Burmese star tortoise baby not doing well

[Hallieadele]

Hello everyone,
I have both a Sri Lankan and Burmese star tortoise, they are in the same enclosure. I have had the Burmese for a few months now and at first she had lots of energy and ate plenty of greens but in the last month or so she has become really lethargic, not eating and rubbing her face a lot with her front arms. I soak her daily and uvb light is not the problem. She has also been moving around weirdly like lunging herself forward and such. I now spray her tank 3 times a day and have a fogger for them as well. The other tortoise with her is totally fine and thriving!

Thanks!

 

[Ink]

Separate them immediately! @Tom will be able to help you. What are your temperatures, lights and size of the enclosure?

 

[Hallieadele]

I have a heating pad and heat lamp! Under the lamp is around 90-93 and then in the hide is 90 as well. Enclosure itself is a 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, 1 foot deep exo terra. I have two other tortoises in the same exact type of set up and they are doing well have been growing and thriving.

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone,
I have both a Sri Lankan and Burmese star tortoise, they are in the same enclosure. I have had the Burmese for a few months now and at first she had lots of energy and ate plenty of greens but in the last month or so she has become really lethargic, not eating and rubbing her face a lot with her front arms. I soak her daily and uvb light is not the problem. She has also been moving around weirdly like lunging herself forward and such. I now spray her tank 3 times a day and have a fogger for them as well. The other tortoise with her is totally fine and thriving!

Thanks!

Hello and welcome to the forum.

You are making a bunch of mistakes and if we don't tell you about them you can't fix them. Our intention is to help you solve your problem, and nothing else. Please don't take these things personally and get upset. Everyone gets the wrong care info to start with, and we are just trying to get you the right info.

1. Never keep tortoises in pairs. One or both of them always suffer for it. This is not about obvious fighting, biting and ramming. It is much more subtle than that and it causes terrible chronic stress. You need to separate them immediately.
2. Never mix species. There are lots and lots of tortoises diseases floating around and one species may be an asymptomatic carrier of something the other species is not resistant too.
3. Screen tops make it impossible to maintain the correct heat and humidity. You need a closed chamber of some sort or other to contain your heat and humidity inside the enclosure with the tortoises instead of drifting up into the room.
4. Humidifiers should never be blowing directly into a tortoise enclosure. Its okay to use them to humidity the room where the enclosure is, but don't blow the mist into the enclosure.
5. What type of UV bulb are you using? Do you have a Solarmeter 6.5? How close is the UV bulb to the tortoises? How do you know that is not the problem?
6. What substrate are you using?
7. Heat pads should not be used under tortoise in indoor tanks. This is counter to their instincts, ineffective and will often burn or kill them.
8. Stars need it warm. You have not mentioned how you are controlling ambient heat. You need a CHE or a RHP controlled by a thermostat. It needs to stay at least 80 degrees overnight, and daytime ambient needs to climb into the low 90s. Basking area directly under the bulb should be 95-100. This one might not be thriving because its is too cool. The other one may be intimidating it off of the warmest spots, and that is why the other one is still okay. Just guessing at possibilities here.
9. Are you leaving food out in the evening? Most tortoise species eat in the morning and all day. Burmese stars are very crepuscular. They wait until late afternoon or early evening to start eating. Some people like to clean up the tortoise enclosure in the afternoon and clean up the leftover food. Not a good strategy for platynota.

Stick with us and we will help you get this figured out.

Here is more info. There is a heating and lighting breakdown near the bottom, and also a star tortoise care sheet with the correct care info on it:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

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[Hallieadele]

What is your background?

 

[Tom]

What is your background?

You want my resumé? That is a fair question. Few people are that direct about it.

I started keeping chelonians in 1979 with my first box turtle. Started caring for Russians, Indian stars, red foots and other common pet trade species in 1986 at my first pet store job. Got my first sulcata and leopard in 1991. Figured out the whole pyramiding thing and how to raise babies correctly around 2010, and shared that info here on TFO. Got my first platynota in 2013. I started with 14 hatchlings from 4 different sources. Although all were "incubated for female", I ended up with 8.6. Hatched my first platynota babies in early 2018 before my adults were 5 years old. Hatched 50 babies that first year. Hatched around 100 per year since then. We just started the winter laying season and I already have 102 platynota eggs for this year so far. Gave some summer eggs to a friend to incubate, and her eggs just started hatching today. I get 100% hatch rates from almost every platynota clutch. Very few of my eggs fail to hatch, and I don't have that kind of success with any other species. I get "normal" hatch rates with most other species. I've bred about 10 species, and kept most of them at one point or another. I currently care for about 50 tortoises of various species, not counting all the hatchings.

I'm also a career animal trainer with degrees in "Animal Behavior Management" and "Wildlife Education". I also breed roaches. At one time I had 18 species in 44 bins, but I'm down to three species now. I've also bred tarantulas, lizards, snakes and fish. I'm a beekeeper, and I get paid to do it, so I suppose that makes me a "professional" bee keeper of sorts, but not a commercial bee keeper... although I have done commercials with bees... I'm also a master falconer and multi-time national champion protection dog trainer. I need two more classes to become a Master SCUBA diver, I used to race motocross, and I have 100s of hours of defensive firearms instruction and have competed in IDPA. I'm the proud father of a daughter that has advanced belts in Krav Maga and Jiu jitsu, and I'm pretty sure she could beat me in a fight now. I'm a mediocre horse rider on a good day, but I'm a beast of a camel rider/trainer!

Is that enough? Do I get the job?

 

[wellington]

I suggest taking the help before it's too late. Years of experience is trying to help you. Those years have raised many tortoises and done many experiments to get things right. Then he shares all that for free with all us on this forum. I guarantee your background and experience isn't a match to many on this forum.
You have gotten great help. I suggest you take it, change what you are doing wrong, give the info to the questions asked, or you will be seeing more decline in your tortoises!

 

[TammyJ]

Wishing and hoping that you will accept the help and advice offered by the very best experts that you will find anywhere, to ensure that everything possible is done to help you overcome the problems you are having!