Concerned our Indian Star is too small

mama

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Hi everyone!

We have had our Indian Star Tortoise for over a year now, we got him as a hatchling from a breeder and he is now 18 months old. He seems to be a healthy, happy little thing. He eats, he soaks, he poos, he basks, I think he does everything he should do. But I am concerned he does not weigh enough, after reading up a bit on here I think it may of stemmed from when he was a tiny baby.... the breeder told us to put him in an open top tortoise table so we did, we bought the proper set up for this, lights etc and he said along as you spray the table it'll be fine as it was summer and very hot in out house but obviously then the winter came and we realised this was wrong so we bought him a lovely vivarium and new lights and he seems happy but he is small.
We weigh him every month and he does put weight on every month.
So I think what I'm asking is, what are the weights of your 18 month old Indian Star's?
We love him very much especially our daughter, I would hate for there to be anything wrong with him!

Thanks for reading if you managed it all, sorry it's such a long post!
 

RickyGoldsmith

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One of my tort has slower growth rate compared to the other. And they both have been with me for 5+ years. As longs as your tort is healthy, there shouldn't be anything to worry about.
 

mama

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That makes me feel alot better, thank you. By the way he is etc it is hard for me to believe he can be ill but then I think why is he so small? We went to a garden centre a while ago and they happened to sell Indian stars and they were double the size of our's but the staff told me they were not even a year old. Thats when I first started to worry to be honest!
 

RickyGoldsmith

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That makes me feel alot better, thank you. By the way he is etc it is hard for me to believe he can be ill but then I think why is he so small? We went to a garden centre a while ago and they happened to sell Indian stars and they were double the size of our's but the staff told me they were not even a year old. Thats when I first started to worry to be honest!

I can't be sure of what size you are describing but 1 year isn't a long period. In my profile picture, you can see both the torts being accommodated on my palm. This was around the time when they were 12-18 months old.

My smaller torts still needs hand holding. For example, s/he isn't always attentive enough to walk down to the plate to have the meal. So I have to take extra care to bring it to the food. I think, just like all living beings, both the torts have a unique personality. Some need extra caring while others are self sufficient.

On this forum, there's also a strong recommendation that torts are reclusive and should be kept single. I haven't had that problem with my torts, but then I don't try to generalize my observation. It could just very well be that my torts are unique and are happy to have a companion
 

mama

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Location (City and/or State)
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I can't be sure of what size you are describing but 1 year isn't a long period. In my profile picture, you can see both the torts being accommodated on my palm. This was around the time when they were 12-18 months old.

My smaller torts still needs hand holding. For example, s/he isn't always attentive enough to walk down to the plate to have the meal. So I have to take extra care to bring it to the food. I think, just like all living beings, both the torts have a unique personality. Some need extra caring while others are self sufficient.

On this forum, there's also a strong recommendation that torts are reclusive and should be kept single. I haven't had that problem with my torts, but then I don't try to generalize my observation. It could just very well be that my torts are unique and are happy to have a companion

Thanks for your reply, I can see your picture. He is definitely growing but just very slowly and I was concerned it was too slow but maybe not, it was his weight too as he does put on weight every month and has never lost weight but only weighs 50g now and I read of other's weighing more than that at a younger age but like I say he is eating and pooing etc.

Funny you should say that actually, I wa stalkignto someone and I said my torotise is pretty lazy, he'll walk to his food and water and he basks but he's mostly asleep and he said that I should have more than one as it gives them company and makes them alot more active as they almost have competitors for food etc so I'd been feeling a bit guilty our tort was lonely too!
 

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