showed them on teh Forum, Terry Kilgore asked me how I was going to provide the necessary humidity for them here in my dry Central Valley. Sorry to say I didn't pay attention to what he was trying to tell me, and they look horrible. The smallest one hatched out with a bit of a deformity on his carapace and it has only gotten worse-looking as he grows.

Here they are at 3 years, in January, '09:



They're already looking pretty bumpy.

And here they are this morning. I call the biggest #1, next is #2, and the smallest is #3:




And their faces:



And their 'no' tails:



So, there you have it. A shameful example of how NOT to raise YF tortoises. I'm hoping the eggs in the incubator hatch so I can have a second chance to redeem myself.

(The little black one would be awfully pretty if she weren't deformed)

 

[Jacqui]

No, the black one IS very pretty, especially love her face. Nice color on the middle one.