General Care Discussion :: Regular Growth of Turtle or Not?

[fultonh]

Hi,
Well I know that captive RES do tend to grow quicker than in the wild and that all RES are different when it comes to growing. I have a very healthy turtle who isn't overfeed and has all of the proper care and we have had Kame for 4 months and she was about an 1.5" when we got her. To date Kame is 3.75" Does that seem okay? Is it a "growth spurt" perhaps?
My other turtle Kronos we got it 3 months ago and to date it is only 2.25" which seems fairly regular to me.
Im only wondering just because she really seemed to get bigger all of a sudden, compared to my older turtle of 6 years who was a slow grower when she was that general age?
Note: All turtles are separated, are fed separately and have regular vet checkups in case you are wondering

Thanks for any Postings in Response to this

[SpotsMama]

Sounds like Kame is well loved.

She's growing really fast. Probably the average length for a one year old captive turtle is 4". Like you said, it varies. Have you checked out the feeding guidelines on here? If you're feeding her according to the guidelines, then she's not being overfed. Just watch the treats - too many high protein or high sugar treats will overstimulate their growth.

[fultonh]

Yes they all are loved, and spoiled with a big tank and basking areas. But how can you not love and spoil turtles they are soooo cute lol

With feeding I feed all my turtles a food called turtle bites, which ive used for years , and it was recommended by the vet. It has:
Crude Protein (Min.) 38%
Crude Fat (Min.) 9%
Crude Fiber(max) 2.5%
Calcium (Min.) 5%
This food also not only has the regular turtle pellet ingredients,but has the good fruits and vegetables that are good for them, and seeing as they don't like their veggies its a good way to sneak it in lol Kame gets fed as much as she will eat in 2 mins, which is 30pellets which comes to about the size of her head. The pellets are given to her once a day every day. She gets duckweed weekly (But it clogs the filter so i really don't like it although they love it), cuttlebone is always there if she wants. She usually gets a meal worm or 2 (sometimes 3 is my boyfriend feeds her - the meal worms are the smaller sized ones about 1/2" in size) every other week.
Does this seem too much for food or just right? any suggestions?
We did try to cut down her pellets last month to 25 a day but she killed all our sucker fish and she was literally begging- standing up and whining when she saw us and the food lol

[TheComputerGremlin]

Are they the HBH Turtle Bites? What size are they? I feed my turtle a combo of Reptomin and HBH Turtle Bites and I don't give him nearly as many as that. I've been giving him 5 Reptomin and 5 HBH Turtle Bites, which I estimate is the size of his head. He's had rapid growth, though nothing too rapid that it shows on his shell. I got him at the end of September and he was 1-1.5", I never measured (silly me!), now he's around 3.5". I'd say cut back on the pellets, even if she's begging. 30 of anything seems like an awful lot ...

[fultonh]

Are they the HBH Turtle Bites? What size are they? I feed my turtle a combo of Reptomin and HBH Turtle Bites and I don't give him nearly as many as that. I've been giving him 5 Reptomin and 5 HBH Turtle Bites, which I estimate is the size of his head. He's had rapid growth, though nothing too rapid that it shows on his shell. I got him at the end of September and he was 1-1.5", I never measured (silly me!), now he's around 3.5". I'd say cut back on the pellets, even if she's begging. 30 of anything seems like an awful lot ...

Yes it is HBH pellets, and i feed her what she eats in about 1-1.5 mins. With this growth spurt she looks fine....no shell problems, or excess skin? and i measured her head and its about .75"x.75"x1/2" excluding her neck of course