Do russians ever get done rowing or do they grow all their life , and if anyone has a pictureof a full sized male , post it please!!!! I miss my tort being tiny...
All reptiles have what's called indeterminate growth, meaning that unlike birds and mammals, they continue to grow throughout their lives. Having said that, beyond a certain size, their growth rate does slow down considerably, so it is possible to speak of a "maximum" size for a tortoise. Males grow to 5-6" SCL, females 7-8" SCL. Some males can reach 8" and some females 10", but that's not typical.
There some folks here on TFO with nice, big males and massive female Russians. Hopefully they'll share their pix with us.
This male is pretty decent size. Close to 7". I have pretty sausagely big hands
Then a normalish sized male with a small female
Then Sometimes they do get rather large indeed. This is a female almost 8"