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How large do male Sari Lankin Stars need to be in order to successfully breed? My females, though young are from 7" to 9 1/2". The 2 males I recently bought are 5 1/2" and 6", and about 6 years old. At first, I saw the larger male constantly following the females. I have trouble pictureing the males being able to breed yet.I also had the weird thought, what if the males are Indian and too small? Is there an obvious difference between them?
Thanks for any help, Joe

Hi Joe. In my experience, the only way to know for sure whether you have an Indian Star or a Sri Lankan Star is to know who bred them. I have bred and hatched 100-150 each from all three varieties of Stars, and if I didn't keep good records, would still have a very tough time telling young Indians from young Sri Lankans if they got mixed in together.

All that said, a 3 year old male Sri Lankan of just about 6" in my collection produced live young when bred to a 5 year old female who was exactly 8" at the time.

To tell whether your males are Sri Lankans or not, you would have to try to trace them back to their breeder. If you cannot trace their lineage back to an honest, well-known Sri Lankan Star breeder, they are more than likely NOT Sri Lankan Stars.

Sadly, a number of years ago, a few unscrupulous dealers began selling every Star they had as a Sri Lankan because the prices were higher for them than for the Indians. To make things worse, unsuspecting buyers bought what they thought were Sri Lankan Stars from these dealers and then kept them in with their REAL Sri Lankans, producing hybrid Stars without even knowing it.

I recommend buying Sri Lankan Stars ONLY from people you know and trust, and only when they can be traced back to the original imports from the 1980's and before (and there AREN'T that many of them).

Hope this helps.

Bill Z

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the reply. I am encouraged, being the larger male is about 6 1/2", and has grown in the 8 months I have had him. I bought both males from Turtle and Tortoises Inc. in Fla.I had never dealt with him before, but he seemed honest and said they are Sari Lankin. Being they are growing noticeably,I would guess that they have a lot more growing to go.

You could ask Jay if either or both those males are the ones he got from me or not. I traded him a couple of nice smaller males last winter toward some females. That would be quite encouraging for you if they are the ones I sent him.

Thanks,
They probably are,I did get them about a month before I felt that it was warm enough to put them outside.He did say that they were about 6 years old, but I don't know if that is accurate.My 6 females are not 4 years old yet, but are about 7" to 9 1/2".

Hello, Joe.

There is a distinct size differential between adult S. L males and S. L. females with males being the smaller of the two. I guess that the female needs the size in order to procreate. However, S. L. males are around 9 inches when ready to procreate, which is a good deal less than the 12 inch female. Regardless of the size differential, they work it out just fine. If you thing that you may have Indians and want help with identification, please allow us ti help, if you like.

Thank you.
Janie

Hi Janie,
Are you the Janie, I got my females from? How can you tell if the males are Sari Lanki? jskahn69@yahoo.com
Thanks, Joe