Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have housed 1.2 Indian Stars together for almost 5 years now. I got them as fresh hatchlings and now the largest female is a about 6 inches straight length and the smaller is just under 4 inches. The male is a little above 4 inches. Within the last 2 months the male has been trying to mount the larger female a few times that i have observed. I never wanted to disturb them to get a good look if he was actually getting the job done, but it was at least minimally convincing. I've seen it happen much less commonly to the smaller female. Now imo they arent really big enough that i want them making eggs, but are they even large enough to start doing that? I'm a vet so i have access to radiographs and things to check if shes been carrying a while, but i was wondering if i should just sperate the male out from the females for another year or so and let them grow more if it would be possible for them to get knocked up.

As a side note, when i got them they were all the same size and despite seeing them all eat and act healthy they have always grown at very different rates. Anyone else seen this?

F Indian Star do grow at a faster pace than M .

From my experiences with them , 6 inch is a little small for them to carry and lay eggs . But for M they start younger / smaller and at 4 inch they like to mate but no fertile eggs will be produced even if mated to a larger F

-----
CHEERS

Dear Dr.,

I do not work with stars, but I have noticed that variation in growth and size is very common amongst a species and even siblings kept in identical conditions with same food etc. Most seem to reach sexual maturity at the approx. same time, but they may vary in size for life or until old.

Also, tortoises are often very amorous and "thrill humping" seems to be common, perhaps not mating effort but dominance? I have several male T. marginata, and they are constantly mounting each other...they need a female bad... good luck, Vic H.