how old is my tort?

[rubytort]

Sorry if this is a really common question, but I'm not sure how to figure out approximately how old my tort is? Any guestimations would be appreciated, she's about 4.5 inches long from the back of her shell to the front of her shell. I attached a picture of her next to my hand...if that helps? Thanks!

 

[theelectraco]

I would say 2-4 yrs.


0.1.0 Dachshund
0.0.1 Redfoot
1.0.0 Greek
0.0.1 Crested Gecko

 

[TortTopper]

As tortoise growth can differ by a long range because of diet and etc. I'd still put this tort at around 3-4

 

[Vitality]

First off beautiful looking tortoise! And could be 3-4 id say because its a female.

 

[theelectraco]

Are you sure the sex

 

[Mgridgaway]

I think 3-4 years might be pushing it a little. My Darwin is about 5.5" as of this writing and he's only about 2 years old.

 

[rubytort]

Are you sure the sex

that's what I was told by the pet store

 

[FLINTUS]

I think 3-4 years might be pushing it a little. My Darwin is about 5.5" as of this writing and he's only about 2 years old.

That really doesn't sound right. One of these:
~That age isn't correct.
~You have a Gran Chaco red foot
~He has been grown extremely fast.
Realistically we are looking for 2 years between 3 inches and 4 inches usually.

 

[Mgridgaway]

Here is his growth chart. I don't measure him on any schedule, just every couple months. As far as I know, he's just a regular old redfoot. When I acquired him, Tyler Stewart said he was a couple months old, so lets say born in June.

 

[FLINTUS]

Ok, 2.5 inches doesn't sound right really for a red only a few months old.

 

[Mgridgaway]

Again, I believe you're incorrect. 2.5" is not really out of the norm for a couple months old. Even if you stretched to 5 or 6 months, that'd still only make him 2 years and a couple months old.

 

[FLINTUS]

It would be possible yes, but you would certainly have a large RF on your hands.

 

[pfara]

I'm really intrigued now.. I know the exact dates of when my redfoots were born (well according to the breeder). Yesterday was the eldest one's 4 month mark. He measured 3" scl. In two days, the youngest will be 3 months. He's my little chunk and is actually now the biggest at around 3 1/8" scl. The other two are slightly under 3" and are almost 4 months. Are all mine bigguns, too? I know they all grow at different rates, but it's been constant weight/length gain in the past 2 months.

 

[Mgridgaway]

I've looked at numerous previous posts, and there is nothing to corroborate Flintus' assertion that having a 2.5"-3" redfoot at less than 6 months is out of the norm.

 

[pfara]

This is where general growth charts for specific species would come in handy. However, charts would just end up being one more thing that some people would stress out about.

 

[abclements]

Re: RE: how old is my tort?

This is where general growth charts for specific species would come in handy. However, charts would just end up being one more thing that some people would stress out about.

I tried to make one for red foots a couple months back and didn't get any responses. I think it has to be just a lack of data. Everybody just tosses it up to, there is too much variation to bother... But there's an average growth rate for humans and there is massive variations in our growth rates. But long story short I agree with you and an average growth chart would be super helpful!

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I also can see the potential for stressing if your tort doesn't match that lol

Sent from my LG-P769 using TortForum mobile app

 

[pfara]

I tried to make one for red foots a couple months back and didn't get any responses. I think it has to be just a lack of data. Everybody just tosses it up to, there is too much variation to bother... But there's an average growth rate for humans and there is massive variations in our growth rates. But long story short I agree with you and an average growth chart would be super helpful!

Sent from my LG-P769 using TortForum mobile app

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I also can see the potential for stressing if your tort doesn't match that lol

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Hence the "general" growth chart. There will always be tons of variables involved and averages would help. However, there would have to be a large amount of people adding to the numbers for the chart to be remotely accurate. And yup, striving to reach said numbers is just something else to drive me bonkers lol.

 

[FLINTUS]

plus reds are very different from different ranges.

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I've looked at numerous previous posts, and there is nothing to corroborate Flintus' assertion that having a 2.5"-3" redfoot at less than 6 months is out of the norm.

We're talking 3 months here. One thing I would say is that reds in the US generally seem to be bigger than ones in the UK-whether this is where they are found or being grown differently. My youngest one, 2 years and 3 inches is smallish here, but not overly small. The main problem here is that reds vary range to range, between about 8 inches for cherries(or about 9/10 at smallest for reds) up to about 18 and above for the Gran Chacos. Even in your standard Guyanan reds you could still be varying from 10 to 16 inches adult SCL. It is quite possible what we have is different standards in size between the US and UK, however one does have to be careful not to overfeed which can of course contribute to pyramiding.

 

[Mgridgaway]

plus reds are very different from different ranges.

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I've looked at numerous previous posts, and there is nothing to corroborate Flintus' assertion that having a 2.5"-3" redfoot at less than 6 months is out of the norm.

We're talking 3 months here. One thing I would say is that reds in the US generally seem to be bigger than ones in the UK-whether this is where they are found or being grown differently. My youngest one, 2 years and 3 inches is smallish here, but not overly small. The main problem here is that reds vary range to range, between about 8 inches for cherries(or about 9/10 at smallest for reds) up to about 18 and above for the Gran Chacos. Even in your standard Guyanan reds you could still be varying from 10 to 16 inches adult SCL. It is quite possible what we have is different standards in size between the US and UK, however one does have to be careful not to overfeed which can of course contribute to pyramiding.

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Again, I think it's harmful to make these broad generalizations with anecdotal evidence. Show some hard data that redfoots in the UK are generally smaller and we can go from there.

 

[FLINTUS]

plus reds are very different from different ranges.

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I've looked at numerous previous posts, and there is nothing to corroborate Flintus' assertion that having a 2.5"-3" redfoot at less than 6 months is out of the norm.

We're talking 3 months here. One thing I would say is that reds in the US generally seem to be bigger than ones in the UK-whether this is where they are found or being grown differently. My youngest one, 2 years and 3 inches is smallish here, but not overly small. The main problem here is that reds vary range to range, between about 8 inches for cherries(or about 9/10 at smallest for reds) up to about 18 and above for the Gran Chacos. Even in your standard Guyanan reds you could still be varying from 10 to 16 inches adult SCL. It is quite possible what we have is different standards in size between the US and UK, however one does have to be careful not to overfeed which can of course contribute to pyramiding.

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Again, I think it's harmful to make these broad generalizations with anecdotal evidence. Show some hard data that redfoots in the UK are generally smaller and we can go from there.

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That is the problem there is not enough 'hard' data about reds sizes available, nor enough info about them in the wild really. What I would say-and there are many who agree with this-is that in the wild-yes I know, we're in captivity BUT for those that want to keep them the more wild way- we're talking growth of just under an inch a year on average for the northern section of reds.

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I'm quite happy to have a discussion about this but maybe we should start another thread for it?