Redfoot Tortoise (age)

[81SHOVELHEAD]

Hello
Just curious about the age of my redfoots
I have read on here that normal growth rate of these torts are 1/2 inch per year .
If this is the case can i say the 3 torts i bought from Petco
4" scl = 8 yrs old
8" scl = 16 yrs old.
Do they have rapid growth rates @ early age & then slow down?
How old would you expert redffoot keepers think at this length would be the age of my torts?
Just curious .
Mike D.

 

[Madkins007]

I don't have enough hands-on experience to even guess a tortoise's age, but they do grow in what is called a 'sigmoid curve'- kinda slow at first, then pretty fast, then slowing down again. You also need to take into account that they start at about 2.75", so your 4" tort added about 1.25", so would be about 2.5 years old by your formula, and the 8" would have added about 5.25", so be about 10.5 years old.

Some formulas figure about an inch a year, but most people don't put a lot of stock in these formulas- two torts from the same nest can grow at very different rates.

Quite honestly, it really only matters insofar as it satisfies our curiosity. Cares, diet, breeding, etc. mostly go by size.

 

[Redfoot NERD]

81 ---- that info you got is hilarious!

My hands on experience shows 4" SCL is about ONE year old.

My '05 hatchling are 8" - 9" SCL. The absolute largest hatchling I've ever had out of several was not quite 1 3/4" SCL -- average is less than 1 5/8" SCL.

'05 Guyana - ( 6 years old in a couple weeks )....

Note date in pic at 1 week old -

Yesterday -

BTW... follow the caresheet in my signature if you want them to look similar to this one.

Terry

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Someone needs to make a pretty chart... Like those height weight charts for humans... ^_^