Burmese Stars - 1 year update.

Markw84

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I thought it may be of interest to see how the group has done in exactly one year.

The 17th of this last week marked the 1 year mark since I got this group of Burmese Stars, G. platynota, from the Behler Center. Thought it would be good to do an update to show how the groups is doing. I was sent what was supposed to be a group of 2.3. From what I've learned since and studying all I can on platynota, I can easily look at the top photo taken the day I got them and see it is a group of 3.2. I tried to arrange them the same order in the pictures, but they would not cooperate. Everything is OK except the bottom two got reversed by the time I took the photo. Still shows a good comparison shot though squeezed back into the same soaking tub I used then.

The one on the top left was sold as a female. (S)he has unusual markings with a wide band filling in between the 1st and 2nd vertebrals, but I think that is mainly because of the abnormal scute configuration - having 4 vertebrals instead of 5. That makes the distance the scutes are filling in much larger as it grows. Obviously a male, and is the fastest growing male. Has gone from 4.90" May 17, 2016 to 8.09" May 17, 2017. He weighed 346g and is now 1151g.

Middle top is my biggest now. In typical platynota fashion, the females are totally outgrowing the males. She has gone from 5.26" to 9.45" and 427g to 2310g.

Top right male hatched March 17, 2011 - so was exactly 5 yrs old when I got him. He's gone from 5.67" to 7.51" and 536g to 1170g.

Bottom left in the first picture and bottom right in the second picture was second largest and oldest when I got them. He hatched June 30, 2009, so he was almost 7 when I got him. He will be 8 this June, and perhaps that age has kept him from taking off and switching to a faster growth mode as quickly as the others. He grew 5.55" to 6.39" and 548g to 772g

Bottom right top photo (bottom left bottom photo) is a female hatched Feb 11, 2011. 5 yrs old when received, she has gone from 5.31" to 8.63" and 414g to 1651g.

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A look at what has happened to the pyramiding since they were introduced to the monsoon style keeping shows a mixed bag of results. It seems much harder on these tortoises that were at least 5 yrs old to change the way the bone is growing especially in the vertebral scutes. I think the fact that the underlying bones under the vertebrals are much narrower than the scutes themselves, so growth actually may start to tip the bone plate and that would be why it would take longer to straighten. The new scute growth may well be coming in "straight" but the plane of growth has already been tilted. The costals show flatter growth much quicker, and again here the bone plates are wider than the costal scutes and that may be why. The bone still wants to resist a compound bend and once the pressure from new growth is stopped, it indeed comes in straight.

View straight on of costal growth on smaller female.

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View from straight on of vertebral scutes, same female.

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Here's my largest female. She seems more resistant to reversing the growth trends created by her dry start her first 5 years... Her costals.

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And her vetebrals extremely resistant to change.

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I am really please with the Burmese Stars. They have become my favorite type of tortoise. Extremely active, perhaps even more than my sulcatas, and I feel more friendly as they were much quicker to accept and seemingly enjoy head rubs and are very resistant to tucking back into their shells and being startled. They don't dig at all, and are a size that is easily manageable. Of course, their beauty! They are a beautiful, impressive tortoise.
 

Dan

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This is awesome and lets me see what I have to look forward to in a couple more years with mines development. An insightful update!
 

G-stars

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Gus. Thank you!

I saw your "sunny day" post about 5 weeks ago or so. Got me wondering how yours are turning out as far as sexing? Should be about large enough to tell for sure now?

I just saw this. So far I have one 100% female, she is over 1600g now. Five males and two that I'm still unsure of. I have 3-4 juvenile females lined up. They should be here in a few months.
 

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