Measuring ways

[Hankilloh]

hey guys
So I was reading about male mating and stuff and it said they should be around 5" and I was wondering. Is that from side to side or "head" to tail. Or exactly how do you measure the length

 

[wellington]

The length of the bottom shell front to back or back to front

 

[GBtortoises]

It's actually the length of the top shell, the carapace, from the longest points in a straight line (not over the hump of the shell) front to back. The long accepted method is called straight carapace length, or SCL.