Habitat - Indoor :: New Tank

[starscollided]

Ok
So i have two questions.
1) How fast do turtles grow?
2) Where does the 10 gallon per inch estimate come from?
(im not questioning it but im curious)

My turtle is in a 10 gallon tank and is about 2.5 inches and is mostly full. Squirt seems perfectly happy and not stressed at all - he has a basking area and everything else that he needs - he can swim and turn around and chase fish without a problem - -
I am really broke right now but am saving up for a bigger tank because i do realize that he will need a larger tank soon (i hope to get one in the next few months). This is where the how fast do they grow question comes in. I want to know that whatever tank i buy is going to last me a while - i dont want to have to buy a new tank every year. If he is going to grow really fast then i will save a bit longer and just get an even bigger tank.

any help is appreciated - i really do have my turtles best interest at heart and im not trying to be cheap for the sake of being cheap - i just have a lot of college loans and really need to think about my investments.

[TheComputerGremlin]

As a *generality*, turtles grow to about 4" in their first year and an inch per year after than until they just stop growing. That doesn't mean that all turtles are the same, some grow very slowly, others quickly.

And the 10 gallons per inch estimate is just a way to figure out how much space each turtle needs. This gives the turtle a good amount of room to swim around, and not get themselves stuck or turned upside down. Obviously you can abuse the rule a little without any problems, but imagine a 5" turtle in a 10 gallon tank!