age

[Jen Rosell]

So like most new people to this forum I find myself wondering if my question is "old" and are people sick and tired of responding to the same old same old.... But I'm just curious if anyone knows how to tell how old a tortoise is? I bought mine from a local pet store but the associate had no clue...

 

[dmmj]

Not unless you know the hatch date. Guesses can be made, but that is all they would be guesses.

 

[Jen Rosell]

OK Thank you... Guesses it is then

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh, lordy...lordy! Same old, same old!!!

The growth rings on a tortoise are not the same as the growth rings on a tree. A tortoise grows in spurts and may have more than one spurt a year (or none). You can get a kinda', sorta' idea of age by counting the growth spurts, but once the carapace starts smoothing out with old age, the rings are hard to see.

 

[Evy]

Oh, lordy...lordy! Same old, same old!!!

The growth rings on a tortoise are not the same as the growth rings on a tree. A tortoise grows in spurts and may have more than one spurt a year. You can get a kinda', sorta' idea of age by counting the growth spurts, but once the carapace starts smoothing out with old age, the rings are hard to see.

Do you mind to show a pic to see what are you talking about. Sorry, I'm a bit confused :-(



London my lovely Sulcata tortoise :0))

 

[JoesMum]

Yvonne is entirely correct. Every tortoise grows at a different rate depending on whether it is wikd caught or captive bred, its diet and its habitat. Refent growth is usually obvious on a shell because there is often a paler ring around each scute. Apart from that, particularly with outdoor torts there is nothing to show growth at all.

Unless you know the hatch date of a tortoise, it is impossoble to know its age... or even guess within a small number of years,