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| StarTortoises.net | * Indian / Sri Lankan & Burmese Star Tortoises... plus a few other species... |
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Burmese & Indian / Sri Lankan Star Tortoises
Other Stars Angulate Tortoise Misc. Pages
Get THE Star Tortoises book by Jerry Fife on amazon or eBay (direct links to book). It covers all aspects of Indian / Sri Lankan and Burmese Star tortoise care. A must-have book for all current and prospective Star owners! * * * If you have Star Tortoise hidebox photos to share, email me to add yours.
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Hideboxes for Star Tortoises and other dry area species
Plastic shoebox hide Indoor hiding places Due to my asthma and allergies, all my indoor tortoise hides have to be odor-free and allergy-friendly. Various plastic boxes work well as hides. Ideally, provide your Star tortoises several hideboxes, both moist & warm and dry & cool, in various locations. Especially if you keep more than one tortoise in the enclosure. A dark hide is better than see-through, and the hidebox should be big enough for the tortoise to turn around.
Sri Lankan Star in her hide log Dry hides - Logs For baby tortoises, I like to use dens made by Zilla called Bark Bends For older youngsters, I use the largest size, labeled giant, of Zoo Med's Turtle Huts I do not use natural wood logs inside because I am allergic to wood odor and molds. Wooden cage furniture may mold and rot over time if there's moisture in the enclosure. Dry hides - Bendable bridges Bendable small animal bridges are available under many names from several companies, for example, the Bend A Bridge (pic). They can be shaped into hide logs or used as ramps to small digging or nesting boxes. As ramps, they may have to be fastened to the soil box to keep them in place. Unfortunately, some of them have a wood odor that can bother allergic people. Airing the bridge outside in the hot sun for a few days may help reduce the smell. Dry hides - Artificial plants Outdoors, my Sri Lankan and Burmese Star tortoises love hiding under bushes and clumps of grass. To simulate the outdoor setting, I place many stemmed artificial plants into their indoor enclosures. I do not use real plants inside due to my allergies. Indoors, my Stars like to spend time in their hides or under the plants. I have lots of these silk palm trees (pic) because they are stable, low, easy to clean, and provide wide coverage for hiding. The branches and leaves can be adjusted high or low, but my Stars are too smart to eat artificial plants anyway. After the first nibble, my Stars realize they don't taste good at all. :O) My tortoises can also walk over the flat bases, so no wasted space there. Note: This palm is available with chunky wood bases and with faux stone bases. I only buy the ones with the stone because the bases are flatter and won't mold.
It helpful to view your enclosures from the tortoises' eye level. Note: If you are NOT ASTHMATIC and HAVE NO SEVERE ALLERGIES, just replace the felt-like reptile carpet (not plastic astroturf) with a more natural substrate like soil or mulch. See the substrates and substrates & allergics pages for indoor substrate info. Humid hides All Star tortoises, especially babies, benefit from a humid microclimate, i.e., a small localized area with higher humidity than the surrounding area. A plastic hidebox filled with damp sphagnum moss or coconut coir is one way to provide this. You can also also attach a wet sponge to the hide's ceiling. Humid hides can get cold. Always check the temperatures inside them. Star tortoises are prone to respiratory problems if kept in too cold and damp conditions. A daytime heat bulb (e.g. a mercury vapor bulb) and a nighttime heater (e.g. a ceramic heat emitter) placed near the hide will keep it warm and cozy. See the lighting & heating page for info. In addition to humid hides, I bathe (soak) my Sri Lankan and Burmese Star tortoises frequently and always keep water dishes in their enclosures. During the winter when they are indoors and spend a lot more time under hot basking lights, I also spray them on and off with warm water. Humid hides - Substrates Plastic boxes filled with moist sphagnum moss or coconut coir are popular as humid hides for small tortoises. Moss, or any other damp hidebox substrate, needs to be changed frequently to prevent pathogen growth. Sphagnum moss and sphagnum peat moss are not the same thing. Sphagnum moss is made of long strands and is green or light tan in color. It is a living moss that grows on top of a sphagnum bog (wetland). Sphagnum peat moss is the medium/dark brown dead and decaying material at the bottom of the bog. If you are concerned about the sphagnum moss purity, it may be safer to buy moss that is packaged as a reptile substrate. Garden center products are intended for outdoor gardening and may not be as "clean" as substrates for reptiles. Garden center bags sit outside for long periods of time and are often damp or wet inside (mold and germs). Garden products can be quite a bit cheaper though. Caution: Cutaneous Sporotrichosis is a chronic skin infection caused by fungus sporotrichum schenckii. In extreme case, it can even cause death. Sporotrichum schenckii is known to live in the Sphagnum moss (growing moss on top), but there are said to be no reported cases of Sporotrichosis caused by Canadian Sphagnum peat moss.
This hidebox is filled with coconut husk chips, but sphagnum moss would work better for a humid hide. If you are allergic to natural substrates in large quantities (whole enclosure), you may be able to tolerate them in smaller amounts, e.g. inside hideboxes or in "digging boxes."
