General Care Discussion :: Question about my turtle scutes and age (picture)

[Madly]

Hi
I have question about these two scutes on my RES shell. Are they normal? So far I haven't seen any other turtle have scutes like those.
And can anybody tell me how old she could be or how to determine her age. One of my friends have two YBT and they are two and half years old, female is bigger than my RES and the red ear sliders and yellow bellied turtles in our petshops are smaller than my turtle and their age is 1-2 years
So...how can I determine her age?

My RES SCL is 17cm
weight 845-850g
Very active, eats, sleeps, basks etc.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36847542/IMG_2377.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36847542/IMG_2184.JPG

Thank you

[steve]

It's not 100% normal but it's fine. Many of us have RES that have an extra scute somewhere. I can't tell her age, but man look at those claws on her back feet.

[Madly]

Steve I agree that her back feet claws are long. Should I trim them? Just a little bit or not?

This picture was taken 27.6.2013 month before previous one:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36847542/IMG_2094.JPG

[Diamondbacks4Life]

No don't trim them, there are nerves in the claws. Cutting them, will cause bleeding or infection. You just need something like driftwood in the tank that will naturally dull the claws down.

Also age is impossible to tell basically unless you had turtle from hatching. Turtle can grow at incredible speed if feed to much all the time or grow very slow if not fed enough. Temps water are kept. So many things can effect the size. that's why it is hard to tell.

Like steve said extra scutes are fine, even in the wild you will sometimes see it. I myself own a turtle with extra scutes.