Just hatched golden / Mesopotamian Greek tortoise. Notice the sharp, pointy egg tooth under his nose. Baby tortoises use this little beak projection to jab and tear a hole in the egg to start the hatching process. This is called pipping. The egg tooth will later wear down or drop off.
StarTortoises.net celebtrated its 10th anniversary online in 2018. :O)
UPDATES 2018
Apr - Jun 2018
- Deleted 3 Burmese star photo pages
- Deleted 3 Indian star photo pages
- Deleted links page
- Deleted all blog pages (5)
- Added a new page - golden Greek personality
Jan - Mar 2018
- None
UPDATES 2017
Oct - Dec 2017
- Text & photo edits: outdoor pens
- Small edits: outdoor houses, angulate incubation
Apr - Jun 2017
- Minor edits: star tortoise shell patterns, golden Greek profile
Jan - Mar 2017
- Time again to reduce the bulkiness of this website.
- Deleted both guest books
- Deleted 4 pages of angulate photos
- Deleted the star tortoise gifts page and moved most of the content to the blog p.1.
- Deleted 2 star tortoise collectibles pages and combined most of the content into the blog p. 5.
- Deleted 2 pages of others' indoor setups along with several photos and combined the rest into two pages: other keeper's tables and other keepers' vivariums.
- Deleted 3 pages of others' outdoor setups along with some photos and combined the rest into one page: other keepers' pens.
- Moved angulate hatchling housing info from hatchling pages to the care page
- Small updates: UVB lighting, star hatchlings
- Minor edits: incubators, star tortoise egg incubation, star tortoise breeding, Burmese star hatchlings, angulate hatchlings
UPDATES 2016
Oct - Dec 2016
- New blog entry: modular outdoor night protection cages / enclosure covers against predators, ready made & super easy to put together
Jul - Sep 2016
- Minor edits: Indian vs Burmese, male vs female stars, golden Greek incubation, golden Greek hatchlings, incubators, angulate incubation, male vs female Greeks, star incubation
Apr - Jun 2016
- Split the very long indoor housing page into two pages, tables & tubs and vivariums
- New blog entry: "fabric" pots for growing tortoise food
- Minor edits: angulate hatchlings p1, angulate hatchlings p2, golden care
Jan - Mar 2016
- This website had ballooned up too much, to almost 140 pages. DELETED the following 48 PAGES: box turtles, box turtle photos, Florida vs ornate box turtles, popular tortoises, Hermann's tortoise, leopard tortoise, leopard tortoise photos, a day in the life of a star tortoise, redfoot tortoise, redfoot tortoise photos, rescue, Russian tortoise, sulcata tortoise, sulcata photos, general tortoise caresheet, radiated tortoise, other star patterned chelonians, getting a tortoise, 18 Indian star photo pages, 4 Burmese star photo pages, 4 gallery main pages, housing examples, substrates & allergics, indoor hides, kids' page
- Minor edits: male vs female stars, angulate nesting p.2, diet, outdoor pens, indoor housing, substrates, heating, incubators
- New blog entry: Animal House modular caging system for outdoors
UPDATES 2015
Oct - Dec 2015
- Minor edits - bowls & dishes, outdoor houses
Jul - Sep 2015
- Minor edits - bowls & dishes, UVB & UVI readings, outdoor houses, outdoor pens, indoor housing, UVB lighting, personality, housing & allergics, indoor hides, substrates p1, substrates p2
Apr - Jun 2015
- Minor edits - lighting, outdoor pens, UV readings
Jan - Mar 2015
- Added another golden Greek photo page
- Added info about a new food product on the prepared diets page
- Added a second angulate nesting & egg laying page with egg statistics and a sequence photos of the nesting process
- Organized the golden Greek photo pages into an album, added a few pics to the existing pages, and created two new photo pages
- Minor edits - outdoor pens, UV readings, angulate incubation, substrates in detail, supplements, outdoor houses, angulate male vs female, star incubation
UPDATES 2014
Oct - Dec 2014
- Added a new Burmese star book on the books page
- Minor edits - UVB readings, pattern development, Indian vs Burmese, Burmese star, home page
Jul - Sep 2014
- Added a new indoor tortoise pen example page
- Added more photos of angulate hatchlings
- Minor edits - outdoor pens, Golden care, outdoor hides & houses, lighting, heating, incubators
Apr - Jun 2014
- Removed house sections from the very long outdoor housing page (now pens) and moved them to a new page - outdoor hides & heated houses
- Updated the lighting page with info on the new ZM reptile LED UVB terrarium hoods
