Any way to figure out age?

[Rae]

Hi all! I'm new here, just had a quick question. We have a Bell's hingeback, named Ramsay, or Rammer for short. We've had her for a little over seven years now, she's so awesome, we just love her to pieces. But I'm just wondering if there's any way to tell her age?

Thanks in advance!

Rae

 

[jasso2]

rammer is short for ramsay? anyhow no its impossible, ppl say u can by the shell but its not accurate.

 

[Rae]

rammer is short for ramsay? anyhow no its impossible, ppl say u can by the shell but its not accurate.

Yeah, it is. lol We're big fans of the Philadelphia Flyers, and when we got her, their coach's name was Craig Ramsay, and his nickname was Rammer. Well, I didn't think it was possible, but decided to check anyway. Thank you!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Rae: How big was your hingeback when you got it? Was it already full grown? If that's the case, it wouldn't be possible to tell the age. If you cut open a limb from a tree, you can count the rings...one ring per year. But if you count the "rings" on a tortoise's carapace it only tells you how many growth spurts the tortoise has been through in its lifetime. Lots of food, lots of growth in the year. Sometimes you can estimate how old a tortoise is by how smooth or worn the shell looks. But that's not always a good indicator either, as most wild caught specimens are more "beat up" than captive bred tortoise. If your tortoise was fairly small when you got it, then its probably not much older than the 7 years you've had it.

Yvonne

 

[Jenn1]

I have 3 wc russains.
I was told there ages vary.
After 4" inches there ages are between 10 to 15 years old.
2 of them are over 5"
So im thinking at least 15 years or older.

 

[Rae]

She was full-grown when we got her, she hasn't grown any. We assume she was wild-caught, and if she is, well, I guess she could be super old.

This all came about because I was wondering about her eyesight. Lately, when we feed her, she's been going after our hands instead of the food. Could be she's just really, really hungry, but...

Anyway, thank you all!

 

[Yvonne G]

This all came about because I was wondering about her eyesight. Lately, when we feed her, she's been going after our hands instead of the food. Could be she's just really, really hungry, but...

Most of my turtles and tortoises don't realize that I feed them, the food just magically appears on their food place every morning...but there are a couple smarties that I can't help but hand a morsel to every so often. At those times, the tortoise usually goes for my hand instead of the food. I guess its just a turtle/tortoise-thing!

Yvonne