General Care Discussion :: Growth problem with turtle?

[Smssms01]

I bought both of my turtles some months ago and they were both the same size, about 1 inch.

Now, one seems to be much larger than the other. He's about 2 1/4 inches, while the other guy is only 1 1/4. I don't know if I should be concerned or not. The smaller guy looks completely healthy and everything, just...smaller

Any input? Thanks!

[Rocky YBS]

do you have a male and a female in the tank?
if so, females tend to get larger than males.
what sort of turtle species do you have?

[Smssms01]

I think they are too young to discern the genders. Don't they have to be 4 inches at least?

They're RES.

[Rocky YBS]

yeah, i guess they do have to get older to determan the gender.
im pretty sure that if your turts are healthy than there is nothing to worrie about.
the same thing happened to me.
i got my two turts at the same time when they were 1" long.
but after about a month, one turt was bigger than the other.
i guess it has something to do with groth spurts.
my two turts rocky and squirt were the same size and then squirt grew a lot more than rocky.
but rocky hit his growth spurt and now they are the same size at 8".
see what happens.
i think it is perfectley normal.

[Smssms01]

That's a relief! Thanks!

[Rocky YBS]

no problem.
glad to help!
have a plesant evening!

[marisa]

Do you feed the turtles together in the same tank? If so, are you sure the smaller one is getting a fair share of the food?

Turtles, like people, do grow at different rates. However, it might be a good idea to feed them separately to make sure they're getting the same amount of food.

What size tank are they in?

[iac637]

This is what is happening with our RES's if you look at the photo Gallery and look at the topic 3 res, 2 asn, 1 dbt , you will see our res and we have one that is much smaller then the others and he is older then our other turtles. We have taken him to the vet and the vet was concerned and gave him meds for parasites and also a liquid calcium to given him everyday. He seens to have grown some but not much. He is very active but will so have to move into his own tank because the others are just getting so much bigger then he is. I am thinking that he is just a runt a bunch of us on the site have discussed the thought that in the wild if you have a genetic disorder you probably wouldn't last while in a captive environment it is likely that you would. So I dont' know what is really wrong and neither does our vet. I would suggest a calcium supplement and make sure he is getting enough to eat.

[Smssms01]

marisa: We actually feed them in separate containers for that very reason. The larger one is a much faster and aggressive eater. They are in a 20g tank...though we are saving up the money to upgrade it as we speak. ::breaks out into a nervous sweat::


Oh! and to iac637: We keep cuttlebone in the tank most of the time, so I wouldn't think a calcium deficiency would be to blame.

[iac637]

We do as well but our vet wanted to make sure he was absorbing(for lack of a better word) enough to make his bones grown and not just stay healthy. because we also give them reptocal 2x a week

[marisa]

It would be better to use Repcal rather than Reptocal for a calcium supplement. Reptocal contains phosphorus, Repcal does not. Too much phosphorus in the diet can interfere with calcium absorption.