Turtles & Tortoises

Profile: Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone elegans)

Origin and Overview

The Indian Star Tortoise, as the name suggests is found in India, the central and Southern parts of India, in West Pakistan and in Sri Lanka. It prefers semi-arid, grasslands and thorny habitats and can equally be spotted in areas with high precipitations level.

Generally, the female Indian star tortoise is larger in size than the male counterparts. A male tortoise is about 20cm, while a female Indian star tortoise is about 30cm, with an average life span of 30-35 years although with good care generally live longer in captivity. Typically, the Indian Star tortoise is purely herbivorous, doesn’t hibernate, relish a warm periodical rainfall, loves soaking in water hence should be kept in areas where it should have a regular access to water.

The name Indian star tortoise is derived from the 12 yellow lines radiating yellowish star patterns from its shell in the centre of either pyramidal bump, to create beautiful golden brown patterns. When the tortoise is amongst tufts of grass, it breaks up the shape of the shell thus the coloration beautifully blends in with the environment.

The carapace of an Indian star tortoise is highly domed and feature yellow radiating lines that form the star pattern, thus the name. The plastron equally has the star pattern. Note that hatchlings are not born with the star pattern, but develops with time as they grow and age.

The shell is yellow in color, with a black or brown color covering it. The legs and heads feature a cream or yellowish brown color. A point to note however is, that the colorings and the different patterns exhibited will vary from one individual to another as well as due to their native location.

Basically, the water tolerance of an Indian star tortoise is unequaled to any other tortoise found in its genus, but it is highly sensitive to extended periods of high humidity. The tortoises are very active in the morning and afternoons. Unless the whether is extremely hot or extremely cold, the tortoise would stay active all year round.

The male Indian tortoises are aggressive towards each other and docile towards females during the reproduction season. The Indian star tortoise is rather shy, and tends to be sensitive to any slight stress, it is generally not an aggressive species, it is affable thus does well in little groupings of its own kind.

Diet

Given the inclination to grassland habitats, it shouldn’t be surprising to find Indian star tortoises grazing on mixed grasses in the wild and flowers. In captivity, you can feed your Indian star tortoise with Dark leafy greens such as clover, dandelions, Grape Leaves, Cactus, Mulberry leaves and Weeds.

Avoid too wet and juicy foods such as tomatoes, lettuce, cabbages, bananas, broccoli, Bok Choy and cucumbers; this is simply because the animal requires coarse, high fibre content diet and excessively feeding them on such foods will develop gut problems.

Never feed Indian star tortoises with meat products, neither should they be fed with vegetables highly rich in proteins, such as beans. This will habitually lead to poor formation of bones, excessive growth, liver complications, bladder ‘stones’ and high blood urea levels. It is important to use a calcium and mineral supplement, especially with egg-laying females and juveniles, as the demand of the elements is very high.

An important thing to note is that Indian star tortoises like to drink and soak in water. Supply your tortoise with clean shallow water as they take their meals.

Reproduction
Whereas male Indian Star tortoises reach sexual maturity at an early age of 3-5 years, the females reach sexual maturity when they are between 10-15 years. Breeding takes place during rainy seasons whereby the female would start showing some signs of nesting by walking aimlessly sniffing soil or/and mounting on other tortoises.

When she locates the right site, she will urinate on the ground, making it softer so that the process of excavation will be easer. She will lay and cover up the nest. Normally, 3-9 batches consisting of 3-9 eggs each are laid annually. On the whole, incubation lasts around 147 days, and the hatchlings will wait in the nest for the rain to come so that it will loosen the soil so that they can manage to dig out.

A hatchling at birth is normally around 1.2 inches long, but they grow really speedy. The shells of hatchlings are very smooth, which start to form the pyramid shape when they hit a year.

While breeding at home, Indian Star tortoises require more attention, especially in maintaining the moderate warm conditions. A temperature of 30 degrees C should always be maintained and a humidity of around 65%.

Housing

An Indian star tortoise will do well in a large aquarium, measuring a minimum of 4’ by 2’ while being housed indoors. You can use cat litter as the substrate. Provide a place for the females to lay eggs, this you can do by inserting a small tank which has top soil, in one corner of the habitat, the soil depth should be at least 6 inches.

An outdoor housing is also good, as it offers an ample roaming space for your pet, allowing them to graze properly on the grass and also allowing them an ample space to sun-tan themselves as they relish the warmth. You only need to provide the Indian star tortoises with a natural place where they can lay eggs, not forgetting to provide them with a shallow bowl of water for drinking and soaking. It should be shallow enough, lest they drown.

Conclusion

Having an Indian star tortoise as a pet in captivity can be tricky therefore requires someone with some background knowledge and experience. It is tricky because Indian star tortoises are known to be picky eaters and also tends to gain weight excessively.

By and large, an Indian star tortoise loves warm, dry conditions and if you can maintain this, then you can have the beauty as your pet.

Tags: animal profiles, exotic pets, Geochelone elegans, Indian Star Tortoise, reptiles, Tortoises