Sterile Habitat?

Dan

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I have a tiny burmese star coming Saturday and I'm pretty psyched about it. In the photos a man was wearing nitryl gloves as he held the hatchling. I had understood that these were pretty hardy tortoises; is that degree of precaution really necessary? I do understand protecting what is a significant investment, but I'm still gonna feed her weeds from the yard, right?

Any estimate on the age? Does anyone recognize their handiwork?

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G-stars

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Some people use gloves for numerous reasons. I myself just wash my hands before and after. As far as age goes probably less than a year old.

Only way to know for sure is who the breeder was. The seller should have those details, hatch date and breeder info.
 

Tom

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I'd guess that one is around 6 months.

I set mine up with standard tortoise stuff and raised them just like I raise leopards or sulcatas. I found mine like to eat in the late afternoon and they like it hot. In summer the ambient would creep into the low 90s and they seemed quite happy with that. I feed them weeds and all the same stuff that I feed my other tortoises. I got them all at 24-31 grams and they are now 330-768 grams after almost two years.
 

Dan

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Really looking forward to watching her grow. Should turn out to be a real beaut'

I'll have to ask the seller for the history on this one.

That's good to hear about the normal tortoise food Tom. Springtime here means the assortment of available weeds, grasses, etc is just exploding. Certainly an abundance and a variety of quality forage all of a sudden.
 

Tom

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They really are a great species. I love them. Mine aren't picky. I feed them all sorts of stuff and they eat it all. Grape leaves, plantain weeds, mulberry leaves, cactus pads, Mazuri, african hibiscus leaves, gazania flowers, dandelions, grass, sow thistle, mallow, filaree, wild mustard, clover, alfalfa, squash leaves, collards, arugula, spring mix, sunflower leaves, lavatera leaves and flowers, blue hibiscus... I know there is more, but I can't remember it all.

You will love this new tortoise.
 

Dan

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Hatched by Larry Gaugler in early December 2014.
 

Dan

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image.jpg Cuteness overload. Like a beetle right now. And not shy at all. Eating and basking right out of the box (following soak of course).
 

Dan

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Not super active today. When I can't resist checking in, she's only move incrementally, if at all. Eyes open and looking around though. Understand this to be normal, especially for a newly moved baby.

Another question, kind of returning to the title of this post: My enclosure is set up just like with my sulcata baby with hard-packed damp sphagnum moss as substrate to help keep the humidity up. Looking around though, I've seen a lot of keepers of small, higher-end tort babies like stars and radiateds house them on paper towels. I assume that this is for a. ease of cleaning and b. to avoid impaction from ingesting substrate. I'm feeding on a sort of "placemat" to avoid this second issue and I like that deep substrate can be soaked deep down while allowed to dry on the surface, or that this allows me to spray the basking area with water while the cool end (low 80's) can be left dryer. Would you recommend switching over to towels, or is this ok?
 

KenS

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What is the animals weight ? My babies hatch out from about 22 to 25 grams . Pretty much all my babies that are about two months old are up to anywhere from 45-65 grams . I see it was hatched early December . So now I would say it's around 45-65 grams even if it's growing slow. Keep track of its weight from when u first got it. Best of luck with it. Burmese stars are a great hardy species to work with!!!
 

Dan

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Got her Saturday at 28 grams. Compared to what you've described, quite small for her age then. I'll do what I'm able to catch her up
 

Dan

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Calcium, UVB, mazuri a couple times a week, daily soaks, warm and humid enclosure... What else can I do to get this little one up to speed?
 

Tom

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Calcium, UVB, mazuri a couple times a week, daily soaks, warm and humid enclosure... What else can I do to get this little one up to speed?

Don't go crazy with the calcium. A little bit added twice a week is enough. I'd use Mazuri three times a week in this case and you can mix it with other good greens. A weedy, high fiber diet is the way to go here. I don't feed mine a lot of grass, like I would for a sulcata, but I do feed them some grass. Mine get lots of weeds and leaves and very little grocery store type greens.

What are you doing for UV? I put mine outside for sunshine in a totally secure completely closed in enclosure for an hour or two daily when they were that size. Now they get to spend 3-4 hours outside since they are a little bigger. I always soak them on the way back in. Eventually they will live outside full time in giant locked cages under 24/7 armed guard and patrolling attack dogs. I'm not kidding.

Anyhow, if you are relying on indoor UV sources, you should really get a meter and test your UVB levels to make sure you are getting the correct amount. I like this one: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html
 

Dan

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I'll be using sunshine for UVB through
about September but I do use powersun bulbs over the winter. I have a bulb I used about a month this spring but I'll be sure to measure its output before relying on it again in the fall. It's unclear if genetics or prior diet accounts for the apparent lack of growth, but anything I can try here to beef her up will be attempted. I've heard of Marion diet; does this offer anything extra that Mazuri doesn't? I thought I'd seen someone feed this for another tortoise who wasn't thriving.
 

Dan

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Not wild about Mazuri yet but I soak it until it's falling apart and mix it into greens. I'm getting a much stronger feeding response with microwaved cactus pad (to soften it) sliced very thin into strips she can tear apart. This also seems to make supplement powders stick to the food better when they're offered. She was up to 31 grams before her soak this morning. She'll be getting some sunshine later today which could help, too.
 

Dan

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Eventually they will live outside full time in giant locked cages under 24/7 armed guard and patrolling attack dogs. I'm not kidding.

I'd read that a breeding center in Burma was employing punji traps around its perimeter.
 

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