General Care Discussion :: At what age do turtles shed?

[Mo Milazzo]

Just curious.

[slider_keeper]

Shedding is not determined by age. Shedding occurs with growth.

[Mo Milazzo]

Oh ok. I feel like a dummy. I have had Franklin for 7 months and he hasn't grown a bit. Am I doing something wrong?

[slider_keeper]

Nope mine grew very slowly and I didn't notice any growth till I started measuring him. Then I notice he was growing at a slow rate. This is actually better because sliders in the wild grow slower due to the lack of large amounts of protien enriched food. In captivaty keepers tend to feed too much protien to their turtles. Fast growth can lead to pyramiding. If your turtle is active, basking, and eating, it's a good sign your doing the right things;) Provide adequate heat, UVA/B, and a varied diet and everything should turn out fine. Infact keep on the site and keep us updated, I wanna know if you have a male or female. I have a theory a male grows at a slower rate than females. If you can start measuring your turtle once a month to track your turtle's growth. How big is he? Whats the tank setup like? Good Luck.

[Mo Milazzo]

Ok I will definitely start measuring him. As of now, he's a little bit bigger than a 50 cent coin. I have his tank filled about halfway, so he has 5 gallons of water. He also has: a UVB bulb, basking dock, a basking bulb (Reptisun, gotta love it), a heater (only used in the winter), and as of now, I am manually cleaning his tank. I plan to get a filter at Repticon next month. My only problem with Franklin, is he won't eat pellets. I have tried everything. Right now he is only being offered pellets which he will eventually have to give in and eat. It amazes me that he hasn't grown because he usually would only eat meat, like minnows and shrimp, but then again he also only likes to eat every other day. He is such a mess! Anyway, I'll definitely do the measuring project! Before you knew the gender of your turtle did you have a unisex name? Or did you have a lucky guess. I named mine Franklin, but something tells me he'll end up being a lady. .____.

[slider_keeper]

Nope, I wanted a male. I've had two females previously, so I picked a male name and my wife agreed to it. And if he was in fact a she, my wife would pick a new girlie name, haha. I finally got a male;) I was in the military before and I aquired my first baby turtle at a gas station in Cleveland while visiting a friend (sad story, she had a 10% chance to live cause of the horribe conditions she was exposed to). Well she survived and beat the odds. She ended up staying at my good friend's house when I got sent to Honduras. He liked her so much he asked to keep her when I aquired another RES in Honduras. I agreed cause he took great care of her. She is still in texas. I aquired another baby in Honduras that turned out to be a female. When I left Honduras I tried to bring her back but they messed up my paperwork so she stayed on the base and is cared for by the soldiers there. I was sad to leave her so my wife got me a baby Rio Grande RES from a breeder and he is Toku:) As you can tell by this time I really wanted a male. So yeah I had to leave two turtles when I moved on but I was promised by my wife that Toku will stay in the family no matter what. So know we have a 3 yrs old Rio Grande that could be in our family for 40+ yrs. Another member on the forums said he heard of a 100 yrs old RES! These guys are definitely a long term commitment.

[Mo Milazzo]

Haha, that's quite a journey! I'm so excited to spend all my savings on new equipment at Repticon. It will be my first reptile show! I am hoping to even nab a friend for Frankie. I noticed how you said you gave a turtle to your friend in Texas. Pretty much everyone has a turtle in Texas, it's crazy! Has your friend updated you on the turtle recently? Thank you for all the help and information you have given me. Franklin and I definitely thrive on anything that can help me better his life. Oh, and as far as turtles being a life long commitment, tell me about it! My mother keeps nagging me about what I'm going to do with him when I go to college because she isn't "going to be feeding him smelly foods." Lol.

[slider_keeper]

We are here to help. Yeah we keep in touch, she is doing just fine. She is a total of 13 in. shell length. She's a big girl. He keeps here in a 400 gal tank. Its huge!

[Mo Milazzo]

Ok, so I take my pets measurements once a month but I went ahead and skipped to today so that I could add Franklin to the mix. His carapace measurements are 1 1/2 inches for length and 1 3/4 inches for width. I guess I'll just post his monthly measurements in this forum.

[slider_keeper]

Sounds good:)

[paige742698]

Has anyone taken measurements of their turtles regularly as they grew? I would love to be able to see what kind of growth rates are usual. Im sure i'm not the only one who's curious! If you have diligently measured your turtles could you make a post with the species, age and growth?

[steve]

There are a handful of posts but I don't think any of them were rigorously maintained.

[Kansasslider]

I was just thinking today, when will my turtles shed? Map-3 years old and I think my diamond backs are 2. My res has shed once. She is over 3 and has grown a lot since she last shed. Will my tiny boy map ever shed? What about the dts? They have also stalled in growth. No shell problems in any of my turtles. My res had holes and Pyramiding before she shed but she looks great now. She shed 2 years ago I think maybe 1 year? Any thoughts?

[steve]

It's pretty hard to predict. I think the ones that bask outdoors shed very regularly. Certain species shed more or less as well.

[Kansasslider]

I was hoping the mega ray might help but it hasn't been long enought to tell anything yet. I will make sure they get more sun next year.