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how do you tell the age of a turtle?


arcanine

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we have just been given a young snake neck turtle, i would think he is no more than 6 months? from the top to the bottom of his shell its about 8cm(ish) and from side to side is about 5-6cm. we have a young red eared which we were also given and was that size when we got him (4 months or so ago) and hes nearly trippled in size. we put them in together and they are fine , is this ok?

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they can vary soo much in size regardless of age.

generally comes down to care.

age is not so important in the reptile world, size is, big eat/fight/pester the small. :D

Bit risky putting a big red ear with small snakeneck. Turtles do best on their own in tanks, should be in a pond once of size, especially if trying to house more than one together.

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Ouch poor turtle reptilenutt!

And this is the result of a RES fanning and the seemingly placid snakeneck thinking it was a juicy worm to eat.....he almost needed to have it surgically removed...but fortunately it was pushed back inside.

Also I've been told that one breed can set off a fungus infection in the others skin...cant remember which way it went tho and havent had personal experience of it.

The snakenecks diet and lighting needs are a bit different to the RES as well, so best to have seperate tanks

Sept2009027.jpg

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a side note to that pic of yours Donna,a friend had the same thing happen to one of his redears,took it to the vet,who believe it or not did not know what said appendage was and was ready to amputate???An international phone call saved the turtles manhood and it was covered with household sugar,shrunk instantly and went back where it should have been.

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Repto, that sounds awful! Fortunately I and vet knew about sugar...but didnt work. :tears: I think it had been out a bit too long and he was up under the basking lights when found, so it was very dry. Had bits sort of ripped off a bit as well and hugely swollen. We tried the sugar, cold water etc and eventually it took about 4 people holding him, pulling tail out straight, applying loads of KY and manipulating back in with a cotton bud. Amputation was an option as it had taken many attempts and about 4 hrs before finally able to retract it in. Cloaca had been torn a little as well by snakeneck. The wee fella never once attempted to bite anyone. He was (and still is) a very placid boy who now lives happily with a couple and has had no issues with said appendage :happy2:

It happened after he'd been popped in the 6 ft tank with a young snakeneck and a female RES to have a good swim around before going back in their respective 4 ft tanks.... obviously the female was a bit too much temptation, even at such a young age... I wont be doing that again!

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