Shell development in star tortoise

[Jadeo.xx]

Hi
I have searched the Internet trying to find out when a star tortoise is considered mature and their shell would have finished developing, but I've had no luck. I have a female star tortoise and she was born end of 2009.
Her scutes started separating and have not finished. I was concerned that they are supposed to have fully separated from one and other by now.
Does anyone else have any experience with stars?

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm not sure what you mean by the scutes separating. Under normal circumstances the scutes don't separate. I would think that at 11 years of age your tortoise would be pretty close to full grown, but let's ask @Markw84

 

[G-stars]

What you are seeing is usually caused by growing in dry conditions. It causes the scutes to “stick” as they grow. I’ve also seen where some hatch this way and continue to grow like that. Your tortoise should be full grown at 11 years old so it will not change in appearance.

 

[Markw84]

Tortoise can continue to grow their entire lives. It slows down more and more as they get bigger and bigger. Some females may seem to totally stop growing as they expend much of their resources to egg production once they've reached a productive female size. Tortoises that have not had good conditions for years, can suddenly start growing fairly quickly once conditions become favorable. Certainly a tortoise 20 and even 30 years old will show growth like this when given good conditions.

What you are seeing is normal growth separation and expansion of the scutes. At 10 years old, I would certainly still want to see this growth.