Goodbye my little Louie..

I am so shocked and my heart is broken..my baby star just died today at 6 pm. I was not home and my wife found him dead. louie was still walking around at 4 pm and when my wife came back to see him, he was as stiff as stone. We just had Louie for almost 2 months now..my son cried so hard when i was wrapping Louie with a cloth and buried him.
I'm so confused, its like a sudden death?
There were no symptoms like bubble or R.I, however guys i want to point out some of my star behaviour for the past 2 months:

- Louie eats only a little
- He sleeps alot, like 20 hours or so
- lately he refused greens, but he eats a little of cucumber and papaya
- he scratches his right eye ( there is nothing on his eye, no puffy, both eyes can open wide )
- he opens his mouth often, even when he sleeps

This is a pic that we took at xmas day , the second pic is today..

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So sorry about your loss. He looks too little. Was he getting enough sun light ?

He is very little, about 3.5 cm length and weigh 25 grams. He didnt even gain weight from december 2018. Lately weather hasnt been very kind, but i do give them sun bath every morning except when it rains. For that i just give them uvb + uva light and warm water. Honestly i really dont know what went wrong here, but thank you

Mind telling what temp, humidity, enclosure substrate you used? Also, can you post a pic of your enclosure, if you are still keeping it that is.

I'm using coco husk substrate. Humidity is around 70-80%. Uva + uvb light on for almost 15 hours a day. I dont have a pic of louie's enclosure but i have my rf enclosure. It's exactly the same. No pebbles, i removed them a long time ago.

For temp, indoors around 28- 30°C, at night will drop to 26°C. The area around basking light is 32- 34°C

How about the temperature?

I posted it just after your reply

Oh sorry I didn't see it, my bad.

No worries man. Maybe Louie has been sick for a long time ago and i didnt notice. Should've checked him to the vet..

So you turn off both lights at night and there is no source of heat for your star during that time? Though you saw the temp only dropped to 26, it could've dropped more in the midnight, and it is recommended to not allow the enclosure dropping below 24. I think being too cold at night may be a reason.

You also mentioned that he kept his mouth open even during sleep? If I'm not wrong, your star may have had some kind of respiratory disease?

Another thing could be the annoying pesky parasites. Your star may have its food absorbed by parasites, causing it getting inadequate nutrition. Maybe that's why your star looked small. These are just my guesses though. I believe there could be more possibility contributing to Louise's tragic death.

And lastly, may the little Louise rest in peace.

No, so what i do is turn on lights at 6 pm until aroun 7 a.m or 8 am then in the morning i take em outside. And the rest of the day i just sit them next to window for heat. This is my routine everyday.

Yes he does, maybe you right about this..anyway i should have taken him to a vet for general check when i got him jut for a peace of mind. Thank you

My heart goes out to you and your family.

Thank you friend

Sorry to hear that. None of the people I know who bought baby tortoises two decades ago managed to keep them alive. I think it is not easy, especially during that era without information

Thank you and yes, i think star is kinda difficult to raise specially from hatchling but that's just my opinion. I have read somewhere that says stars are more likely to experience sudden death but i forgot where.

So i decided to dig up Louie's grave because i wanted to keep his carapace but damn, it was gone. I couldn't find a thing, i thought tortoise's carapace should be intact when it dies?