Choosing baby Burmese Stars? What to look for?

Turnip777

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Hi everyone! First post here and hopefully this hasn’t been covered prior. About to get a Burmese Star and wasn’t sure what if anything to look for in a baby out of clutch? I’ve noticed some out there with Aberrant patterns and can’t find information on that. Also, wasn’t sure if personality can shine through at an early age? I’ve had many other reptiles and personality can vary with most animals calming with size, age and just getting used to the big humans coming by all the time haha.

Any help would be fantastic! Excited to be part of the community here.
 

Tom

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Hi everyone! First post here and hopefully this hasn’t been covered prior. About to get a Burmese Star and wasn’t sure what if anything to look for in a baby out of clutch? I’ve noticed some out there with Aberrant patterns and can’t find information on that. Also, wasn’t sure if personality can shine through at an early age? I’ve had many other reptiles and personality can vary with most animals calming with size, age and just getting used to the big humans coming by all the time haha.

Any help would be fantastic! Excited to be part of the community here.
Its a good thing you are in Vermont, because if you were standing in front of me asking these questions I would give you a great big hug! Thank you for going about this the right way. You will be rewarded with a successful and enjoyable tortoise keeping experience for your wisdom at knowing what to ask.

I'll address each question, happily, and then leave a bunch of info for you at the end.

First: Congrats on picking a wonderful species! They are hardy, friendly, easy to feed, and absolutely beautiful. More on that here:

Aberrant patterns are uncommon. Scute aberrations are more common. These are usually caused by incubation temps on the high side, but in some cases there may also be a genetic component. I've only produced one out of over 200 with an aberrant scute.

All baby tortoises are scaredy cats. This is how they survive in the wild. I find that all of my adults have similar pleasant, curious and bold personalities. None of them are afraid, and all of them will approach me and beg for food. Similarly, all of them were fearful when they were little babies, just like every other baby tortoise of every other species. It starts to change around 2-3 years old. If you work at it, you can make them come around more and faster. This is similar to your observations of other reptiles. I have not noticed any babies with strikingly different personalities than their clutchmates.

Be VERY careful where you get a baby. Some things to look for:
1. Don't buy a baby incubated on perlite.
2. Don't buy a baby that hasn't been soaked daily and housed INDOORS in a closed humid chamber.
3. Don't buy a baby from someone who skips the 7-10 day brooder box set up after hatching.
4. Be sure the baby was introduced to a HUGE variety of foods including grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, succulents, prepared tortoise chows, and grocery store greens in their first few days and weeks before purchase.

This is how they should be started:

This is a different species, but more info on starting them correctly:

Here is what can happen when they are not started correctly:

Here are TWO care sheets on the species:


Finally, this thread will help you navigate through the confusing info found out in the world:

@Markw84 has healthy well started babies for sale right now, and I will have around 80 of them hatching in March.
 

TammyJ

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Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
Hi and welcome to this site! You sure started out on the right foot here. Looking forward to eventually seeing what you got. I love these tortoises, but unfortunately I live in Jamaica, and they don't allow any exotic reptile imports, period, for ordinary pet keepers like me. So you are lucky!
 

Turnip777

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2023
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Vermont
Its a good thing you are in Vermont, because if you were standing in front of me asking these questions I would give you a great big hug! Thank you for going about this the right way. You will be rewarded with a successful and enjoyable tortoise keeping experience for your wisdom at knowing what to ask.

I'll address each question, happily, and then leave a bunch of info for you at the end.

First: Congrats on picking a wonderful species! They are hardy, friendly, easy to feed, and absolutely beautiful. More on that here:

Aberrant patterns are uncommon. Scute aberrations are more common. These are usually caused by incubation temps on the high side, but in some cases there may also be a genetic component. I've only produced one out of over 200 with an aberrant scute.

All baby tortoises are scaredy cats. This is how they survive in the wild. I find that all of my adults have similar pleasant, curious and bold personalities. None of them are afraid, and all of them will approach me and beg for food. Similarly, all of them were fearful when they were little babies, just like every other baby tortoise of every other species. It starts to change around 2-3 years old. If you work at it, you can make them come around more and faster. This is similar to your observations of other reptiles. I have not noticed any babies with strikingly different personalities than their clutchmates.

