General Care Discussion :: Question about RES growth rate

[L.kunz]

Hi, just joined, I currently have 3 turtles, 2 RES and a African Sideneck. Ages unknown since they're all rescues I took in when others where unable to care for them.

Hank my male RES is around 8". Millie my Sideneck is about 11". She's pretty large. But Bitsy is my concern right now.

I rescued Bitsy a year ago when my Bearded Dragon rescue friend saw her being kept in a small 5 gallon fish tank when rescuing a Beardie and convinced them to let her take Bitsy as well and she called me since she didn't have a turtle setup. I have Bitsy set up in a 20 gallon tank by herself due to her size. I know my 2 larger turtles would kill her. This was a year ago. I assumed she was a fairly young hatchling and would grow pretty rapidly and probably be around 4" by a year old. But she doesn't seem to be really growing. I don't have a GREAT reptile vet in my area but have an OK one that saw all 3 of my turtles about a month ago. He said they all looked healthy and had no comment about her size. She was about the size of a quarter or a bit smaller when I got her. Now a year later she is MAYBE the size of a silver dollar. Not sure she is even that big.

I keep her tank water about 80, her basking spot is around 5 degrees warmer. I tried keeping her tank cooler at around 75 but she wasn't eating well, when I turned the heater up a tad to keep it around 80 she regained a good appetite, so I've been leaving it at about 80. I'm not sure how to upload photos, hoping this image works. Took this tonight to show her size next to a nickel since that's the largest coin I had in my purse.

Should I be worried about her size? What could be causing her lack of growth? Could it be related to how she was being kept before I rescued her? She acts healthy and eats well, she is just remaining tiny.

[steve]

It could be just genetics. What have you been feeding her?

[L.kunz]

Mostly ZooMed hatchling pellets. She has a hard time eating larger pellets due to her size. I offer greens and such in a veggie clip but I seldom see any sign she's touching them. She also has a cuttle bone in her tank but again, I never see signs she is actually nibbling on it. I've tried Jell-O shots and several other things, and offer them from time to time, but the hatchling pellets are all she eats reliably.

[steve]

Does she have a UVB lamp? Have you tried live prey?

[L.kunz]

She does have a UVB lamp, right now I have a double lamp with a Reptisun UVB bulb + a halogen lamp above her basking spot. I tried blood worms but she didn't eat them. Hard to find things small enough. Even the Minows and Guppies I can find are to big for her to eat.

[steve]

She'll rip apart any sort of worm or fish.

[unclejoe]

I have a painted turtle about the same size as your cute little RES. I thought he was just a baby being this small, but now reading your story who knows. Anyway, just wanted to let you know, I have been giving him tiny earthworms about once a week and he has no problem getting them down.. In fact he don't even rip them he swallows them whole.. lol Not sure I am up to the rip a fish a part deal, but I do wanna give him a chance to hunt and do what he would do if he was in the wild. But his food drive is so high, I can't imagine him not chasing down a small fish.

We have had him about a month now, and I don't see any real growth change either, but I have heard Painteds grow slower. I wonder if maybe your little one was malnourished while in its previous care and that has done something to its ability to grow? We once saw a 12 year old Yellow bellied Slider at Humane Society and it was only 4" -5 " max. That is way to small for a yellow belly male or female. She was female and cute as a button, tried to adopt her but she was gone by the time we made the decision. She seemed healthy otherwise. You must be doing something right for this little one to still be here after a year. Hopefully its healthy and robust and you are just gonna be lucky enough to have a mini me RES.. I would love one..

Good Luck

[L.kunz]

She is pretty fun. I have offered larger worms and ruby red minnows, but she ignores them. She won't go after anything that's very large. She likes the bloodworms but aside from that I haven't succeeded in getting her to eat anything but hatchling pellets. Even larger pellets she ignores.

I figured I must be doing something right since she's still here after a year, her shell isn't soft, and she acts healthy, she's quite active swimming around her tank a lot any time she's not basking. Just not sure why she's not growing.

[unclejoe]

From my limited experience it sounds like she is doing as good as can be expected for her size. My little guy still has soft edges around parts of his shell which is supposed to be indicative of being young still. He/she is very interested in anything you put in front of his face other then lettuce. He turns his nose up literally at lettuce..lol Maybe your special little girl is possibly a male and that may be another reason it is growing slower.. But she is definitely smaller then average for either sex I would suspect. But honestly, if she is happy and healthy and active I would just enjoy the tiny size. Most of us don't get to enjoy that stage very long.

[Insanity]

From what I've read, growth rate varies based on food quality and feeding rates, activity, species. Generally for RES having a straight carapace length of 2.5 inches to 3 inches at an age of 1 year is desirable.

[Akira5284]

I got my Red Eared about a year ago from a student who said she felt bad that her family wasn't properly caring for it. He was small due to not having access to UV light. He was kept in a small fish bowl in the interior of the house and it showed in his size and shell color. When I adopted him, I set him up a little better with UV over his basking spot and over the water. He has been growing steadily since I got him. Is it possible that the UVB bulb isn't working properly? I've read some places that some bulbs might not function properly and not produce UVB. It was recommended to me by a pet store that I replace my UVB bulbs regularly to ensure that UVB is being produced. Not sure how credible this was as they are trying to sell me products (lol).

[steve]

UVB probably doesn't have significant impact on growth rate. Depending on the the type of UVB, you will need to replace it every few months.