General Care Discussion :: Under normal growth.....

[Az^FolkSinger]

Hi all,
Under normal growth for a RES what is their size at 1 yrs old?
Have been going though the forum and havn't run across this question.
(unless I missed it which is possiable)
Trying to figure out approx how old Tortuga is.
Thank you
Peace love & light
Carey

[jenaero]

There's really no 'normal' growth for captive turtles. At 1 year old, my res were 4inches. That was a result of overfeeding. My other 2 res are only 6inches at 10 years old due to neglect from the past owner. Growth of 1 inch per year is ideal but I doubt it's likely for pet turtles. There's really no way of knowing how old your turt is unless you know the date that it hatched.

[Az^FolkSinger]

ok thank you was just curious, have no idea when Tortuga hatched. but actually measured him finially and he is 1&3/4". should I just go ahead an feed the pellets every other day then? or keep feeding him every day on that?
don't want him to grow to fast or over feed him. Thanks
Peace love & light
Carey

[ellman605]

you should give him some leafy greens (or some sort of veggie thats good) every day, and pellets every other day.

[Az^FolkSinger]

he gets leafy greens and some carrots everyday.. I replace the leafy stuff on a daily basis. and the carrots thinly sliced as needed. usually put like 2 to 4 of that in. Thanks for the input ellman

[ellman605]

no problem, it sounds like you have everything going well, my turtle eat the greens right as i put them in, so i have no need to clean it all up....i havent noticed any turtle poo in there for a while.....i saw one of the rosies eat a poo...so i think that thats where its all been

[sonyj]

Up to around a year old they should receive pellets everyday as well as veggies and then after a year, pellets every other day. I've heard that 1 inch of growth a year is good as well, but that they will grow more than that the first year. So at around a year old, 3inches in length would be about the right size. (but like Jen said they all can grow at different rates) And considering that when they are hatched they are anywhere from close to an inch to an inch & a half, I'd say Tortuga is a fairly young hatchling.

When we got Koopa he was about 1 1/4 in and a new hatchling. He still had his egg-tooth (which disappears about 2 weeks after birth) so we were able to tell his age from the start.

[Az^FolkSinger]

ok sonyj thank you, I will then keep feeding him the pellets everyday, wow thats kewl that you know how old koopa is..