Be VERY careful where you get a baby. Some things to look for:
1. Don't buy a baby incubated on perlite.
2. Don't buy a baby that hasn't been soaked daily and housed INDOORS in a closed humid chamber.
3. Don't buy a baby from someone who skips the 7-10 day brooder box set up after hatching.
4. Be sure the baby was introduced to a HUGE variety of foods including grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, succulents, prepared tortoise chows, and grocery store greens in their first few days and weeks before purchase.

This is how they should be started:

This is a different species, but more info on starting them correctly:

Here is what can happen when they are not started correctly:

Here are TWO care sheets on the species:


Finally, this thread will help you navigate through the confusing info found out in the world:

@Markw84 has healthy well started babies for sale right now, and I will have around 80 of them hatching in March.
Thank you a million times over! Also, thanks for the warm welcome! This info is GOLD! I’ll be reading all of it. Does the aberrant pattern carry genetic defects? Or is it kind of like a paradox in bearded dragons or ball pythons? I ask, as I found one that was an aberrant and when looking for info it’s near impossible, so you’re a wealth of knowledge! Thanks again!
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,268
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Thank you a million times over! Also, thanks for the warm welcome! This info is GOLD! I’ll be reading all of it. Does the aberrant pattern carry genetic defects? Or is it kind of like a paradox in bearded dragons or ball pythons? I ask, as I found one that was an aberrant and when looking for info it’s near impossible, so you’re a wealth of knowledge! Thanks again!
Is it an aberrant color pattern, or is is an aberrant scute? There is some variety in color patterning, but I haven't seen anything I would call aberrant. Or are we talking about scutes? Aberrant scutes are fairly normal, and only cosmetic. The tortoise can still grow up to be normal and healthy with aberrant scutes.

Here are some examples of the color and pattern variety in my hatchlings:
 IMG_8616 3:23:19.JPG
4:19 2.JPG
IMG_6052.jpegIMG_6637.jpg
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,268
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Is it an aberrant color pattern, or is is an aberrant scute? There is some variety in color patterning, but I haven't seen anything I would call aberrant. Or are we talking about scutes? Aberrant scutes are fairly normal, and only cosmetic. The tortoise can still grow up to be normal and healthy with aberrant scutes.

Here are some examples of the color and pattern variety in my hatchlings:
View attachment 353523
View attachment 353524
View attachment 353525View attachment 353526

The most important question is: How was this baby started. Unfortunately, many breeders do not start them correctly.

The next question is: Where will you get the correct type of enclosure? They don't sell them at pet stores.
 

Turnip777

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2023
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Vermont
The most important question is: How was this baby started. Unfortunately, many breeders do not start them correctly.

The next question is: Where will you get the correct type of enclosure? They don't sell them at pet stores.
Thank you Tom, I had planned on building an enclosure as I have for other reptiles I keep. Luckily I’m capable of that and have the tools and know how. To my knowledge the babies were all started how you mentioned. I can totally see the color/pattern variations in yours, which is very helpful. I’ll attach a pic of the one in mention, it was an aberrant pattern with no differences anatomically.
 

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Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
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Location (City and/or State)
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Thank you Tom, I had planned on building an enclosure as I have for other reptiles I keep. Luckily I’m capable of that and have the tools and know how. To my knowledge the babies were all started how you mentioned. I can totally see the color/pattern variations in yours, which is very helpful. I’ll attach a pic of the one in mention, it was an aberrant pattern with no differences anatomically.
Looks pretty cool.
 

Turnip777

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Joined
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Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
Vermont
Looks pretty cool.
Thanks! My main concern was any potential health issues it could carry if it was a genetic or incubated to high, etc. I think it looks cool and wondering how the coloration would fill in or if it is a complete toss of a coin on what will be black and what won’t be black.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
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Messages
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Thanks! My main concern was any potential health issues it could carry if it was a genetic or incubated to high, etc. I think it looks cool and wondering how the coloration would fill in or if it is a complete toss of a coin on what will be black and what won’t be black.
Their colors change and evolve as they grow. I haven't found any way to predict what they will turn out to look like, but its usually just like their parents with minor variations here and there.
 

Turnip777

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Location (City and/or State)
Vermont
Their colors change and evolve as they grow. I haven't found any way to predict what they will turn out to look like, but its usually just like their parents with minor variations here and there.
Thank you very much Tom! My main concern has always been animal health, so it seems that little one would be good.
 

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