New Burm Star owner

Ernie Johnson

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McKinney, Texas
First post here, just arrived two Burm Stars (TSM and TSF) from Chris Leone at Garden State Tortoise - who I highly recommend as a Burm breeder.

Looking forward to working with this species since I've spent the last 17 years working with Redfoot's and Russian's (all doing great) after the previous 28+ with Berlandier's and Greek's.

They seem to be an ideal tort for north Texas (Dallas metroplex) where we live now.

Would love any info from other Texas Burm owners.

IMG_5845.JPG

Ernie
 

Markw84

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First post here, just arrived two Burm Stars (TSM and TSF) from Chris Leone at Garden State Tortoise - who I highly recommend as a Burm breeder.

Looking forward to working with this species since I've spent the last 17 years working with Redfoot's and Russian's (all doing great) after the previous 28+ with Berlandier's and Greek's.

They seem to be an ideal tort for north Texas (Dallas metroplex) where we live now.

Would love any info from other Texas Burm owners.

View attachment 219481

Ernie
Ernie,

Congratualtions! They look great. I love Burmese stars, and once I got some, they quickly became one of my favorite tortoises. Have you read this care sheet? Lots of information there that will help. I lived in the Dallas area a while (Grapevine) and you will definitely want an enclosed chamber there with the weather extremes and air conditioning, etc. Please read this. If you are looking for suggestions, show us pictures of the enclosure and setup and we can give our perspective on things.

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-star-tortoise.159167/
 

Tom

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Hello and welcome!

Mark's care sheet above is excellent. Just for an additional point of view, I raise mine just like this:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

One thing worth mentioning is that I would not house them as a pair. House them separately, or order up one or two more to make a small group.

Another noteworthy item is that the platynota community does not seem to have the temp sex thing worked out yet. The only species that has been studied and the actual temps for temp sexing are know is the sulcata. In practice, I bought 10 hatchlings from three different sources and all were temp sexed for female. I ended up with 5.5 and should have my first eggs in the next few months. I bought and additional four more TSF from another source, and those are looking to be 50/50 too.
 

Ernie Johnson

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McKinney, Texas
Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. I've had very good success temp sexing my Redfoot hatchlings for years, so I trust Chris these are what they are, but we'll know in 5-6 years for sure. :)

These two won't be going outside for a while and then in a small, enclosed pen (like rabbit hutchs, which I use for my Russian's) for a few hours.

I've read everything Dr. Zovick has written on them and numerous other articles from long-term breeders.
 
N

no one

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Congrats Ernie!! Love stars!!
I am getting my second Indian Star. And would live to get my hands on the Burmese some day. They aren't that easy to come by for me. So that's a dream I have.
Hope you keep posting pictures. *smile*
 

Ernie Johnson

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Here's the only other so far, but I do have video of them I'll will be using part of my next YouTube Channel video.

IMG_5848.JPG
 

Ernie Johnson

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Flourishing. Diet of cactus pads, sedum (autumn joy), turnip and dandelion greens, hibiscus leaves, radicchio, and three times weekly herpvite/calcium powder sprinkled on the food.. 80-95 degrees and 60-90% humidity across the pen (80-90%) where they hide. Daily soaks. Life is good for them. :)
 

Ernie Johnson

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Location (City and/or State)
McKinney, Texas
I'm from the Zovickian school of Tortoise husbandry (I started in 1971, not as early as Bill, maybe because I'm the son of a Dentist vs. being a Dentist) where adhering to what they do and eat in nature is best.

46 years into the mission it seems to work pretty effectively. :)
 

Markw84

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Here's another good article on the efforts in Myanmar for not only the Burm's, but all of their indigenous turtle species.
https://khiri.com/2017/10/helping-to-save-myanmars-indigenous-tortoises-and-turtles/
Thanks, Ernie, but I could not get your link to work. I believe the problem is that I could only access it with a https: (secure) link not http: Hopefully this will work for anyone interested..

https://khiri.com/2017/10/helping-to-save-myanmars-indigenous-tortoises-and-turtles/
 
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