Calling on indian star owners residing in INDIA

shanu303

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i've been viewing different posts and threads where one or the other owners living in india are seeking an advise from star owners in INDIA...
and the prime reason for that is most of the advise, help articles, terminology(except for the general ones) don't apply here in india.... it seems to be the irony that the star is native to India and India lacks the most crucial needs, accessories, necessities etc. So i thought instead of posting things in scrambled ways in different threads why not create a new thread that would be centred to help and solve issues of people like us living in india......

so i'm calling on all star owners living in india to give a little bit of intro about you and your tort( its age, weight, size etc) and where you live ( like state or even better .. city) , pictures of your star, enclosure, what diet you feed them etc........ this info would help us asses each other, solve each other's issues and problems and also teach us new better was of keeping our stars.......

So let's see how many Star owners from INDIA!!! :) :) :) :)


I'm Shanu and i live in Jaipur Rajasthan, INDIA :D

i have a 10 year old MALE Indian star tortoise natively belonging to Kutch Gujarat....... i rescued him from a friend of my friend.... and he was previously wild caught and that explains his pyramiding.....but he's still very handsome :)

Here is Max:
Photo0719.jpg

Photo0723_zps73575bb6.jpg


and this is his outdoor enclosure:
photo0063_zps189f49e0.jpg


His Diet:
hibiscus flower and greens
cilantro(dhaniya)
fenugreek(methi) in winter
cucumber(kheera)
lawn grass( variety)
 
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tortadise

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Theres quite a few on here. Maybe they are not online right now. Great looking specimen and backyard for your star.
 

luvpetz27

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I am sure you will hear from them soon!! :)
Great pictures! :) :)
 

Preet917

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@shanu

Your thread could not have come at a better time! :)
I must say, the subject of your thread is what I have been looking for.
There aren't many sources of information online providing detailed care to the indian star tortoise
raised in captivity within the land of it's origin namely India and I'm happy at least someone stood up and took notice of the fact! :)

I reside in Mumbai and am the proud owner of a shy Indian star tortoise which I purchased just over a week ago.
Not sure of it's age, but it's about 2.5 - 3 inches in length and an active fellow and I reckon that it's probably a couple of months old, a year max.
This is my first pet reptile and so far I've been feeding it coriander, cabbage and cluster bean pod. I started feeding the latter today itself and have observed that my tortoise absolutely loves it!
After looking up it's nutritional facts, I've found that it's a high source of fiber and calcium.

My tortoise is active under light (both natural light and a large white tube light)
I have prepared a small area for it in my balcony and will upload the images during the day when there's sufficient lighting.

Hope to hear from you.

Best wishes,

Preet
 

shanu303

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Preet917 said:
@shanu

Your thread could not have come at a better time! :)
I must say, the subject of your thread is what I have been looking for.
There aren't many sources of information online providing detailed care to the indian star tortoise
raised in captivity within the land of it's origin namely India and I'm happy at least someone stood up and took notice of the fact! :)

I reside in Mumbai and am the proud owner of a shy Indian star tortoise which I purchased just over a week ago.
Not sure of it's age, but it's about 2.5 - 3 inches in length and an active fellow and I reckon that it's probably a couple of months old, a year max.
This is my first pet reptile and so far I've been feeding it coriander, cabbage and cluster bean pod. I started feeding the latter today itself and have observed that my tortoise absolutely loves it!
After looking up it's nutritional facts, I've found that it's a high source of fiber and calcium.

My tortoise is active under light (both natural light and a large white tube light)
I have prepared a small area for it in my balcony and will upload the images during the day when there's sufficient lighting.

Hope to hear from you.

