If you walk around your neighbourhood, you can find alot of extra things they can eat.

Try the cactus pad, hibicus flower and leaves. They also eat bermuda grass (can self grow), weeds and bunga kertas leaves.

Don't give kangkung. You can try to give some french beans (but not too often). Usualy stars will love to eat french beans.

u can try a small slice of banana or papaya too. (not often).

We feed our star tortoises (and sulcata) mazuri daily (cause lazy to get fresh vege all the time. they are still small and they eat very little).

when give fresh vege they eat sawi, romaine, sometimes french beans, long beans, four angle beans, hibiscus leaves (our neighbour has). They don't like cactus pad but it's supposed to be good for them.

Sometimes let them graze in garden and eat whatever they like. they like some purple flower weed. Not sure what is that. always eat that.

Sorry bunga kertas is bouganvilla. This is available alot everywhere. But my stars will only eat mebbe only leaf only.

Since you bought the cactus.. you can grow it in your garden for future use. Or buy extra just for growing.  then it is sustainable and you will have constant supply. We are quite lucky.. One pad is bigger then them and they can only eat one fifth of it. Also our neighbours have plenty and they don't mind us pruning their stocks.

Your star is still young? they shouldn't be eating that much! also if it's juvi (under one year). You may want to chop it up a bit more so easier for them to eat it.

We used to grow  bermuda grass inside the enclosure. so that they can eat it whenever they like. It's so very easy if you have a shallow tray of coco coir (coconut fiber) in your enclosure or your enclosure is made of coco coir. They usually eat it faster than we can grow it. (You can buy bermuda grass seeds from Ace hardware or Houz Depot in Kota Damansara.)

I don't know the local weed name. usually we will just trail our torts in the garden and let them eat whatever they like there. and take note what they like. Since we don't use fertilizer we figure that all should be safe. Saw them spitting out some stuff... so maybe they don't like the taste! They hardly eat weeds anyway. Usually it's when they are exploring (hardly).. and not hiding. If you have a garden you can try to let them explore. They have a great sense of smell and shouldn't eat stuff that are poisonous to them.
If you don't have a garden you can bring them out to the park where you see lots of weeds and see what they try.

Alternatively you can get them timothy hay. but young torts may have difficulty eating hay. Initially we had chop it up really really really finely and make a tortoise meatball (you can find the recipe for tortoise meatball on tortoiseforum.org). now they can eat it on their own.

Yes beans are high in protein but it's okay to give them once in a while. It's definately not a daily food.  They have debunked the myth that high protien leads to pyramiding. Otherwise beans are fine. Of course it's only like one or two stalks in a month or fortnightly.

As my wife and I are both working and not so free to keep looking for veges for them on a daily basis. (in fact usually our vege purchases are solely meant for them!) We resorted to keeping them on a 70/30 diet of 70% pellet (mazuri) and 30% vege. that way they get the proper nutrients (gives us less headache on their feeding habits), they still have sufficient fiber and their beaks are kept trimmed and useful eating veges. Cause our stars and sulcata are still small, we still need to moisten the mazuri before they eat it.

So far our torts (kept for about a year) are doing well on this diet.

We also keep a block of cuttlefish bone in the enclosure for them to much chew whenever they like. Gives them the additional Calcium they need.. or to keep their beaks tip top condition.

First of all you have a pair of absolutely beautiful stars! The design is just amazing! Smooth shell as well. Congrats!

The legs look a bit sprayed.. as you said.. prob the substrate when growing up was not that suitable for it. But they do look very healthy and contented.

They look about 3-4 years old? Just a couple more to go before they can start mating!  We only have two males so no eggs for us!

For the cuttlefish bone, you can get it at most exotic petstores that sell birds or reptiles. Not necessarily torts. Most bird owners give their birds cuttlefish bone as well for calcium to gnaw on. It's the same stuff. It's pretty cheap I think RM4 for 2 large pieces. Can't remember cause we bought it over a year ago. we break it into smaller pieces for them in the enclosure and change it when it becomes gross or worn out.

Ikano used to have it (Toby's petstore) but now not sure. seems like they moved already. Max reptiles in Old Klang road should have it as well or any other petshop. It's quite common. It's whitish (sometimes a bit brown cause it's not that clean) and random size. mostly eliptical shape.  If it's very perfect shape.. it could be manufactured!

I've also seen them at the chinese medicinal shop that sells sea products like ham yee, starfish, etc. When we first started tortoise husbandry we were perplexed what it was. But after we've seen some. They are available everywhere.

3 types of worms!? Wow. must have been a nightmare! They are very lucky to have you as a caring owner!

I think natural that the shell has lumps a bit. Ours also a bit lumpy, eventhough we always soak, give high humidity, lots of access to water and plenty of UV.

I read somewhere that it could be  genetic that some stars are naturally lumpy.

Just curious.. Has your male shown any signs of dominance over the female? like mounting her? or does he show off his "stuff" all the time?

