General Care Discussion :: Weight

[Jackson]

Alright, just a question thats been on my mind since I got my baby like 7 months ago...How do you tell if a turtle is over or underweight?

Like could someone show me some pictures of an overweight and an underweight turtle? I'm not very good at guessing from just words. I've heard people say there will be extra "fat" around the limbs but how much is too much?

[Take-One]

The only way we will tell is with a picture

[Jackson]

I was hoping someone would just have some pictures as examples. :/ Even showing you a picture of my turtle (Which I don't have) would only tell me what his weight is. I was kind of hoping out of curiousity to know what an overweight/underweight turtle looks like. As odd as that sounds. Basically just for educational reasons, I like to know as much about general health with my animals as possible for later knowledge if I'm ever helping someone out or need it for myself...If that makes sence? I have a Slider of my own plus I plan to work in a pet store and it would be helpful in case I was ever brought a turtle and asked to say if it's overweight or underweight or whatever. xD Not really to base it around my turtle since I'm pretty sure he's a "good" weight.

[camee1991]

If you need to guess...I would say at under a year she should have no pyramiding which is the shell looking like it is popping up a little and not smooth and no fat should be bulging out of its leg areas. If your turtle can totally stick itself in its shell without parts sticking out; it should be ok.

Hope that helps.

[SpotsMama]

Here are some threads with photos of overweight turtles:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... fat#136098

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... fat#131816

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... fat#114804

From what I've seen, usually little baby turtles that are overfed don't get fat so much as they grow too fast and start to show shell problems. When a turtle that has reached full size is overfed, then he/she gets fat.