star tortoise instincts

[geekinpink]

Hi guys, i've search the forum and i can't seem to find the answer i'm looking for, hope it's ok for me to start another thread

- I was just wondering about star tortoise instincts, are they strong? I mean, do they instinctively go to the light source or the heat source if they think they need it? Would they bask in the sun if they need to, bec mine seems to not be interested in basking at all, i have to feed her right below the uv bulb or the sunrays. And i worry sometimes because she chooses to sleep on the hide away from heat instead of the hide near the heat...and if i feel her she seems cold to touch...if they feel cold would they instinctively go to the heat source or i should just put her there?

 

[George]

Hello geekinpink - i have two stars and when i got the first one i also did a lot of research about their enclosure and also read that hides are good, which i believe they are, so i made one out of a tub with a wet sponge stuck to the roof as well as a cork cave. i found that george would go in and stay all day in the hide and would sometimes be reluctant to eat. He was also cold to touch so i removed both hide and now provide plants for cover and damp sphagnum moss to create humidity.
I love watching them and have noticed that they like/prefer to stay under cover than out in the open, they will however move close to the heat source every now and again, especially after eating. they particularly like to lay just at the edge of the cover all sprawled out soaking up the heat rays!

hope that helps. by the way george is now two and still doing well with no hides.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I believe plants and other sorts of covers count as hides as well, just a different type. As George said, some torts do better with the plant type hides than the box ones. My tort won't even go in a box or half log hide, so I replaced them all with fake plants and timothy hay piles. Tort care requires some trial and error. I'd test things out and see how it goes. Besides having hides available in all temperature zones, not much you can do to get the tort to stay warm. They will choose security over warmth or food, such that if you only had cold hides they would stay in those instead of basking, but if you also have warm hides I'm perplexed as to why the tort doesn't want to keep warm besides changing the type of hide and double checking all the temps with a good thermometer like a temp gun.

Anyone with Stars know if they ever have problems with bright light? My instricts tell me not, but some torts are weird and would prefer the option of a heat emitter in one area to bask under vs. a bright light. They don't need quite as much exposure to uvb as we think they need, so as long as you have a good bulb like a mvb I wouldn't worry if she doesn't seem to bask much.

Real sun is always better, so as much time as you can get her out in the real sun (when temps allow) that may help.

Is she eating well?

 

[egyptiandan]

Kelly (stells) has found that her stars do better with less light. She uses a MVB (no other lights but the MVB) and a ceramic heat emitter for heat during the day. Than uses the ceramic heat emitter at night (so the ceramic heat emitter is on all the time). They have a large humid end and a small dry end. There are cork bark shelters on the warm humid end and they do use them.

Danny

 

[tortoisenerd]

Interesting, Danny!

 

[Homerist]

hi,

i believe each and every tortoise is different in personality but the few common traits are:

love warm
likes a secure corner or hide
enjoys a warm soak
loves to eat fresh food, i notice once the vege is a little yellow, he refuse to eat!

I have a baby star for 8months now and he is like how i mention in the above points. but something he likes is having me stroking his chin/throat like stroking a cat! ahaha..

play and interact with your tortoise more and you will discover and know more about your tort's individuality.

 

[samstar]

Kelly (stells) has found that her stars do better with less light. She uses a MVB (no other lights but the MVB) and a ceramic heat emitter for heat during the day. Than uses the ceramic heat emitter at night (so the ceramic heat emitter is on all the time). They have a large humid end and a small dry end. There are cork bark shelters on the warm humid end and they do use them.

Danny

how do Stars do better with less light? so dont leave the lamp on for 8-10 hours a day like others do for their other torts?

 

[egyptiandan]

Not less time wise, less in the amount of light when it's on. Her MVB is on 12 to 14 hours a day. The table they are in is on the floor (on the second floor of the house) and doesn't get any direct sun from the 1 window in the room. There is also another tier of table over the top of this table. So light levels are pretty low. For a while she also had a regular fluorscent light over the table. They were never that active with the extra light and one day she didn't turn it on. That one day they were really active. The next day she turned it back on and they went back to being not active. After that she left that light off and they have been really active every day since.
These are hatchlings and you have to figure that hatchlings are food and don't want to be seen. If your seen you'll be eaten in the wild, so you need to keep hidden most of the time. If your not in any bright light the tortoise feels it can't be seen well, so will become more active. This seems to be the case with most tropical tortoises.

Danny

 

[samstar]

Not less time wise, less in the amount of light when it's on. Her MVB is on 12 to 14 hours a day. The table they are in is on the floor (on the second floor of the house) and doesn't get any direct sun from the 1 window in the room. There is also another tier of table over the top of this table. So light levels are pretty low. For a while she also had a regular fluorscent light over the table. They were never that active with the extra light and one day she didn't turn it on. That one day they were really active. The next day she turned it back on and they went back to being not active. After that she left that light off and they have been really active every day since.
These are hatchlings and you have to figure that hatchlings are food and don't want to be seen. If your seen you'll be eaten in the wild, so you need to keep hidden most of the time. If your not in any bright light the tortoise feels it can't be seen well, so will become more active. This seems to be the case with most tropical tortoises.

Danny

Interesting, thanks. I leave my lights on about 6-8 hours a day as it's always warm and sunny or raining.

 

[geekinpink]

Are wind bad for torts even if the wind is hot and humid? We've been having wacky weathers here in asia! I hate it! Sunny in the morning raining at night, If not very windy but the wind is very hot and humid.

I now put a light over my torts hide, I use those terra cotta plant pot (i'm always scared some other hides can cause fire lol), there's a hole where the water is suppose to come out if used as a plant pot, I point the heat(light) on that hole, she loves it, she goes in there when there is no sun, she also goes to another hide that is directly under the sunlight when there is sun out.

I found my tort active without light as well (or little light). There's an open area on her enclosure that gets very bright daylight, i covered it with the cover of those plastic tubs, she walks around more if i do that. and she doesn't feel the need to look for a hide, she would just walk around then sleep in the "open" a little bit then walk around again.

 

[samstar]

I do know that strong winds are not good for Stars as they can get RNS easier

 

[geekinpink]

yea, i kind of thought so, just want to make sure because i think it stresses my tort that i keep taking her inside and then out again...i just thought if the wind does not bother them since it's hot wind, i could just leave her out until nightime...