Hi, I'm new here and I have a question about my slider's growth. Let me give you some background first about the little guy...
When I got my RES he was very small. It was from a pet store in the South of the USA; at the time I didn't know about the 4 inch law but none of these turtles were anywhere near 4 inches...the pet store seriously kept like 100 little turtles in the same big tank, in retrospect not a very nice place, but not unusual standards for that area. Anyways, I got him while on vacation with a friend, they always got turtles down at the shore. When I got my RES he was very tiny and had a bad leg (one leg was smaller than all the others). Long story short, it's been nine years and my turtle is now in proportion, bad leg is now normal, he eats & swims & basks normally. But he's tiny! It's not a food problem, the little guy will eat any and all food in his tank immediately, he's active, his scutes come off normally and look as they should, his shell is hard, etc, but he is still barely palm sized. I am pretty sure he is a male turtle based on his long tail and claws. He has grown under my care (like I said when I got him he was VERY tiny) and he looks healthy other than being smaller than average. Has anyone else had a small turtle? Is it possible the care he received as a youngster took a toll on his total size? He does still increase in size, but it seems odd that it's slower than most people report
Oh, and the other turtles he was bought with (my friend's) all grew very, very rapidly and died. They lived maybe 4 in a tank; my guy has his tank all to himself to dive and swim around in, so it's not like he's in a small or overcrowded tank.
