star hatchling question??????

[SILVERSTAR]

At what age should a hatchlings shell start to fully harden? my torts shell seems to have started hardening more since ive been able to take him outside for supervised visits to the kiddy pool,i was worried becuz his shell was still kinda soft at a year old even tho appetite is as good as ever and has energy,alert and looked great.I Feed plenty of fresh grown opuntia cactus (his favorite) im hoping the calcium in the cactus helps his shell harden more along with the fact that theres sun out and he gets more access to it these days..

 

[Neal]

I think it's different tortoise to tortoise. I have a sub adult indian star that had a soft plastron until just over a year old. Currently I have hatchlings that are only a couple of months old with firm plastrons.

As long as he is eating well and you are getting him outdoors, you should have no worries.

 

[dmmj]

I think that would be a hard question to answer there are many variables. Amount of calcium, amount of sunshine, I would think that as long as it is hardening and not going soft, I would not worry to much about it.

 

[jobeanator]

when i had got my sri lankan star tortoise, he/she was about 8-9 months old.. now its been about 2 years i would say and his shell is hard as a rock. As stated before, lots of sunshine was provided, calcium supplements were also provided for him/her. Good lighting is also key, as mine always hard uva/uvb bulb on 12 hrs a day.

 

[Homerist]

natural sunlight, 2-3 times a week, 20-30mins each time does wonders to your torts shell, appetite and activeness.

my star is 17mths old, not shy at all as some sites, or books said.
i believe as much as individual torts are different, the sun factor is surely a prominent one. =)

 

[SILVERSTAR]

i agree i can phsically feel the shell gettn sumwhat harder since ive been taking him out and lettn him chill on my patio in their kiddie pool full of growth.