Our Indian Star Hatchlings: Husbandry, development and pryamiding.

[animalmad]

what a lovely thread, all the torts looking lovely and obviously very well cared for

[roboticnat]

pyramiding in stars in natural and not a sign of mbd it's just a form of them uprighting themselves as they live in flat lands this enables themselves to upright but yes it's perfectly natural and they all do it at different rates and sizes some may get big pyramids some may be small it's all random as far as i'm aware

[andy1]

Hi Matt

The stars are looking well. Hope you are well also.

Ok, on the subject of pryamiding , yes they are a little pyramided but as they grow the overall effect becomes less.

As i bred these i will put my hand up and say that i dont think these are as good as they could be, and i think that lies with husbandry while they were with me post hatching.

As such i aim to make a few changes in the way i keep the hatchlings from now on before they go to new homes.

My belief is that although i provide them with a cool dry end and a warm humid end, they dont tend to do as i think they should and spend more time at the cooler drier end overnight . So i will be removing areas of hide at the cool end and try to encourage use of the warm humid hide. If they dont i will place them in the humid hide overnight. Plus a few other ideas im thinking on to.

Raising smooth stars is a challenge and a learning curve to us all.

Best wishes Andy

[Matt__uk]

Originally Posted by andy1

Hi Matt

The stars are looking well. Hope you are well also.

Ok, on the subject of pryamiding , yes they are a little pyramided but as they grow the overall effect becomes less.

As i bred these i will put my hand up and say that i dont think these are as good as they could be, and i think that lies with husbandry while they were with me post hatching.

As such i aim to make a few changes in the way i keep the hatchlings from now on before they go to new homes.

My belief is that although i provide them with a cool dry end and a warm humid end, they dont tend to do as i think they should and spend more time at the cooler drier end overnight . So i will be removing areas of hide at the cool end and try to encourage use of the warm humid hide. If they dont i will place them in the humid hide overnight. Plus a few other ideas im thinking on to.

Raising smooth stars is a challenge and a learning curve to us all.

Best wishes Andy

Hi Andy,

Thanks for posting

Like I mentioned I was just getting a bit paranoid that there was something we where missing so its reassuring to know that everything is OK environment wise.

As for the humid hide ours never tend to use it - so I think I might try what you are thinking about, ie move them into it at night so they are sleeping in there, as well as reducing the number of hides.

Otherwise I am going to relax about them a bit now - they seem happy and healthy enough

Edit: ok well i will try and be less paranoid/worried but i do struggle

[roboticnat]

heres a picture of my enclosure inside a viv



the darker end is the cool side with readi grass and a log hide to sleep under then i have the water bowl in the middle so the water doesn't go very cold and at the far end a basking lamp infront of the humid hide for a basking area and a che that is always on over the top of the humid hide as mine started to sleep in there abd it would get cold and damp over night without it

[roboticnat]

excuss the dirty glass lol cleaning that later

[Matt__uk]

Just an update on this - the torts are doing well!

I dont know why all the picture links have broken but here is an update on their growth chart!:



Edit: fixed the pics in the OP as best as i could!

Will get some updated pics of their shells soon.

[TillyTortoise]

Have you got their SCL's as well Matt?

[Matt__uk]

Originally Posted by TillyTortoise

Have you got their SCL's as well Matt?

Hmm no, just weight at the moment.

[-Amber-]

Wow, their shells are absolutely beautiful!