Plastic shoe box filled with moist sphagnum moss If you use moist sphagnum moss, coconut coir, or other loose substrate inside the hidebox, it may be easier to use the box right side up. This way you can just lift the box top off and remoisten or change the substrate easily. Leaving a small step, a little bit of wall that the tortoise can easily step over, beneath the doorway will help keep the substrate inside the box. Sphagnum moss is considered to be harmless if digested in small amounts, but my Star tortoises are not fond of moss filled hideboxes. I have tried several humid hide substrates, including moist coconut coir (made my hands itch), wet paper towels (Stars ate it), and damp washcloths (Stars didn't like). My Stars like wet sponge hides the best. Note: Tortoises have reported died from impactions caused by ingested coconut coir. Sphagnum moss may be a safer choice. Humid hides - Logs & pots Some tortoise owners soak wooden log hides or clay flower pots in water overnight and then use them as humid hides. This method requires two hides, one to use and another one to soak. To raise the humidity more, stuff the pot or log with moist substrate. I don't use either of these because of my allergies. Wet wood smells and may mold, and wet clay pots put out an odor as well. Especially, if you have a room full of tortoise enclosures with wet logs or pots. I tested it. :O) Humid hides - Boxes with wet sponges A sponge hide is simple to make and it's allergy-friendly. The ceiling of the hide should be high enough to prevent the sponge from touching the tortoise's shell (could cause shell rot). Wall color Tortoise like dark hides. If I have to use a see-through plastic box, I color the box walls with non-toxic permanent markers. I then let the marker ink dry and air out at least overnight before putting the hidebox into the tortoise pen. I've also spray painted plastic boxes, but the paint smell seems to linger for a long time. So, I mostly ditched that method for indoor hides. You could also cover the box with decorative duct tape, but glue odor could be a problem. Cutting doorways Plastic boxes made of softer, more bendable plastic are easier to cut than ones made of hard plastic. Hard plastic tends to crack and shatter when cut. Rubbermaid's 3 gallon Roughnecks I use strong, all purpose snip scissors (pic) to cut the doorways to the plastic boxes. These scissors are available in 8", 10", and 12" lengths. They can cut fairly thick plastic and even thin steel. I finish and smooth out the cut plastic edges with a metal file or sandpaper. For hides in a one-tortoise pen, I cut the door openings just big enough for the tortoise to fit through. This helps keep the humidity in. If two or more tortoises live in the enclosure, I cut the hidebox door openings larger to allow two tortoises to pass each other. I don't want one tortoise to block the others from entering or exiting the hide. You can attach a plastic strip door to the opening to help keep the humidity up inside the hidebox. Attaching sponges I fasten the sponges with zipties or flexible trash bag ties. This makes it easy to switch the sponges to new ones when needed. Replacing the sponges frequently helps prevent bacterial and fungal growth. I keep a supply of new sponges at home and replace them as soon as I smell any hint of mold odor. I use these moist hides with wet sponges because my Star tortoises love them! My Stars utilize them all the time for resting, and they sleep in them almost every night. :O)
Cut the doorway to the plastic storage box and pierce holes for the zipties. I use snip scissors (see info above) to cut the plastic. This box is one of my favorite types, a 3 gal Roughneck (see info above). It's taller than a shoebox and can accommodate a subadult or a small adult Star tortoise.
Fasten the sponges to the ceiling with zipties or trash bag ties. Cut off the tails from the closed ties (not shown). I use 8" zipties
Almost done - one more sponge to attach. A plastic strip door can be attached to hold more humidity inside the hide.
Attaching the sponges with bag ties. Dishpans & litter pans Plastic kitchen dish pans (pic above, green box with ramp) and pet litter pans make great nontransparent hides for small and medium-size tortoises. Some pet litter pans come with high sides and a deep entry opening. For example, the Marshall high back ferret litter pan (pic, blue hide) is 12" x 14" in size and has 7" walls with a 5" deep door opening. The opening is wide enough to let two smaller tortoises pass each other. This way, one tortoise can not prevent the other from entering or exiting the hide. This pan is usually also available on eBay Marshall pans are made of odorless, super sturdy plastic and they are available in several colors. Right side up, they can be filled with loose substrate and used as an indoor burrowing box. Upside down, they make excellent medium-sized tortoise hides. No cutting needed! Hidebox materials I have made indoor tortoise hides from plastic dish pans, kitchen bowls, tissue boxes, juice cartons, milk jugs, and numerous other cardboard and plastic containers. I like plastic boxes better because they can be washed, disinfected, and used as humid hides. I am not a do-it-yourself builder, so I use whatever hypoallergenic containers and materials I can easily convert to tortoise tubs, hides, and other necessities. :O) When possible, I like to use food-grade plastic containers as hideboxes, especially for babies. This way I know my tortoises won't be exposed to toxic plastic fumes when inside their hides. Before I buy any plastic box, I like to smell the inside to check that it is odor-free. I avoid PVC plastics. See the housing & allergics and the allergy section of the links page for PVC toxicity info. See also indoor housing, lighting & heating, substrates, outdoor housing, substrates & allergics (more on substrates), and housing & allergics (enclosure materials, air quality etc.) pages for more Star tortoise housing info and photos. |
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(pic above). They are realistic looking hollow logs made of hard, synthetic material that's easy to disinfect. They are dark colored inside, and both ends of the log are open. If you have two baby tortoises in the same pen, each one always has a way out of the log without being blocked by the other one. My Stars love these, but they are only available in fairly small sizes.
because they are long enough to fasten the sponges. I like plastic zipties better than plastic coated metal bag twists. Bag ties tend to rust and seem to cause the sponges to mold quicker. 
These pans are often made of softer plastic that can be easily cut with the snip scissors. The beige hide pictured here is made from a cat litter pan.