(Redfoot) size matters

Joseph K

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I want to talk about size. In particular, the sizing and sizes of our precious Redfoots. My little Anna Karenina will soon turn six, and she is already 12 inches SCL. 12 inches! She eats like an offensive lineman, goes to the bathroom everyday, and is light as a feather. I mean like 9 lbs or so!

The thing that has me freaking out a bit is, altho Anna goes outside as much as she can, I am forced to keep her in a terrarium here in Chicago because of the inclement weather. Come late May, she'll be frolicking in the park everyday and doing what she does best (attracting the attention of outdoor passersby, getting her picture taken a million times a day, essentially being the diva that she is).

So the thing that's freaking me out is I just don't know how big Anna's going to be, and I'm scared she'll eventually going to outgrow her enclosure. If she's already 12 inches at less than 6-years-old and she's growing 3.5 inches per year (as she has been), well you can do the math...Anna may make it to 18 or even 20 inches. Her weight, I'm sure, will eventually catch up with her length, but I'm trying to budget for the future here.

Any ideas?
and p.s. I'd do *anything* for Anna. It's Anna's world, and if I have to move to FLA or CA to get her outdoors, I may just do that!
 

ZEROPILOT

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My Redfoot all topped out at 13-14" here living in south Florida.
But I've seen some not too far from here that must be near 20".
I wonder if you have one of the "GIANT" types.
A 12" tortoise in a terrarium? That must be some huge terrarium.:)
 

Anyfoot

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I want to talk about size. In particular, the sizing and sizes of our precious Redfoots. My little Anna Karenina will soon turn six, and she is already 12 inches SCL. 12 inches! She eats like an offensive lineman, goes to the bathroom everyday, and is light as a feather. I mean like 9 lbs or so!

The thing that has me freaking out a bit is, altho Anna goes outside as much as she can, I am forced to keep her in a terrarium here in Chicago because of the inclement weather. Come late May, she'll be frolicking in the park everyday and doing what she does best (attracting the attention of outdoor passersby, getting her picture taken a million times a day, essentially being the diva that she is).

So the thing that's freaking me out is I just don't know how big Anna's going to be, and I'm scared she'll eventually going to outgrow her enclosure. If she's already 12 inches at less than 6-years-old and she's growing 3.5 inches per year (as she has been), well you can do the math...Anna may make it to 18 or even 20 inches. Her weight, I'm sure, will eventually catch up with her length, but I'm trying to budget for the future here.

Any ideas?
and p.s. I'd do *anything* for Anna. It's Anna's world, and if I have to move to FLA or CA to get her outdoors, I may just do that!
Can we see some photos of your tort please? Especially the plastron.
What do you feed her?
 

allegraf

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You and @pfara have something to share! How are you guys getting such large growth! Would love to see pics of your little one.
 

ZEROPILOT

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These are the "giants" located in Tamarac Fla.
Even the shell shape is unusual.
There are 5 in two pens that are none too large.
The business is named Tropic Plants.
 

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lisa127

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Mine is a bit over 9 inches. I have trouble measuring length to exact. Could be 9.25 or could be 9.5 inches. He weighs almost 4.5 lbs. I don't know his exact age because he was surrendered to our reptile rescue last year and I brought him home in august 2015. Going by what previous owner said he is probably about 4.5 years old. He lives in a portable greenhouse in my basement that is 27 square feet floor space. Since August he has gained about a lb. And grown almost an inch in scl.
 

pfara

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3.5 inches per year?! You and I are no where near in the same league when it comes to tortoise growth! Yikes! I'm with you though. I wonder what my tortoises will max out at and when growth will finally start to significantly slow down.

Sorry I can't help with solutions but I, too, would love to see pics!
 

christinaland128

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Are you measuring her plastron? That's a lot of growth! I was measuring my tortoises wrong at first.
 

lisa127

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Even if this tortoise really has grown 3.5 inches per year to this point, the growth is bound to slow down at this age. I highly doubt she is going to continue at 3.5 inches per year. It just doesn't work that way.
 

Joseph K

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Thanks for the replies, folks!
Pictures are forthcoming.

I measured Anna's plastron earlier today and it's about 10.75 or 11 inches. Her SLC is about 12 inches or maybe 11.75.

Maybe I was exaggerating a bit on the annual growth rate; maybe it's closer to 3" than 3.5".

She's a wonderful tortoise, Anna Karenina, bright-eyed and alert. She rushes over to me when I arrive, knows the smells of everything she's ever eaten, and rarely retreats into her shell. When she's outside she's like a swan that condescends to glide. (She's still in her biting phase. When she comes upon foreign objects like dogs!, her first reaction is to bite. I've read about this, and it seems to be a territoriality thing.)

