Please tell me if I am caring for my star tortoise correctly

[ben32hayt]

Hi I have a Juvenile Indian Star tortoise named Cocoa and he/she is about 4 inches in length and is around 1 year(s) old maybe even older but anyways I have a few questions. First off I feed Cocoa Mazuri tortoise diet and/or baby kale but she/he prefers the Mazuri tortoise diet so I blend the two together with some water and sometimes other vegetables. Is that ok?
Im not sure whether she/he is to big or to small? Cocoa is very shy and I rarely see her walking around unless there is food or she just drank and when ever she sees me she hides in her shell. Lastly how often should I bath her and her enclosure is 36"Lx24"Wx12"H is that ok? I also don't know what sex Cocoa is but maybe you could tell me.
Thanks, Ben

 

[LolaMyLove]

What lighting/heat are you using? What temps and humidity levels?

 

[Radiated]

Looks like it has pyramiding...you need to get it on a better diet and not mazuri everyday. How often you give it a bath? Substrate?

 

[arotester]

start adding grasses and hay to the diet and if you could spray his/her shell it would make thing better....and last thing do you keep both the torts together?

 

[shanu303]

hi
ben i've got one question........ in my thread you posted that your tort is 2 inches and here it's 4 inches...... i presume that it's the same tortoise you mentioned in both threads ..... well after looking at the pics you posted the tort is definitely longer than 2 inches..... and i'm really sorry to say this but he/she has got quite an amount of pyramiding..... i'm sorry if i'm exaggerating it but do take this seriously..... well you can't restore the shell but you can still improve the state of it as your tort is still growing and developing........ so my advice to you is that don't feed Mazuri as a staple diet rather incorporate fresh green vegetables(See the Diet chart for indian stars in the forum) and grass/hay..... also give him lukewarm water baths every alternate day as the tort looks dehydrated and make sure he/she gets ample amount of sunlight (10-12 hours daily)....if sunlight's not an option then make sure you get a UVB light with a heat lamp to maintain high temp's........ humidity is a key factor in torts growth but not too much of it as these torts belong to DRY regions of India and i know how dry it is as i live there......and last but not the least the enclosure is small for the tort, so you might want to think about upgrading it to a bigger one and i hope that indian star is not housed with the red foot tort.....

 

[mctlong]

Hi Ben, welcome to the forum!

First off I feed Cocoa Mazuri tortoise diet and/or baby kale but she/he prefers the Mazuri tortoise diet so I blend the two together with some water and sometimes other vegetables. Is that ok?

Tortoises tend to be healthiest when they have lots of variety. Mazuri and Kale are both good foods, but it would be even better if you could mix in more greens, especially weeds and grasses. You mentioned other vegetables. Whats type of vegetables are you referring to?

Cocoa is very shy and I rarely see her walking around unless there is food or she just drank and when ever she sees me she hides in her shell.

Stars are shyer than some other species. They like to hide and thats normal. Make sure she's got lots of hiding spaces (such as half logs and plants) within her enclosure. You also want to make sure that her enclosure is kept warm. She will become lethargic, sick, and hide even more if she can't heat up properly. What temps are you keeping her at now? Does she have a basking spot? Does she have daily access to sunlight and/or UV lighting?

As others have pointed out, she is pyramidding. Humidty can help with that. What are you doing for humidity? What are the humidity levels in the enclosure?

Lastly how often should I bath her and her enclosure is 36"Lx24"Wx12"H is that ok?

That size is fine for a hatchling, but she's outgrown it. I'd recommend going bigger. As far as bathing, you can soak her in luke-warm water for 20 minutes once daily. The depth of the water should be up to chin.

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I also don't know what sex Cocoa is but maybe you could tell me.
Thanks, Ben

Four inches is usually too small to tell in a star tortoise, but if you post a picture of the plastron and the tail, we can take a look and let you know if there's any indication of it being a male or female.

 

[ben32hayt]

Hello to everyone, and thanks for the responses I will take Mazuri tortoise diet off of her weekly diet and replace it with dandelion greens and prickly pear cactus if that is ok and I will add baby kale also. Im not sure the humidity but the humidity is probably low because I was told star tortoise live in a fairly dry environment also I give Cocoa a bath twice to three times a week. I will do have a reptifogger but im not sure how often to use it. Sorry she is 4 inches she was 2 inches when i bought her i just remeasured thanks

 

[Radiated]

Dandelion greens and cactus is ok, but try to get more grass or gay and different greens as well. The reptifogger just turn it on a couple times a day depending on where you live and what humidity it is. But don't make it too wet. Get a much larger enclosure for sure. If there is no natural sunlight, personally I would recommend a MVB for example powersun. Works well for me.

 

[ben32hayt]

Dandelion greens and cactus is ok, but try to get more grass or gay and different greens as well. The reptifogger just turn it on a couple times a day depending on where you live and what humidity it is. But don't make it too wet. Get a much larger enclosure for sure. If there is no natural sunlight, personally I would recommend a MVB for example powersun. Works well for me.

would it be ok if i combined two of the same sized enclosures together?
thanks