General Care Discussion :: Growth

[evlock]

Hi all! Some of you may remember Fred, our RES. We had little to no idea as to how to properly care for Fred for the first 6 1/2 years of his life. At that time, armed with knowledge from this forum, we began caring for him properly. At age 6 1/2, he was 3 3/4" long, and weighed 300g. Because he was the age he was, I didn't really expect him to grow much more. He has put on over 1" and 100 grams in the last 15 months. He does not appear to be overweight at all, and gets the "treat" foods of blueberries, strawberries, etc. only twice a month. He loves basil and hibiscus flowers as well as Romaine lettuce. I have just started dandelion seedlings, so will see how that works.

My question is: Will he continue to grow to catch up in size to where he ought to be, or will he go through a bit of a growth spurt and then stay small?

I am trying to plan for future tank requirements since large tanks are so difficult to find here. Right now, he is 5 1/4" and is in a 55 gal. tank with an ATBA. It will be 8 years before we return to the US and a wealth of tank options.

[Kemul]

Hmm... here's my opinion:

Right now, you're providing a great environment for Fred. The 10-gallon per inch
rule is a good rule, but does not really need to be followed exactly. RES are
hardy animal; they can survive in conditions much worse. The rate of growth
slows down a lot after the first year. So, you can buy a 100-gallon tank when you
go back to the US after 8 years and Fred can still live happily in the 55-gallon
within that time.

I think since Fred has lost the chance of optimum growth when he's a hatchling,
he won't reach the maximum size of 10". Perhaps he'll stop growing at 7".
I'm not entirely sure though.

My main point is that you don't need to worry about the tank size right now,
since you have a good size already.

Well, that's my opinion

[BullDog]

I don't think he'll reach his full potential size, which is totally fine.
Sounds like you've done a 180 in his care, and that's great!

I think he should be fine in the 55 gallon for quite a while, and possibly until you go back to the US. It is possible for him to outgrow the 55 gallon still. If in a few years he's starting to look just too big for the 55 gallon, you may have to try to find a larger tank, but I think you should be OK.

[evlock]

Thanks, Kemul and BullDog! I was surprised with the amount of growth. My son reminded me today, that Fred is 9 years old not 8...so he was nearly 8 when we started doing things right.

[theartbook35]

Both of my turtles have stunted growth like yours. It's very hard to find information about RES, it was a good nine months after I got my turtles that I found this site, and after doing so much searching.

It's really impossible to predict the growth of an individual turtle, because they are all different. I have two turtles, in the same conditions, with the exact same diet, and their growth is completely on opposite ends.

Fred (great name, I used to have cat named Fred) might very well end up to be full grown, or he might end up just growing a couple more inches and that'll be it. You never know.

If you are certain your turtle is a male, expect him to be around 7 to 9 inches naturally.