Best wishes,

Preet

hello Preet, congratulation on being the owner of one of the most amazing creations of God... :)

i would definitely like to see his pic and his enclosure.....
well didn't you name him/her?

regarding the diet i suggest you to do a little bit of changes...
coriander is good so you can feed as a staple diet...

cabbage is not good for your star and for any tortoise... as Cabbage contains goitrogens that interfere with thyroid activity and could damage the liver and kidneys and you wouldn't be wanting that to happen as there are literally no good reptile vets in India and its not good for your torts health.....

beans are very high in protein and low in fibre which might result in abnormal growth... so not everyday as a staple diet but sometime as a treat if he/she likes it......

you can try hibiscus flower too..... they are the favourite of almost every tort..... you can just buy a small plant from the nursery and it will yield a good no. of flowers.....

Methi patta is also good .... but mostly available in the winter....

Mulli ke patte/Radish greens are also good.....

wheat grass/ "gehu ki ghas" "sorry for the wrong spelling of the hindi words.... you can grow the wheat grains in a small pot and they will germinate in a week and you can give it mixed with the other veggies and stuff...... i myself have grown a small veggie garden for my tort.....

and here are some links to foreign veggies' seeds available at a very reasonable cost online...... i myself am gonna order few packs..... so i think you might want to try them....
they are all on ebay:
lettuce

romaine lettuce

parris island lettuce

i hope this info helps you regarding the diet for your new friend :) :)

:tort::tort::tort:
 

patilraosaheb

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Ohh.. You are star shanu. Really needed consolidated forum for this. However we still need to aware of all other things like laws as well.
 

shanu303

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patilraosaheb said:
Ohh.. You are star shanu. Really needed consolidated forum for this. However we still need to aware of all other things like laws as well.

star shanu??? i'm just shanu.....

and regarding the law....... who's disclosing your identity and address??? this thread is just to HELP people who have already ACQUIRED the star tortoise....... so this is to make the chances of those stars to survive BETTER and live a Better life in captivity...... look many of us have got the stars and most people have got them just because they think that star tortoises are lucky... would bring in more money...profit and so on...... such orthodox people....... i saved Max from such people ....... and he is already tamed i guess and just simply can't survive in the wild as you can see the temperature in their habitat is way above normal and they simply can't survive there simply because the environment is changing rapidly.... and to such drastic levels that the tortoises especially the tamed/pet ones....... so i think the law doesn't really apply here........ what does the government do after confiscating these star torts.... do you really know!
they just dump them in zoos in unhygienic enclosures.... poor diet and they ultimately die..! :( :( i have seen this with my own 2 eyes in the zoo in jaipur..... there were 800 tortoises!!!! can you imagine??? all confiscated from illegal traders and other sources!!! and they were all severely pyramiding and only fed carrots and cucumbers... sometimes the same fruits and veggies that are given to the rabbits and monkeys.... so whats the sense of the law when the torts are gonna die anyway....... the better solution i suggest is that some really caring individuals like the ones in this forum house these creatures and in future if possible start a breeding program to restore these tort's wild population........ this way we can have nice pets as well as help mother nature and the wildlife/STAR of our country.......... i hope you understand........
 

patilraosaheb

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:) :).

Totally Agree with all your points and all are TRUE. My concern was to avoid unnecessary issues due to laws.
 
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Preet917

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@shanu

well, i don't feed my tort the beans per se, just the covering (pod) and it absolutely loves it.
cluster beans are native to india and are high in calcium and fiber with a significant proportion of protein.
are u sure vegetation based protein is bad for the start tort? From what I've read from online sources, meat based protein causes deformities most notably the pyramidal deformity.

Please have a look at the link below containing nutrition values of vegetables.
http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/nutrition/pdf/nutritive value_vegetables.pdf

Am yet to name my tort. Haven't really landed upon a suitable name thus far.
I'm upload pictures of my tortoise den. :)

IMG_20130411_150021.jpg
IMG_20130411_150032.jpg
IMG_20130411_150048.jpg
 
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shanu303

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Preet917 said:
@shanu

well, i don't feed my tort the beans per se, just the covering (pod) and it absolutely loves it.
cluster beans are native to india and are high in calcium and fiber with a significant proportion of protein.
are u sure vegetation based protein is bad for the start tort? From what I've read from online sources, meat based protein causes deformities most notably the pyramidal deformity.

