Urgent Care :: My turtle stopped growing!

[pajamatree]

Hello! If you could please help me out, I'd really appreciate it.

K.

So here go's!

I bought two red-eared sliders about a year ago. Gnarles is about a foot long now and seemingly monstrous while Little Foot grew to only about four inches long before he stopped growing altogether. It was about 6 months after I got him that I noticed he had stopped, so I got a bigger tank and removed a lot of the decorations to give him some more room, but to no avail. Needless to say, I have no idea what's happened to the poor little guy. I love him to death and want to do anything I can to keep him healthy and growing. Do you have idea what's happened and what I should do?

[steve]

Well, it could be that Little Foot is a male, who will naturally be smaller. Gnarles could also be eating more than his share.

How big were they when you got them?

[pajamatree]

They were itty bitty. No bigger than quarter. How big do they normally get?

[SpotsMama]

Typical length (straight shell length) for a one year old turtle is around 4". It varies quite a bit depending on genetics, diet, temperature, etc but most seem to fall in a range between 3" and 5" at the one year mark.

Gnarles may possibly be growing faster than she should. What's the diet like? Do you notice whether Gnarles is getting all the food? Too rapid growth in turtles isn't good - puts a strain on the internal organs and shortens the life span.

That said, a very common cause for slow or no growth in a turtle is internal parasites. A vet can check a stool sample pretty easily.

When fully grown, a female is between 9" and 11" straight shell length while a male ranges between 7" and 9". They grow most rapidly during the first year, gradually slowly until they stop growing after 4 or 5 years.

[megcornell]

Have you separated the two turtles? Or did you put both in a larger tank?

12 inches is really much too much growth for one year, even if Gnarles was stealing every pellet, I'd be amazed to see a turtle grow that much in one year. How much are you feeding the turtles, and are you feeding them separately?

I think a good place to start is to feed them separate and separate them if you haven't.
Also, can you post pictures? I'd be curious to see Gnarles and Littlefoot.

[pajamatree]

Well, to be honest - I used to have four turtles. I gave two of them to a friend of my sister's because they were getting too big. After about eight months of owning them, Gnarles, Stinky, AND Chica grew to about 7 or 8 inches long, but Little Foot remained tiny. After getting rid of Stinky and Chica, Gnarles quickly grew again while Little Foot did not. I feed them ReptoMin Pellets twice a day. A frozen treat for turtles about once a week, some dried baby shrimp here and there and occasionally I buy them the 30 cents mino's from PetSmart, and they seem to love chasing them around and eating them.

I have not separated them. They get along really well and I figured they'd be happier together. I hang out around the tank during feeding time because it makes Gnarles nervous and he kind of backs away while Little Foot eats and then I leave them alone so Ganrles can have his share when Little Foot is done. I don't think I'm over-feeding them, sometimes I feel I am underfeeding them with the way that they devour the food so quickly. I'm starting to worry about both of my little guys now.

I will get some pictures together and post them ASAP.

[pajamatree]

OK, these pictures are of about four months old. I will take more pictures tomorrow and post them since Gnarles doesn't seem so big in these.
I apologize for not being the best photographer as well.







I just LOVE this picture!





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[Arisu]

It looks like Gnarles is pyramiding ): You could probably start replacing her meat-treats with veggies.
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15940

Do you still feed them twice a day?
How much do you give them in one sitting?

[TheComputerGremlin]

Yeah, your big girl there has some serious pyramiding, esp. for just a year old. If you are feeding them ReptoMin, I'd recommend cutting back to one feeding (about a head-sized portion) every OTHER day. I know it seems like you're starving them, but that pyramiding will only get worse and will kill her. The pictures aren't good enough to tell about the little guy, but it looks like he has some pyramiding too.

To give you an idea, I feed about 8 ReptoMin pellets to my four inch turtle and we have no pyramiding, and she's a little over a year old.

[ScrewZoo]

Wow you have some really healthy looking turtles.. GOod job.

[marisa]

Awfully large for being 4 months. Aside from those vertebral scutes, though, the carapace doesn't look that bad...

[pajamatree]

OMG! My poor babies! I had no idea. Thank you SO much for this information. I will definitely cut back on feeding them.

I feed them twice a day. Probably about 10 pellets for Gnarles and 5 for Little Foot. Gosh, and here I am thinking I am UNDERFEEDING them!

So, If I cut down on the food, will his shell go back to normal?

[pajamatree]

Here are some pictures of Little Foot, does he have pyramiding as well?

[johnQguy]

Yeah, but not as severe as I have seen.

[untsmurf]

You'll want to reduce the protein and start introducing vegetables. If you do this, the pyramiding should stop and should begin to shed and smooth out. It may never be completely smooth though.