Thinking About Getting A Star

[Len B]

There is a captive born indian star hatchling available and I may be able to trade my albino RES for it. I thinking about doing it , I have never had a star tortoise before but have done reading on them,the only thing that may be a problem, in the summer time we can have very high humidity at times, other than that I can't come up with a reason not to get it, Is there something I am not thinking of other than their low humidity requirements that may be a problem? The food and lighting I have covered. my weather here is almost the same as in Wash DC. Thanks, Len

 

[Jacob]

I Would do that if it were me, thats just my opinion tho.
Just do some research on them and really see if you would like too

As for there shell coloring, markings they are beautiful.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

They are beautiful!

 

[Tom]

Does personality matter much to you?

 

[Dagashi]

I love my stars! I would recommend everyone to get one (captive bred that is). They are adorable creatures who poop adorably. When they are in their warm water spa in the sun, they will spread out their little elephant looking legs. When their tails suddenly get straight.. they're ready to poop. hehe I think that's adorable! there is little bubbles accompanying it as well (mini farts). Their necks will also elogate slighlty.. to force the poop out.. hehehe ahh I miss them already.

after pooping they will scratch the sides of their spa tub indicating they are ready for exercise and a cleanup. after wiping their butts and wiping their shells, they are free to roam around the garden in exploration of new weeds to attack. How they find lizard poop and eat that.. I'm just amazed. They are no-fear climbers and look forward to climbing rocks twice their size. they often tip over and have their little legs dangling around (more adorableness).

They love to hide (cause apparently it's their self defence mechanism) so we find them under pots and inbetween crevices. They sleep most of the day and night... They aren't very picky eaters.. just really messy. No Hay for them (they play around in it too much).

You'll love your star immensely. I know I do! hehehe

 

[Neal]

I'm sure there are people raising them in high humidity on the forum that could share how it's going. We find that they do better in a dryer set-up though. The only thing I could think of that would possibly be an issue is they are more prone to respiratory infections. Usually a quick boost in temperatures will take care of it, but they do have that reputation.

Do you have any future breeding plans? I'm not sure what Maryland's weather is like throughout the year, but if you don't have some type of monsoon season, breeding might be difficult. It seems their whole breeding cycle is dependent on the monsoon.

They are known for being shy...however I think you will see that more with the wild caught specimens as with any species of tortoise. But, with time and good husbandry they can be very friendly and personable. My avatar is one of our males, he is very curious and will follow us all around. Most of our adult group is just like him. It seems with tortoises once they learn to associate you with food, they become very friendly and show their personality more.

Let us know if you decide to do the trade!

 

[Len B]

The deal is done, I am very happy with it, no money out of pocket, and I can try my hand at raising a new type of tortoise (for me anyway). I was looking to get something different but when I saw a pic of this little fellow I fell in love with it for some reason unknown to me. It should arrive Friday. Neal, the only tortoises I ever really wanted to breed were the manouria emys phayrei but after raising them to adults I found that my seasons here run about a month later than needed for it to work right, and the weather has to almost perfect, or you have to get lucky for good results.So I shipped them to Florida for breeding to help the species, I am again raising some more young mee, mep,and 1 impressed, just for the enjoyment and more education on my part . Dagashi you should be either a writer or a sales person, love what you wrote, who would not want one after reading that. Tom I really don't care about tortoise personality in this case and besides Walker has enough personality for the whole neighborhood, I was gone for 2 hours today and while I was gone he moved one of the wooden lawn chairs across the yard laying on it's side. Len

 

[Dagashi]

haha thanks! glad to see that you're on the "star side" now!

we really have humid weather here so we haven't been too concerend about humidity levels. hopefully they do well too! I totally understnad how you can fall in love with just a pic. We did too! never looked back. We initially wanted only one.. but when we saw both of them.. we couldn't resist. Will look forward to your pictures! Have fun with the little bugs!

 

[CLMoss]

Good luck with your Star. They are really beautiful!
~C

 

[agiletorts]

Congrats with your new Star. Don't worry about the weather there being too humid as in their native environment it's also very humid, especially during the monsoon season. They're ok (and I think they actually welcome) with the humidity as long as it's not cold and humid at the same time.

 

[Jacob]

Congrats, Pics len?

 

[ada caro]

Go for it, they are beautiful.

 

[JeffG]

Congratulations on your new star! I love mine. So far they have been very easy to care for, and really awesome to hang out with.

 

[Len B]

He showed up a little after 4 pm today,after a 30 minute warm up he was very active eating clover and grass,climbing on every thing he could. After exploring around he found his favorite spot and took a nap, it's 90.5 degrees He seems very relaxed and calm like he has been here a long time,There are temps from the mid 70s to around 100 in the enclosure so he has a varied range to choose from , which will help me to set up his permanent home with the temps he likes best.I think he is going to be a joy to raise, As for a name I can't decide whether to call him Whetstone or Fido. Thanks for looking Len.

 

[pam]

Beautiful Star

 

[CLMoss]

Beautiful Star! Just make sure he/she can't fall onto his back near your heat source. You don't want him to cook.

 

[Dagashi]

He showed up a little after 4 pm today,after a 30 minute warm up he was very active eating clover and grass,climbing on every thing he could. After exploring around he found his favorite spot and took a nap, it's 90.5 degrees He seems very relaxed and calm like he has been here a long time,There are temps from the mid 70s to around 100 in the enclosure so he has a varied range to choose from , which will help me to set up his permanent home with the temps he likes best.I think he is going to be a joy to raise, As for a name I can't decide whether to call him Whetstone or Fido. Thanks for looking Len.

he's Adoraable! He looks to be about 3 -4 inches in lenght?
Whetstone's a cool name! How did you come about it?

He looks like he'll be super happy in your care. (although I still haven't figured out how happy torts act) but he reminds me of mine.. and I'd like to think they're really happy torts. good luck and all the best! always look forward to pictures!

 

[Neal]

I really enjoy looking at Indian Stars, you've gotta nice one there.

 

[Len B]

He showed up a little after 4 pm today,after a 30 minute warm up he was very active eating clover and grass,climbing on every thing he could. After exploring around he found his favorite spot and took a nap, it's 90.5 degrees He seems very relaxed and calm like he has been here a long time,There are temps from the mid 70s to around 100 in the enclosure so he has a varied range to choose from , which will help me to set up his permanent home with the temps he likes best.I think he is going to be a joy to raise, As for a name I can't decide whether to call him Whetstone or Fido. Thanks for looking Len.

he's Adoraable! He looks to be about 3 -4 inches in lenght?
Whetstone's a cool name! How did you come about it?

He looks like he'll be super happy in your care. (although I still haven't figured out how happy torts act) but he reminds me of mine.. and I'd like to think they're really happy torts. good luck and all the best! always look forward to pictures!

He is not that big yet,about as big as a silver dollar, Whetstone is a family name from a Swiss ancestor ,it was originally spelled Wetzstein and over time the spelling changed to Whetstone after coming to America in the 1700s. Turtulas is also an old family name, but was used as a first name. He is a very active little fellow wanders and eats in spurts and then naps, I have different foods in different areas for him to find, One thing he does that I have not seen before is the way he bites the water to drink. Len

 

[HtVic]

how large do they grow up to