Please tell me how to tell the age of my turtle.
If you look at the link to my myspace blog you will see the pictures and a little summary of how we discovered our turtle... Or you can click on the actual picture links just to see the pictures and not the whole story.
I am just really curious of how I can figure out the age of this turtle. Please give educated answers. THANKS!! :)
LINK TO MYSPACE:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseac...
PICTURES:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i18/Re...
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i18/Re...
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i18/Re...
How OLD is my RED EARED SLIDER turtle?? look @ pics %26amp; a link...?
Firstly, not to be rude but, you are WAY missinformed. Your turtle can't be sexed yet. It's FAR too small. They can't be accurately sexed until they are 4" in diameter, and yours looks about 1/2 of an inch. There are ways to guide you but none of them are completely accurate. The only true way to sex them is to look at their cloca (anus) and if it's 1/2 out then it's male and if it's near the body then it's female. This can't be done until they are 4 inches in diameter because any smaller and the cloca is near the body which would lead to all turtles being sexed as female which is not accurate what so ever.
Now, as far as age goes, you can NOT determine age just by looking at it. The only positive way to know, is to have been there when it's egg hatched, or to know someone who was. You can't determine their age any other ways. Someone will probably tell you that you can by counting lines or rings or something else of the sort but these are myths. They hold no truth. Yes, turtles grow rings every year but the fault lines in the fact that they can grow a different number of rings each year and the numbers will never be consistant. These methods could be off by YEARS. Try to determine age by size is also inacurate as they grow at different paces and, due to not being properly kept, they often don't grow as quickly as they should. I'd also love to read how you came across it, as if it was wild you need to return it as not only is it a fellony offence to capture wild animals (especially turtles as many are endangered) but it's morally wrong. You hurt the ecosystem, you drastically cut the turtle's life (a wild trun captive turtle will live on average 3 years in captivity, while no turtle has a life expectancy under 20 years), and it's cruel to the turtle. They never truely adjust to captivity and they will never be happy in captivity. Alrighty, sorry to lost my train of thought but back to the age. Since your turtle is so small, I'd guess only about a month old, as when they are born they are the size of a thumb nail and then grow quickly in the first year of their life. Do everyone a favor and do some research as you clearly don't know much about turtles. Did you know that females get to be 12 inches in diamer? Yeah, that's the size of a dinner plate. Did you know they require 10 gallons of water per inch of shell and then more for a basking area? Probably not as that container you have the poor thing in looks tiny. You also don't have any lights or thermometers. How do you know that the basking area is 90 degrees F and the water is 75? You have no UVB bulb which is already killing your turtle as they can't metabolize calcium whithout it and they can't make or metabolie vitamin D3 without which prevents metabolic bone disease which is deadly. And, in the first picture, your turtle's shell looks like it's pyramidding. That's painful and can kill it easily and quickly. Check out www.austinsturtlepage.com do some research and then get a turtle, please.
How OLD is my RED EARED SLIDER turtle?? look @ pics %26amp; a link...?
I can't say for sure, but under a year old. by the way, don't you know it's federally illegal to sell turtles of this size, under 3", because they carry Salmonella. Get rid of it. And call the Fish and Wildlife Dept. on the idiot that's selling these turtles. Kids will die from handling these cuties!
How OLD is my RED EARED SLIDER turtle?? look @ pics %26amp; a link...?
fairly young. maybe a couple of months -- i have two of the same size :]
and yes i bought them from a reptile seller
they have a risk of sallmonella, but its not always certain - either way you should ALWAYS wash your hands after handling the turtle.
but they're baby turtles %26amp; all big turtles were babies so theres no sense in getting rid of them, really
How OLD is my RED EARED SLIDER turtle?? look @ pics %26amp; a link...?
Hello,
It's a 2007 hatchling for sure, since it is less than 2". It's only a couple months at most, since females usually lay in early spring. The RES (red eared slider), your turtle, was almost certainly bred on a farm in southern US, often Lousiana, where they breed RES by the tens of millions each year for the pet trade.
You cannot tell the sex visually until it is around 4", and it would be a guess before then. The best way to sex it is to look at its tail, males have thicker and longer tails while females have thinner and shorter tails. Check out these puics at ATP (scroll down):
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Info/in...
I do not have a My Space account, so I could not read your descriptions.
How OLD is my RED EARED SLIDER turtle?? look @ pics %26amp; a link...?
aww!! I have four of these!! he is not even a year..possobly hatched out in the fall so will be a year soon..they stay small for quit a long time and will grow according totheir tank size and space..I would say he wont get too big but I know someone who had one from a baby and once it got bigger they put it in there swimming pool and it got to be 1 foot long and you could swim with it..it was really friendly!!! good luck!
How OLD is my RED EARED SLIDER turtle?? look @ pics %26amp; a link...?
1. It was hatched in the last few months. That is about all the closer we can guess, as Wu accurately stated (I would love to know why his accurate in every way post got a low mark?)
2. You will not know the sex for a while yet- it has to get to about 4" long to be sure. You cannot even SORTA guess at this stage!
3. The MySpace thing does not work if you don't have an account, and not everyone does.
4. Your habitat needs some work. I would recommend the sites below for great advice for habitat, diet, etc. if you want your little turtle to be healthy and happy.
Good luck!
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