Please have a look at the link below containing nutrition values of vegetables.
http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/nutrition/pdf/nutritive value_vegetables.pdf

Am yet to name my tort. Haven't really landed upon a suitable name thus far.
I'm upload pictures of my tortoise den. :)

well you got a lovely smooth shelled buddy out there........
regarding the beans....... i wanted to say that they aren't available in their habitat in the arid areas and neither is anything that has such an amount of protein in it.... but since you are feeding the pods then it's okay to some extent but not regularly i suggest..... just vary it like twice or thrice a week and everything should be fine...... the thing is their diet is all about fibre and very very small amount of protein........... so i suggested that.....

well regarding the enclosure.... i suggest you put topsoil/garden soil which is pesticide free ASAP cause its summer already and your tort might get plastron burns due to the bare tiles he is residing on...... just make sure that the soil is damp most of the time and the high heat will do the rest....... one more thing is you should spray his/her shell three to four times a day because you got a very smooth shelled and lovely tort and you wont be wanting his/her shell to start pyramiding.... prevention is better than cure well actually there is no cure after pyramiding starts.....

and daily soaks are essentially too...... your water dish is ineffective because the tort can't get into it if he/she wants to soak because the walls are so high for him....... one thing you can do is after you pot garden soil probably 2-3 inches deep minimum , you can dig up a bit and put the water dish so that it becomes bellow ground level and your tort can easily go in and out........ well the enclosure looks bare so you should plant it with some plants..... maybe grass, dhaniya, methi,.... and the lettuce if you plan to buy the seeds from the link i send...... the reason i gave the links is that i was searching my local market and didn't find lettuce so i decided to buy seeds and plant myself..... and one last thing is that you should give him/her a hide box in which he/she can be protected from sun when its too hot out there.......
 

arotester

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hi shanu(if that's your name)
My name is Ashish and i live in pune.I have raised my two stars since they were hatching and they are 4" and 3" now and doing well.(for pics plz visit my posts)
 

shanu303

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arotester said:
hi shanu(if that's your name)
My name is Ashish and i live in pune.I have raised my two stars since they were hatching and they are 4" and 3" now and doing well.(for pics plz visit my posts)

hello Ashish, your torts are really amazing and really smooth, that shows your great care :)
 

arotester

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shanu303 said:
arotester said:
hi shanu(if that's your name)
My name is Ashish and i live in pune.I have raised my two stars since they were hatching and they are 4" and 3" now and doing well.(for pics plz visit my posts)

hello Ashish, your torts are really amazing and really smooth, that shows your great care :)

thanks,this forum taught me a lot abt how to raise the torts in general.
Stars need special care and that word "special" needs to explained depending on the location.It's great initiative that you have taken, i am there to help you out in this. :)
 

shanu303

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arotester said:
shanu303 said:
arotester said:
hi shanu(if that's your name)
My name is Ashish and i live in pune.I have raised my two stars since they were hatching and they are 4" and 3" now and doing well.(for pics plz visit my posts)

hello Ashish, your torts are really amazing and really smooth, that shows your great care :)

thanks,this forum taught me a lot abt how to raise the torts in general.
Stars need special care and that word "special" needs to explained depending on the location.It's great initiative that you have taken, i am there to help you out in this. :)

well we are honoured to have someone experienced to guide us.......
thank you :)
 

arotester

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plz everyone try tiny pic to share those pics of your,becoz everyone has to click and wait for the pic to open...:)
 

Preet917

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@shanu

Thanks for the advice! :)
I have started feeding my tort fenugreek leaves (methi patta) which is a good source of calcium and helps kidney and intestinal functioning. He seems to be fine with the new addition to his weekly diet.

