"Star" Laid Eggs

Lrodmyre

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Hi All,

My Indian Star "Star" just laid her first set of eggs tonight! I'm very excited! She laid 4 BIG ones!

My question for you is should I let her rest for a day or two or longer before I put the male back in, or does it matter? I can't seem to find any info on this.

She and "Indy" live in an 8 x 3 vivarium with another 6x3 vivarium right next to it in an "L" shape. I put the male in the other 6x3 for the night.

I'm in MN so it will be a while before they can go outside which is alot more space.

Thanks!
 

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G-stars

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I rarely if ever have to remove a male or other tortoises when a female is nesting. The only times I’ve done this is when I notice that they are bugging her while she is nesting. My male and female stars live with each other 24/7 without any issues.
 

G-stars

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They should always live separately. The male will bite and ram her to mate all day long she gets stressed and even physically hurt

This usually applies to the more aggressive species such as the Russians, Herman’s, sulcatas, etc...

Stars are not known to bite and ram at all. Of course there can always be the exception to the rule but in general they don’t do that. I keep my males and females together 24/7 without any incident. Many breeders don’t separate their stars at all either.
 

EllieMay

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Hi All,

My Indian Star "Star" just laid her first set of eggs tonight! I'm very excited! She laid 4 BIG ones!

My question for you is should I let her rest for a day or two or longer before I put the male back in, or does it matter? I can't seem to find any info on this.

She and "Indy" live in an 8 x 3 vivarium with another 6x3 vivarium right next to it in an "L" shape. I put the male in the other 6x3 for the night.

I'm in MN so it will be a while before they can go outside which is alot more space.

Thanks!
Congratulations on the pre-babies!!!
 

Tom

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Hi All,

My Indian Star "Star" just laid her first set of eggs tonight! I'm very excited! She laid 4 BIG ones!

My question for you is should I let her rest for a day or two or longer before I put the male back in, or does it matter? I can't seem to find any info on this.

She and "Indy" live in an 8 x 3 vivarium with another 6x3 vivarium right next to it in an "L" shape. I put the male in the other 6x3 for the night.

I'm in MN so it will be a while before they can go outside which is alot more space.

Thanks!
They should never be housed as pairs. Groups of stars can usually work, but not pairs. So I'd keep the male separate and only put them together for a day or two now and then for breeding. I find it key to rehydrate the female after laying. Daily soaks for a while.

Here is info on what to do with the eggs and hatchlings.

Different species, but more detailed info and pics of how to start hatchlings. I do my stars exactly the same: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/sudan-sulcatas-this-never-gets-old.184832/
 

Markw84

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Hi All,

My Indian Star "Star" just laid her first set of eggs tonight! I'm very excited! She laid 4 BIG ones!

My question for you is should I let her rest for a day or two or longer before I put the male back in, or does it matter? I can't seem to find any info on this.

She and "Indy" live in an 8 x 3 vivarium with another 6x3 vivarium right next to it in an "L" shape. I put the male in the other 6x3 for the night.

I'm in MN so it will be a while before they can go outside which is alot more space.

Thanks!

As an additional note to what @Tom offered:

I would definitely suggest not using the perlite as incubation medium. There have been many cases of babies that died and necropsy found chunks of caked perlite in the stomach. A baby will often eat anything within reach even while still emerging from the egg. White bits tend to stimulate them to eat it - perhaps an instinct to finding calcium. They will definitely eat parts of the egg shell they emerge from. Many use straight vermiculite as medium. I use vermiculite and peat moss mixed. 50/50 water with medium by weight. All this is in the guide Tom linked.

Good luck with the eggs.
 

Lrodmyre

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Thank you for the great info! I will switch the eggs to vermiculite today. That is Hatchrite that I have them in. I use it for my turtle eggs every year with outstanding hatch rates, but I will switch these to vermiculite.

I just put him on the other side because he kept falling into her nesting hole! Pretty funny sight!

I also have 2 more males that are juveniles and they intermingle during the day anyway so I think I will let her be for a couple days and then let them all get back to normal.

I rescue turtles and have turtles also. I received these two as a pair from a man going into a nursing home. He didn't want them split up. Its been over two years now and she's grown into quite a beautiful tortoise!

Thanks again for all of your help!
 

Markw84

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Thank you for the great info! I will switch the eggs to vermiculite today. That is Hatchrite that I have them in. I use it for my turtle eggs every year with outstanding hatch rates, but I will switch these to vermiculite.

I just put him on the other side because he kept falling into her nesting hole! Pretty funny sight!

I also have 2 more males that are juveniles and they intermingle during the day anyway so I think I will let her be for a couple days and then let them all get back to normal.

I rescue turtles and have turtles also. I received these two as a pair from a man going into a nursing home. He didn't want them split up. Its been over two years now and she's grown into quite a beautiful tortoise!

Thanks again for all of your help!
I am not a fan of Hatchrite. It seems to be a mix of perlite and then some gel sobstance mixed in to help hold humidity. Certainly works for hatching reptiles, but the issue of a tortoise who will eat things immediately is not being accounted for. You can get good hatch rates with moist paper towels, and even just a bare crate suspending the eggs over water. However, my current position on what I am doing studying tortoise leads me to believe there is great value in the contact of the egg with some medium that is a bit more acidic to help the chelation of calcium and thinning of the eggshell (better calcium absorption) just prior to hatching. That's why I add the peat moss. Have had good success with it. Many species don't have issues with trouble breaking out of the eggshell, and we don't know for sure about the availability issue of ionized calcium to the embryo. My opinion is it has value. Most all tortoises dig nests in pretty acidic soils. Plus most all females deposit some feces in the nest chamber.
 

RickyGoldsmith

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I rarely if ever have to remove a male or other tortoises when a female is nesting. The only times I’ve done this is when I notice that they are bugging her while she is nesting. My male and female stars live with each other 24/7 without any issues.

I second that. 6 yrs and counting. I have a pair (not sure of their sex) and they've lived happily. But they aren't housed in a vivarium. They live in an open space garden with ample space. Sometimes they like to live together under the same bush for weeks. At other times, they like to live separate around 5-6 feet away in different bush.
 

Lrodmyre

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I've moved them to vermiculite last night. I'm wondering, when does the chalking over take place. I've only found one thing that states it takes up to 3 weeks. Is this correct?

Thanks again for your help. This is fascinating how they are alot like water turtles, but yet not. I love the learning process. So many interesting things!
 

Toddrickfl1

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Congrats and good luck. Keep us posted.
 
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