But still
 

Joseph K

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ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1458095099.498735.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1458095163.911637.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1458095218.554028.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1458095248.553418.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1458095272.037516.jpg

Here are some from six months ago at least. I'll take more of her in the next few days. She's a lot bigger now.
 

Joseph K

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And ps I got her from an exotic reptile place almost two years ago and she was pyramided about the same when I got her as she is now. The goal has been to prevent further pyramiding
 

lisa127

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Her pyramiding g isn't bad. I adopted my George last year a d his is worse.
Here he is eating breakfast this morning.
20160316_115625.jpg
 

Joseph K

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George is adorable! Yeah, I love my Anna and just hope she doesn't grow up to be an absolute behemoth--who scares away all the fellas'.
 

MPRC

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She's a pretty lady, don't give her a complex about her size! ;)

My 2 year old is 5in (1lb), my 6 year old is 8in (3.5lb), and my 9 year old is 12in. (11.5lb).
 

Joseph K

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Anna is gorgeous. She's also a total brat with an insane sense of entitlement. If she doesn't get fed at least once a day, she gives me this look and does this thing with her neck that's so cute, I just can't ignore her...Around here, it's all about Anna.
 

tortadise

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I want to talk about size. In particular, the sizing and sizes of our precious Redfoots. My little Anna Karenina will soon turn six, and she is already 12 inches SCL. 12 inches! She eats like an offensive lineman, goes to the bathroom everyday, and is light as a feather. I mean like 9 lbs or so!

The thing that has me freaking out a bit is, altho Anna goes outside as much as she can, I am forced to keep her in a terrarium here in Chicago because of the inclement weather. Come late May, she'll be frolicking in the park everyday and doing what she does best (attracting the attention of outdoor passersby, getting her picture taken a million times a day, essentially being the diva that she is).

So the thing that's freaking me out is I just don't know how big Anna's going to be, and I'm scared she'll eventually going to outgrow her enclosure. If she's already 12 inches at less than 6-years-old and she's growing 3.5 inches per year (as she has been), well you can do the math...Anna may make it to 18 or even 20 inches. Her weight, I'm sure, will eventually catch up with her length, but I'm trying to budget for the future here.

Any ideas?
and p.s. I'd do *anything* for Anna. It's Anna's world, and if I have to move to FLA or CA to get her outdoors, I may just do that!
Well let's start with the species of redfoot. They are rather robust and quite hardy as species as a whole. Specifically the northern locale. Most would believe and assume that South America is always super hot, mosquito infested, dense forest, swamp Amazon land. But in reality that's not entirely the case. This species is quite adaptable to a variety of weather patterns(including but not
Limited to temperatures, humidity and available edible items). That being said you can most certainly allow this specimen outdoors in temperatures well below what you feel. They can thrive with nighttime temperature as low into the upper 50s and daytime temperatures into the low 60s with sunshine and no precipitation. Your claims do seem a bit on the larger to gargantuan sized carbonaria. But it's not unheard of at all. I've raised almost all of our redfoot stock from Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and Brazil from offspring of wild collected adults kept in past. Most are 12-15 years old and vary on sizes from 12-16" SCL values. But weight you seem to be worried of. It seems as though you offer a great value of excercise to your tortoise. 9 pounds seems reasonable and not underweight for this length of animal. Keep in mind that these creatures are still wild at instinct and will always be until they are bred well beyond a 10-15+ generations of offspring and captive acclimaTion (specuLtion of course as know data or term length study has been presented to validate this claim of
Opinion). Certain locality specific specimens of carbonaria can and will surpass sizes of 20"+ southern Brazil and Bolivian specimens easily obtain these SCL values. As do many from Guyana and Suriname, amazon shield and northwestern Brazils Amazon basin. But these specimen have a little known age factor to them. Similar indictments of Yellowfoots have occurred in south eastern Peru and western Guyana of Giants. But yet no knowledge of origin to birth(hatch in reptiles). That being said it seems your taking excellent care of your tortoise. I do say it's not a bad idea to provide a Protozoa(fecal) check every fall and spring season. Especially allowing outdoor public park visits. Many canines carry worms or bacteria easily ingested by tortoises via soil that canines or even felines have excrememted onto.
 

Joseph K

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Great call on the fecal check! This is going to be a very fun summer for Anna because she'll be outdoors every day and, for Anna, the world is one gigantic salad. Last summer I caught her eating dog feces in the park. It was not a pretty sight. All the neighborhood children were coming up to her, trying to pet her, and she had dog **** smeared all over her mouth!!!
 
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