Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently acquired a couple of Burmese Stars and am interested in a pair of Sri Lanken Stars. As these are just juveniles, can they be kept together until they are older and possibly beyond? There requirements and habitat seem to be similar. Thanks for any suggestions

Elegans require lower ambient humidity than do platynota (and thus require a little more vigilance). I'll defer to others on the lowers bounds for humidity levels for the Burmese, though.

Beyond keeping them together as juviniles, thats up to you, assuming it is feasible, husbandry-wise. I know of at least one instance copulation between a mainland female and a male Burm. (But I'm sure its been happening for thousands of years). I'm not too sure what happens after that.

>>I recently acquired a couple of Burmese Stars and am interested in a pair of Sri Lanken Stars. As these are just juveniles, can they be kept together until they are older and possibly beyond? There requirements and habitat seem to be similar. Thanks for any suggestions

Just FYI, Burmese Stars and Indian Stars have NOT been hybridizing in the wild for ANY number of years. Their two ranges are quite well separated by a lot of miles plus mountain ranges. The only Star Tortoises in Burma (occurring in nature anyway) are Burmese specimens of G. platynota. There are only three other tortoise species found in Burma: Manouria emys ssp., M. impressa, and Indotestudo elongata.

I stopped short of claiming any wild hybridization. I based my claim on a manuscript I read a year or so back identifying genetic markers of the genus in South Asia. The paper made a convincing argument that the two species shared a common ancestor relatively recently (I forget the timescale). So while these animals do not interact today, they likely were for thousands of years until populations were isolated enough to allow for speciation. I will track down the paper and start a new thread.
best,
scott

>>Just FYI, Burmese Stars and Indian Stars have NOT been hybridizing in the wild for ANY number of years. Their two ranges are quite well separated by a lot of miles plus mountain ranges. The only Star Tortoises in Burma (occurring in nature anyway) are Burmese specimens of G. platynota. There are only three other tortoise species found in Burma: Manouria emys ssp., M. impressa, and Indotestudo elongata.