RM65? I don't remember spending that much. But 500gms is a lot .. I think you can grow one whole garden with the seeds. usually for one small patch.. use only like one tea spoon of seeds. It's quite fun to see it sprout. haha. Hopefully it will sprout and have a chance to grow before your torts eat it. just make sure it's well watered.

Strange that they don't know about cuttlefish bone. do they sell birds? If they do they should know. alternatively can try to source for calcium blocks.

Pictures??

we have an FB for them! Vids and all.

I don't have any attachments of the pictures currently on this computer (work). If you can access fb, its at /SpartacusGalaticus

At least I think so that's the url. I'm pretty sure they are the only ones on fb with that name.

Our torts are captive bred from one of the members here at LYN. she so kindly sold us her babies. Then she regret! haha and wants them back. Btu we love them alot and don't plan to give them back.

They are indian stars. the other is an african sulcata.

The size of our tank was specially made in Aman Suria. It's an aquarium shop that custom makes tanks. Total cost is about RM150. Size is special I think approx 4 feet x 1.5 feet. It was built custom to suit the cupboard. We hang a heat lamp from the top and clip on a UV supplement lamp on the side.

Artificial plants were bought from Mydin. If I'm not mistaken they are ferns. Stuck on with the silicon glue. If you shop in Mydin near kota raya they have tons of fake plants which are super cheap.

We created little grass banks to "break" apart the vast space as well. Makes the tank seem larger for them and can hide more. Bought the grass from Mydin also.  then made some cement and stuck the grass in. We hope it gives them a more outdoor feel.

AFter experimenting with many many many substrate... We had woodchip (lasts the longest), to coco coir, to forest moss..and plastic mat, we found that most easiest to clean and maintain is newspaper. lol.

Woodchip when they were younger.. we only changed once in 3 months. Woodchip we stopped cause scared it was not stable enough for them. They walked around very unsteady.

Coco coir and forest moss we change every month. but casue of our weather and humidity.. got fungus growth and became very gross. Got bugs also.

Newspaper we change every other week (fortnightly) or when required. which is more hygenic. The only sad thing for them is that they don't get to burrow much anymore. and when they do they mess up all the newspapers.

Actually we were contemplating artificial grass for a while. It should be good. Easy to clean also .. and less messy. When we used coco coir.. Our torts always got so messy.. and looked so dirty! they would also track in all the dirt into the water pond and make that cloudy. Gave us such a headache!

I think that since artificial grass has no absorbancy, you can just lay it on your existing substrate so that they will be less messy but whenever they pee or spill water, the excess moisture is absorbed. Also enhances humidity.

The only prob would be that they can't burrow anymore. unless you leave one patch of soil for them to dig around.

u still looking for female? haha If we find also we'd like to keep it for our own!

What is this sickness and how to treat it?

Hi all,

Bought a pair of Red-Eared Sliders from a petshop in Seremban 2, Xia Loong Aqua Pets Centre. The petshop gave us the basic amenities in rearing pet tortoises.

Recently I saw the male was very sluggish. The water is changed daily, food provided ( floating pellets and live feeder fish). The female was agressive and active.

Toto ( male) and Toti (female), if I'm not wrong. Toti frequently like to stack ontop of Toto, which...is that normal? female ontop of male? Is there some sort of hierarchy?

Since Toto is not so active, I check his body thoroughly. Then I notice something swollen or bulging under his arms/front leg/elbow? :


My sister said cancer 

I will try calling my vet, but the possibility is slim, as they mostly attend to cats and dogs ( living nearby Senawang, thats the most adopted pets around).

help?

Leo - M , cant see , F , M
Sulcata looks 2 F

But these just by pictures so not 100% OK

Cheers

Bro mozambique, what SAMPERTH meant is
1 - Male
2 - can't see from the pic
3 - female
4 - Male..

wow, how big is your torts??

ic, mine is around 5 inch (sulcata) thinking to keep leopard tort.
dont know whether issit easy like sulacata or not?

How big are they now ? How sure are you on their sexes ?

Cheers

If your sexing of them is correct , maybe i know the reason !!

Did the male hump the female ? Raming her to a corner all the time ?
A newer picture will be best - focus on the lower half of the bottom ( tail , hind limbs with claws )

Cheers

Ok here's why
At 6" ( if he is really a male ) he is more than ready to mate - if he is a sex addict he will try mate non-stop !!

And if your female is really a girl or even otherwise (  girl at 5" is not quite ready ) being chased , rammed n humped , stress will come to be - stressed one will grow slower or not at all and ...... Sickness in the end  !! 
Before anything , let's try to sex them properly first !! 
Cheers

Thanks for the pictures - i am 100% your big one is a girl and is almost ready for breeding ( usually first start to drop egg 7-8" )

While the smaller one which looks like a girl COULD be Male ( longer tail - boy like )  !! The plastron opening where the tail is has lost its ( inverted V ) BUT the plastron is quite flat( girl like ) ??? So i only dare sex it 60 % boy - do monitor its behaviour over the next couple of months ( if it is a boy he will or should have start ramming the girl )

In indian star tortoise world girl (10-13" or more ) will grow up bigger than Boy ( 8-9" max )

Cheers