The tiles covering my tort enclosure are white in color and hence reflect most of the sunlight incident upon it. The tiles feel significantly cooler than the outdoor temperature and hence I was never inclined to use mud in the enclosure but I do have to solve the water issue. Any other suggestions?
Today was the first time I actually witnessed my tort enjoying a bath in his bowl (after I placed him in it). It was pleasing watching him :)
Doesn't pyramiding occur naturally in most stars? The tortoises look pretty neat with shells that have undergone an optimum level (according to natural occurrence in the wild) of pyramiding, not that I hope for any pyramiding at all with my tort.
How do I preserve or even better enhance the color of my tort?
 

shanu303

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Preet917 said:
@shanu

Thanks for the advice! :)
I have started feeding my tort fenugreek leaves (methi patta) which is a good source of calcium and helps kidney and intestinal functioning. He seems to be fine with the new addition to his weekly diet.

The tiles covering my tort enclosure are white in color and hence reflect most of the sunlight incident upon it. The tiles feel significantly cooler than the outdoor temperature and hence I was never inclined to use mud in the enclosure but I do have to solve the water issue. Any other suggestions?
Today was the first time I actually witnessed my tort enjoying a bath in his bowl (after I placed him in it). It was pleasing watching him :)
Doesn't pyramiding occur naturally in most stars? The tortoises look pretty neat with shells that have undergone an optimum level (according to natural occurrence in the wild) of pyramiding, not that I hope for any pyramiding at all with my tort.
How do I preserve or even better enhance the color of my tort?

that's good that you are varying the diet....... regarding the tiles.... although they don't get hot but they aren't the real substrate that the torts live on...... mud or soil will definitely help your tort and it seriously is required.....i am just advising you ...just imagine yourself sleeping on bare ground.... it really wouldn't feel nice right?? same is with them.... to feel at home they do require damp substrate...... and the mud/soil will really help you to prevent pyramiding....... Natural pyramiding is not same as Captive pyramiding...... in captivity pyramiding can reach to severe level as compared to natural habitat...... and one factor is the substrate.... i really request you as much as possible do get a moisture holding substrate or else such nice smooth shell could turn into bumpy pyramided one...... and there is no natural way of enhancing the colour of your tort other than feeding the proper diet , proper housing, temperature..... and they too won't make any significant changes in the colour..... those factors are controlled by the genes..... well i don't see need to do that as your tort is already so beautiful/handsome and such a little cute creature :)

i hope you understand my point and the essentiality of the substrate........:tort::tort::)
 

Redari

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I just want to chime in that Pyramiding in and of itself isn't the problem. The problem is that pyramiding is a symptom of metabolic bone disease (MBD) which is VERY bad for tortoises. Pyramiding is our easiest way to tell if MBD is occurring. Some Stars that pyramid do not show any other sings of MBD, which is why it is considered uniquely less problematic in Stars than in other breeds of tortoises. However, that does not mean that Stars do not get MBD, it is just harder to tell.

However, it is vital to give your tortoise proper humidity to prevent MBD. You need humidity, a proper diet, calcium, sunlight and exercise to prevent MBD in your tortoise. If they do not have a proper substrate to keep some humidity for them (especially when they are very young), they are going to get this disease.
 

shanu303

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Redari said:
I just want to chime in that Pyramiding in and of itself isn't the problem. The problem is that pyramiding is a symptom of metabolic bone disease (MBD) which is VERY bad for tortoises. Pyramiding is our easiest way to tell if MBD is occurring. Some Stars that pyramid do not show any other sings of MBD, which is why it is considered uniquely less problematic in Stars than in other breeds of tortoises. However, that does not mean that Stars do not get MBD, it is just harder to tell.

However, it is vital to give your tortoise proper humidity to prevent MBD. You need humidity, a proper diet, calcium, sunlight and exercise to prevent MBD in your tortoise. If they do not have a proper substrate to keep some humidity for them (especially when they are very young), they are going to get this disease.

Thank you for explaining this :)
 
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