Redfoot growth size.

[Anyfoot]

Hi all.

Just cleaned out my juvenile redfoots and took the opportunity to get a photo to show you the size difference.
These 3 are all from the same batch (supposedly) . They are now 12 months old. They all eat,drink and poop fine. Is this normal for such a difference in growth rate. I've loaded a photo of my records with their progress.

Thanks

 

[stojanovski92113]

They sure do look healthy

 

[teresaf]

The one with the extra schute is neat. Could it's slower growth be related?

 

[Anyfoot]

The one with the extra schute is neat. Could it's slower growth be related?

Don't know, maybe. They are all growing smooth, but the extra scute is bumping, seems a bit like a scar would be on a human and will never nit in properly.

 

[teresaf]

Is the plastron forming good? Just curious. Some people on here get a tort that has a mis-shapen plastron. Curious if sometimes an extra schute would make this happen. You would think that by having an extra schute on one side would make them lopsided! LOL Great conversation starter...

 

[tortdad]

They look healthy but watch to make sure the smaller one is getting its fair share of food. There might be some slight bullying going on at feeding time. My Juvenal reds get along now but in the beginning I had to separate them at feeding time. All is well now.

 

[Anyfoot]

All 3 have perfect plastrons

Is the plastron forming good? Just curious. Some people on here get a tort that has a mis-shapen plastron. Curious if sometimes an extra schute would make this happen. You would think that by having an extra schute on one side would make them lopsided! LOL Great conversation starter...

 

[Anyfoot]

Is the plastron forming good? Just curious. Some people on here get a tort that has a mis-shapen plastron. Curious if sometimes an extra schute would make this happen. You would think that by having an extra schute on one side would make them lopsided! LOL Great conversation starter...

All 3 have perfect plastrons.

 

[teresaf]

Well, He's my fav....

 

[Anyfoot]

They look healthy but watch to make sure the smaller one is getting its fair share of food. There might be some slight bullying going on at feeding time. My Juvenal reds get along now but in the beginning I had to separate them at feeding time. All is well now.

I was thinking of taking the larger one out. I noticed 2 days ago when I fed them some pinkies. The largest one ate is them went over and ate the smaller ones. However on an every day feeding they come out of there hides at separate times to feed.

 

[Anyfoot]

They look healthy but watch to make sure the smaller one is getting its fair share of food. There might be some slight bullying going on at feeding time. My Juvenal reds get along now but in the beginning I had to separate them at feeding time. All is well now.

Also there is never a time that there is no food on there slate, so they always have access to food.

 

[Turtlepete]

Don't know, maybe. They are all growing smooth, but the extra scute is bumping, seems a bit like a scar would be on a human and will never nit in properly.

I have a female with 16 scutes I raised from a hatchling. She has an extra row that almost fits perfectly, except one. She has a perfectly smooth shell, apart from that one odd scute, which sticks out as if pyramided. Sort of odd that the growth is different.

The growth difference is typical of redfoot young. A single clutch raised in the same environment from hatching can still grow at vastly different rates.

 

[Anyfoot]

I have a female with 16 scutes I raised from a hatchling. She has an extra row that almost fits perfectly, except one. She has a perfectly smooth shell, apart from that one odd scute, which sticks out as if pyramided. Sort of odd that the growth is different.

The growth difference is typical of redfoot young. A single clutch raised in the same environment from hatching can still grow at vastly different rates.

Do you think there is a relation between the size they grow at and the sex they are. Do males grow quicker? I'm guessing there are many people that have already proved this not to be true.

 

[Anyfoot]

I have a female with 16 scutes I raised from a hatchling. She has an extra row that almost fits perfectly, except one. She has a perfectly smooth shell, apart from that one odd scute, which sticks out as if pyramided. Sort of odd that the growth is different.

The growth difference is typical of redfoot young. A single clutch raised in the same environment from hatching can still grow at vastly different rates.

Do you have any photos of your 16 scuter. Interesting.

 

[Turtlepete]

@Anyfoot

The female I'm talking about is the only one of my hatchlings I've ever raised up, so I can't say from personally experience. However, I have never heard anything to suggest this, so I would not expect females or males to grow quicker. I would say gender has nothing to do with growth rate. Just individual animals, some with more appetite who are outgoing enough to constantly be out browsing, others who are shy and spend most of the day hiding and don't eat as much. And probably many other, more biological reasons why certain individual clutch-mates outgrow others. Yada yada…

The abnormal growth I'm talking about may be hard to capture on camera. I'll give it a shot though.

 

[Anyfoot]

@Anyfoot

The female I'm talking about is the only one of my hatchlings I've ever raised up, so I can't say from personally experience. However, I have never heard anything to suggest this, so I would not expect females or males to grow quicker. I would say gender has nothing to do with growth rate. Just individual animals, some with more appetite who are outgoing enough to constantly be out browsing, others who are shy and spend most of the day hiding and don't eat as much. And probably many other, more biological reasons why certain individual clutch-mates outgrow others. Yada yada…

The abnormal growth I'm talking about may be hard to capture on camera. I'll give it a shot though.

That tallys up, because my little one is very shy and hides a lot.

 

[Turtlepete]

This picture is complete rubbish, but hopefully it illustrates it well enough.

It used to be much pointier. Almost like it became "pinched" between the other scutes and had to grow outwards. Quite odd.

 

[Turtlepete]

That tallys up, because my little one is very shy and hides a lot.

I've always noticed that the ones to grow the fastest and the biggest are always more outgoing and friendly, not shy at all of human presence. On the flip side, the ones that are shy and stay hidden in the moss most of the day and are very skittish of my presence grow much slower and are smaller.

Or perhaps the bigger ones are bigger because they were less shy/more outgoing and therefore ate more, and the small ones are small because they were shy in the first place and therefore didn't eat as much…Chicken or egg…hmm?

 

[Anyfoot]

This picture is complete rubbish, but hopefully it illustrates it well enough.

It used to be much pointier. Almost like it became "pinched" between the other scutes and had to grow outwards. Quite odd.

Cool. Unique.

 

[Anyfoot]

I've always noticed that the ones to grow the fastest and the biggest are always more outgoing and friendly, not shy at all of human presence. On the flip side, the ones that are shy and stay hidden in the moss most of the day and are very skittish of my presence grow much slower and are smaller.

Or perhaps the bigger ones are bigger because they were less shy/more outgoing and therefore ate more, and the small ones are small because they were shy in the first place and therefore didn't eat as much…Chicken or egg…hmm?

This makes sense again. Because the larger one acknowledges us and comes out to nosey at what we are doing, just like some of my adults. Or maybe this is just a sign of him maturing. Do you have any adults that are shy and hide all the time, I don't. All 7 are curious and nosey.