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[scooby74]

Hello Everyone, I am new to the forum. I have a RES named Ralph that is about 7 years old. My Niece got him when she was 4th grade. It was found in the street in Mesa, Az and pretty sure it was a hatchling. It was about the size of a quarter. Some one must have left him there because they are not native in AZ, Especially in the residential neighborhood it was found. For the first four years that my Niece had him he was kept in a very very small tank and did not have the proper lighting. After many years of trying to convince her to give him to me she finally did about 3 years ago. Sunce we got him he has the proper lighting, environment and food. He has grown so much since we have had him.He was about an inch when we got him and He is almost 4 inches now. My question is why is he so small? Is is because of the environment he was kept in and no proper lighting for the first four years? He does not have any health issues, his shell, appetite, and skin are good. He is just abnormally small. Have you ever heard of this? One more question, about the sex. By looking at how to determine the sex, we still have no clue. He has short front nails(FEMALE} but the cloaca is closer to the tip of the tale(MALE). Any Ideas?
Thanks.

BTW- He is kept in a 30 gallon tank with full spectrum UVB light kept on a timer and has stacked basking rocks. He eats floating sticks, fruit, vegtables, feeder fish, crickets and an occasional water plant.

[STRAYKINGFISHER]

Welcome to the board,

I have heard of turtles having stunted size, I have a friend on another board that said that her turtles were about 20 years old and they were about 5 or 6 inche long, I don't know if she was telling the truth or not but I have heard of turtles staying small but they later develop problems with their bodies, bones mainly, I think.

The sexing part sounds contradicting, his nails may not be fully developed yet, my turtles are still young and are about 4 1/2 inches and their nails are still very short, one has a long tail and the other has a short one (which looks like part of it was bitten off when it was a baby), well I thought I had a male and a female, until today when I saw my "female" poking its thing out of its tail

[marisa]

Hi and Welcome. The small size could be the result of earlier living conditions, but is he's healthy, I wouldn't worry about it.

Aside from the position of the cloaca, what does the tail itself look like? Is the base relatively thick/broad? Or is the tail more slender and thin?

[scooby74]

Thanks for the welcome
Ralph seems very happy and healthy. Just small for his age. I saw there was someone else on this board that says their RES is 16 and only 3.75". and that RES was not raised in good living conditions either.

About the tail-- it is very thick and broad at the base then thins out a little bit towards the tip.

I am going to try to take some pics of him this weekend and post them.

[marisa]

Now that tail sounds like a male's...

[scooby74]

Here are some pics i took today.

[steve]

welcome to the board! your turt's shell looks like it has some moderate pyramiding. i would be careful in offering too much protein (i.e. fish and pellets). growing too fast is a whole different set of problems you don't want to incur.

also make sure she (my guess) gets some vitamins, calcium and plenty of uvb.

[scooby74]

Thanks, I will keep an eye on Ralph. He/She does get plenty of UVB and vitamins and calcium.
Ralph grew very quickly after we got him into the right environment. Ralph is a real survivor. I really can't believe he made it through the first 5 years, The way he did. He was about an 1 inch for the first 5 years.

[STRAYKINGFISHER]

Wow, your turtle looks about the size mine are, and mine are just under a year.

[marisa]

With those relatively small claws and that smallish tail, I'd guess a female.