Indian Star Tortoise Care Sheet

Scientific Name

Geochelone elegans

Size

10 - 12 inches

Lifespan

80 years +

Natural Distribution

These tortoises originate from India

Ensure your Chuckwallas home reaches the right temperatures with a Wooden Vivarium.

From £Loading Price

You may feed your tortoise dry food if you run out of fresh veg! Indian Stars like hay too.

From £Loading Price

Your tortoise need UVB lighting as it is essential for them to grow with stong bones and a healthy shell.

From £Loading price

Sprinkle Nutrobal on your tortoise's food to ensure they get the right balance of vitamins and minerals.

Only £Loading price

We advise using wooden vivariums rather than glass as they retain heat more efficiently keeping your pet nice and warm. As Indian Star tortoises are quite slow growers we advise a vivarium of 90 x 45 x 45cm (36" x 18" x 180") as a youngster and a 120 x 60 x 60cm (48"x24"x24") for adults. This will ensure your Indian Star tortoise has enough room to explore and move around.

Beech woodchip is a good substrate. Sands, such as calci sands can be ingested easily, building up inside the animal potentially causing health problems and distress to your pet. Indian Star tortoises are very active and do require some rocks to climb around on. Just make sure they are not to steep as the tortoise will fall. You can use fake greenery and artificial plants to brighten up the vivarium and make it interesting

Night time heating is provided by a ceramic bulb one end of the vivarium controlled by a thermostat, about 27 C (80oF) is fine. The ceramic bulb should be installed using a ceramic bulb holder and covered with a ceramic heater guard. During the day two spot bulbs are used to raise the temperature to about 38 - 44 C (100 - 110oF). These should be at the same end of the vivarium as the ceramic heater to create a hot end and a cooler end. The spot bulbs will also provide a day and night cycle. Temperatures should always be checked by a reliable thermometer.

Day light is provided by the spot bulbs used to raise the day temperate. All tortoises require additional UVB lighting. Indian Star Tortoises require UVB light in order to synthesise vitamin D. Without vitamin D (in particular D3) Indian Star tortoises are not able to metabolise calcium properly causing problems with bone growth. This can lead to serious disease problems such as metabolic bone disease, which kills many Indian Star tortoises. The UVB light should be turned on and off with the spot bulbs and placed no further than 30cm (12 inches) from the animals. The UVB tube should be replaced every 6-9 months, as the UVB output is not effective after that time. Ensure you get the right size starter unit for your UV.

As Indian Star tortoises come from the dry scrub lands there isn't a lot of vegetation growing. However as youngsters they would require a lot more nutrition in their diet. In captivity we would feed mainly dried grasses like hay also we would offer some fresh veg. Good vegetables to feed include dandelion, clover, honeysuckle, leafy salads, watercress, curly kale, brussel tops, spring greens, coriander, parsley, rocket, carrot, parsnip, courgette, peppers and small amounts of non citric fruit. Ones to avoid include cabbage, spinach, onion, tomato, buttercup, citric fruits and iceberg lettuce. Also make sure you dust the vegetables with Nutrobal before putting them in a food dish. An adult diet is mainly dried grasses and fresh vegetation is only offered twice a week to give them a varied diet. You NEVER want to keep a water bowl in the enclosure. This will create a lot of humidity and can cause respiratory problems. We would take the tortoise out of the enclosure and bath the tortoise in luke warm water at least twice a week.

Tortoises do not make a good 'hands on pet' as they are very delicate animals. However they do liked to be stroked but you must do it with care.

These tortoises are ok together as long as they are similar in size and you can only have one male per enclosure. Make sure if you do have a pair that you have a big enough area to house them in.

These tortoises make fantastic pets. They can make a lot of mess dependant on the size of the animal so make sure you spot clean the vivarium daily.

Want to know if we have any Indian Star Tortoises currently in store?

Click here to see our stock list