Star Tortoise Information Thread

TortoiseWorld

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Are you looking for more reliable information about the Star tortoise species?
I am too, so please post on my thread any information, links, websites, and pics about the Star tortoises.

I am fortunate to own these 3 beautiful female Sri Lankans in the pics below. They are 10 months old and still no signs of pyramiding. Tom's warm-humid-closed enclosure posts were a big help.


A "Star Tortoise" book written by Jerry Fife, I highly recommend it, this also has information to avoid pyramiding, description below.

Star Tortoises: The Natural History, Captive Care and Breeding of Geochelone elegans and Geochelone platynota

by Jerry D. Fife

This book provides information on the captive care and breeding of the magnificent Star Tortoises by expert breeder, Jerry Fife. It provides insight into the captive care and breeding of the Indian Star tortoises, Sri Lankan Star tortoises and the rare Burmese Star tortoise. It contains detailed information on housing, diet, breeding, egg incubation, care, and much more.

This is a new soft cover book for under $20 bucks. !CE1gUqw!mk~$(KGrHqR,!lwE1F6W4IkKBNTJ59ZNO!~~_35.JPG

photo (1).JPG photo.JPG
Galaxy 120g, Big Star 100g, Meteor 110g
 
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Tom

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Patrick, Do your stars eat much of that grass?
 

AnnV

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Wow, they are gloriously gorgeous!
Do you know for sure they are females?
What do you feed in winter?
 

Neal

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Send me an email via my TFO profile and I'll send you a PDF copy of 7 case studies that I have found interesting related to Indian Star Tortoises. Sorry, I do not have a URL for these studies, I only have them in PDF form.

Looks like I can only fit one attachment here.
 

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TortoiseWorld

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Tom said:
Patrick, Do your stars eat much of that grass?

Hi Tom,
I don't feed grass often, just a coincidence it's on the pic.
I have seen them eating it, is yard grass bad for them? My backyards grass is from a very old yard, never had any chemicals used.

I read peas and Lima beans has too high of protein which too much of is bad for stars.


Neal said:
Send me an email via my TFO profile and I'll send you a PDF copy of 7 case studies that I have found interesting related to Indian Star Tortoises. Sorry, I do not have a URL for these studies, I only have them in PDF form.

Looks like I can only fit one attachment here.

Done, thanks.


Will said:
http://startortoises.net/ This is a good site IMO. Will

Thank you


AnnV said:
Wow, they are gloriously gorgeous!
Do you know for sure they are females?
What do you feed in winter?

Thank you.

The breeder temperature sexed them female, he said he never had a complaint.

In Westmont Illinois, "Natures Best" always has dandelions, kale, escaroland other veggies all year round, I also give them mazuri mixed with grassland tortoise food.
Always plenty of cuttle bone and Rep-Cal calcium.
 

Tom

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I don't know about the grass. It's something I have been wondering about. What percentage of a Star's diet should be grass. Do they need it at all? Are they fine without it?

I've been sprouting a lot of my own grass lately and when I finely chop the tender young shoots and sprinkle it over the tortoise's greens they seem to really like it. Well... They eat it and its gone at the end of the day.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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Of course if you don't mind driving your fingers over the key board a little bit beyond links and down loads you can use a search engine like this http://www.doc-live.com/ and enter "geochelone elegans" in the search box. Then you will get all those from ZoosPrint, as well as a great many more. Will
 

ben32hayt

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I have some picture of my star, I bought her not have info on her and the person claimed she was an adult. When she arrive she was about 4 inches and has horrible pyramiding. Any tips on what I should do? ImageUploadedByTortForum1383316851.268079.jpg
 
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Kapidolo Farms

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ben32hayt said:
I have some picture of my star, I bought her not have info on her and the person claimed she was an adult. When she arrive she was about 4 inches and has horrible pyramiding. Any tips on what I should do?

Ben, there are many established threads detailing the care in great detail. The webpage noted by me, and the book by Fife are both excellent resources, so what you should do it read the book and apply that information.

Would you please share the source for a 4 inch adult pyramided star?
 

ben32hayt

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Will said:
ben32hayt said:
I have some picture of my star, I bought her not have info on her and the person claimed she was an adult. When she arrive she was about 4 inches and has horrible pyramiding. Any tips on what I should do?

Ben, there are many established threads detailing the care in great detail. The webpage noted by me, and the book by Fife are both excellent resources, so what you should do it read the book and apply that information.

Would you please share the source for a 4 inch adult pyramided star?

Hi Will, I will read the book and the webpage. I did not purchased her , she was a gift one year for my birthday. The little info I have is listed above and I left out she was purchased on kingsnake.com.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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ben32hayt said:
Will said:
ben32hayt said:
I have some picture of my star, I bought her not have info on her and the person claimed she was an adult. When she arrive she was about 4 inches and has horrible pyramiding. Any tips on what I should do?

