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After doing much research my girlfriend just purchased a 5" yellowfoot. The problem is now we are finding husbandry info thats different than what we originaly learned. The biggest question is diet. Some say offer grass and no fruit, others say just the oposite. Also is a water bowl used for drinking or just soaking? One last thing. How similar is there care to Redfoots? Thanks in advance for any help.

The yellow foot care and husbandry is almost like the redfoots, but one thing that really stands out to me is the humidity.

Yellowfoots require high humidity in the 80-100% range where as the redfoots need anywhere from 70-85%. From the best of my knowledge anyways.

Fruits should make up about 15-20% of their diet with about 5% being protein and the rest grasses, weeds, dandelion, greens etc.

I find the yellow foots make wonderful pets and I enjoy them alot.

I have two yellowfoots, and from everything I have read, I would tend to agree. More humidity is usually recommended for yellowfoots than for redfoots. Water is used for soaking as well as drinking, but should not be too deep, as the tortoise could get overturned in it and drown. I have always heard recommendations of a wide, shallow dish, that they can climb into and get their underside wet with. You can soak them additionally in deeper water under supervision.

I feed my yellowfoots a mix of fresh veggies, greens, and fruits. I think about 20% fruit sounds right. I have heard many people say that yellowfoots eat more fruit than redfoots, but then I have heard that the other way around too. I think they both eat more than other tortoise species. Mostly I would make sure they get enough greens and veggies, and they should do well as long as you don't go nuts with the fruit. The non-fruit part of their diet should be greens like dandelion and collard, and veggies like squashes, carrots, etc. There are many lists out there of recommended fruits, veggies, and greens for turtles and specifically for tortoises.

The only thing I am not too sure on is how you can be sure you are feeding the enough. If you find a chart or anything, please let me know.

Other than that, I have recently started thinking that weighing them to be sure they are still growing well and not losing weight would be the best way. I have to get a scale for them yet though.

~Kyle

Oh, and I also can't forget the protein that was mentioned. There is some debate on this, but most people tend to add water to some dry cat food, and supplements, and feed around once a week. I prefer to feed some appropriately sized prekilled mice and/or rats every week. This works well for mine.

In my experience, yellowfoots will eat just about anything you offer them, so just making sure you offer them the right foods should do well for them.

~Kyle