- Split the golden Greek tortoise photo page into two pages
- Minor edits - bowls & dishes, golden care, angulate books
Jan - Mar 2014
- Split the long star tortoise collectibles page into two pages
- Split the long angulate tortoise eggs & incubation page into four shorter pages - nesting, incubation, egg development, and hatchlings
- Split the golden Greek tortoise egg development & candling photo page into two separate pages
- Minor edits - golden Greek care, bowls & dishes, outdoor housing
UPDATES 2013
Oct - Dec 2013
- Minor edits - prepared foods, bowls & dishes, substrates & allergics, Greek books, star tortoise incubation, golden Greek care, supplements
Jul - Aug 2013
- Updated this 2008 website to a new, a bit wider page design
- Minor edits - on many pages
Apr - Jun 2013
- Split the golden Greek tortoise nesting page into 2 pages
- Added a new page - golden Greek male vs female
- Added a new page - golden Greek leg spurs
- Minor edits - heating, books
Jan - Mar 2013
- Split the golden Greek tortoise profile page into 2 pages - profile and captive care
- Split the golden Greek tortoise nesting page into 3 separate pages - nesting, egg development, and hatchlings
- Added a new housing example page - a star tortoise vivarium
- Split the very long indoor lighting & heating page into two separate pages for easier reading - lighting and heating
- Split the long eggs & incubation page into two pages - eggs & incubation (technique) and eggs & incubators (equipment)
- Split the diet page into three separate pages - natural foods, prepared foods, and supplements
- Minor edits - housing, pattern development, incubators, personality, housing outdoors
UPDATES 2012
Jul - Dec 2012
- Added a new 2012 redfoot book
- Added another page of Burmese star photos (UK)
- Added a new page of Burmese star photos - adults and hatchlings (USA)
- Added two new photo pages - hatching G. elegans babies and an example of an indoor/outdoor G. elegans tortoise pen (UK)
- Minor edits - male vs female, misc. care tips, star gifts, incubation, indoor housing, bowls & dishes, lighting & heating
Jan - Jun 2012
- Added a new page - another tortoise table example
- Minor edits - diet, indoor housing, lighting & heating, substrates, substrates & allergics, angulate courtship, angulate nesting, incubation, caresheet, hideboxes
UPDATES 2011
Oct - Dec 2011
- Added a new photo page - the amazing acrobatic star
- Added a new page - outdoor stone pen w. a heated house
- Updated the left menu bar
- Split the diet page to foods and prepared foods
- Split the Indian / Sri Lankan & Burmese breeding page to breeding and eggs & incubation pages
- Split the angulate breeding page to breeding and eggs & incubation pages
- Minor edits - notes on commercial foods, substrates & allergics, lighting & heating, diet, incubation, pyramiding, hideboxes, indoor housing, outdoor housing, starred chelonians, bowls & dishes
Jul - Sep 2011
- Added new Indian star tortoise photos (p.20)
- Minor edits - star tortoise gifts, diet, outdoor housing, indoor housing, male vs female G. elegans, breeding stars, substrates, allergic keepers p.1 (more on substrates)
Jun 2011
- Added 2 new photos on the pattern development page
- Added photos of a ready-made enclosure to the tortoise tables page
- Added two more Indian star tortoise photo pages
- Minor edits - turtle rescue, Star tortoise breeding & incubation
May 2011
- Added a new Indian star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) photo page
- Minor edits - breeding G. elegans, star gifts, indoor housing, outdoor housing, lighting & heating
Apr 2011
- Moved all the links from seven pages (Indian/Sri Lankan star, Burmese Star, allergy, diet, housing, angulate, fecal exams) onto a links page
- Minor edits - male vs female star tortoises, outdoor housing
Mar 2011
- Added a new angulate tortoise breeding page with courtship photos
- Reorganized the navigation
- Added a new Indian star tortoise photo page
- Added a new angulate tortoise photo page
- Split the angulate tortoise sexing info to its own page
- Minor edits - star tortoise breeding & incubation, lighting & heating, care tips, personality
Feb 2011
- Added a new upcoming turtle & tortoise vet book
- Added a new 2011 book on angulate books page
- Minor edits - lighting & heating, G. elegans profile, hideboxes, G. platynota links, star tortoise breeding & incubation
UPDATES 2010
- no record of updates kept
UPDATES 2009
- no record of updates kept
UPDATES 2008
- created this website
- no record of updates kept