Ben, there are many established threads detailing the care in great detail. The webpage noted by me, and the book by Fife are both excellent resources, so what you should do it read the book and apply that information.

Would you please share the source for a 4 inch adult pyramided star?

Hi Will, I will read the book and the webpage. I did not purchased her , she was a gift one year for my birthday. The little info I have is listed above and I left out she was purchased on kingsnake.com.

In short that is F'ed up. That exact kind of thing seems to common. I wouldn't want to walk over a gift's history, but revealing the Jack**s that did that, who probably learned it would be a gift and therefore distance themselves from the ultimate owner, you with an animal they knew was 'not right', further indicates that sorting out the source is appropriate.

Sorta like a cavity, it's history now for that individual, you make the tortoise grow well afterwords. As the tortoise is about 2/3 to 1/3 grown (depending on its sex) you can seek to use the vast information resources here and the Fife book to straighten things out.
 

TortoiseWorld

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ben32hayt said:
When she arrive she was about 4 inches and has horrible pyramiding. Any tips on what I should do?

Hi Ben and anyone with a pyramiding star, it is not uncommon to see pyramiding in star tortoises especially Sri Lankan (SL) stars. From what I know, heavy pyramiding occurs on the Sri Lankan stars more than any other tortoise species. There is both smooth and pyramiding Indians and SL stars found in the wild.

Some pyramiding in stars does not necessarily mean there is bad husbandry, and not necessarily related to a health issue.

You can see the difference between a pyramiding star that is malnourished and a pyramiding star that is healthy. On a healthy star the pyramiding is more symmetrical and balanced (the best way I can describe it), compared to tortoise neglect where the pyramiding is distorted and grotesque malformed, deformed...

It's a continuous battle, saving the tortoises, means daily husbandry. Neglect husbandry puts a tortoise (especially hatchlings) in danger.
I try to do something new with them everyday to keep it interesting and in the flow of good husbandry. Even if it's a small thing, like today I dropped off a fecal sample at the exotic animal vet. The exam is for anything not normal. This is the first time I did this for my 3 babies, for $23 bucks it's a small price for good information.
Scan0002.jpg

Galaxy is my largest at 3-1/2" now 130 grams,
here is some pics I just took of her today. I know a lot more now about husbandry than when I first got them in March. They are not a simple tortoise species to care for but they are so gorgeous, their worth the time and money.
photo.JPG
photo (1).JPG


Is pyramiding in baby stars inevitably? Tom first challenged me with his warm-humid-closed enclosure methods and proved with his sulculta babies that pyramiding can be eliminated. I've also read it's best to lower the plant protein and raise the calcium they digest.

I sometimes wish I could start over with my star tortoises, avoid some mistakes I already did with diet and humidity and substrate etc. The most important thing is to love them in the moment of today, knowing it's a privilege that we are caring for such amazing creatures.
 
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TortoiseWorld

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I just took these 3 pics of my babies eating turnip/escrole greens.

7.jpg

8.jpg

9.jpg
 
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AnnV

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Re: RE: Star Tortoise Information Thread

Neal said:
Send me an email via my TFO profile and I'll send you a PDF copy of 7 case studies that I have found interesting related to Indian Star Tortoises. Sorry, I do not have a URL for these studies, I only have them in PDF form.

Looks like I can only fit one attachment here.

Can I get those too, please, if I send email address?
 

TortoiseWorld

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Hi Ann,
how many stars do you have, any pic to share?

I have 3 SL stars females from Larry G. and getting some Burmese stars soon.
 

frankie22

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Hi, I'm in the uk and I've been trying to get hold of that book and can't seem to find it anywhere here. Anybody have any suggestions please of where I can get it without it costing a fortune? x
 

ben32hayt

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frankie22 said:
Hi, I'm in the uk and I've been trying to get hold of that book and can't seem to find it anywhere here. Anybody have any suggestions please of where I can get it without it costing a fortune? x

Check amazon I'm pretty sure the website has it for 13.49 USD but I'm not sure how much shipping to the U.K. Will cost.
 

TortoiseWorld

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frankie22 said:
Hi, I'm in the uk and I've been trying to get hold of that book and can't seem to find it anywhere here. Anybody have any suggestions please of where I can get it without it costing a fortune? x

I have an extra one, PM me your exact name and address in the UK and I will mail it to you no charge.

!CE1gUqw!mk~$(KGrHqR,!lwE1F6W4IkKBNTJ59ZNO!~~_35.JPG
 
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frankie22

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I tried amazon but can't seem to find it, it just brings up the leopards and sulcatas book up xx I'll keep trying thank you :)


Hi I'm trying to pm you but it won't send, are you sure?? That is very generous of you thank you xx my boyfriend has 3 stars xx


Here's his stars xx
ImageUploadedByTortForum1383500275.836632.jpgImageUploadedByTortForum1383500344.577904.jpgImageUploadedByTortForum1383500376.284211.jpgImageUploadedByTortForum1383500421.855567.jpg
 
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