I would agree for certain if this were a male. Males with good growth will take at least 5 years to hit the 10 feet mark and growth slows considerably after they reach 5 years of age. The growth trajectory of Jud’s male was very similar to his son’s, which I raised from our first litter. My male reached the 10 feet mark in his 5th year, and then slowed considerably after that. He is now 8 years of age and just over 11 feet.

I have 3 older females which I have raised from neonates to large adults and all were between 13 and 13.5 feet by their 6th year. These are the growth rates I have experienced and are representative of individuals that are feeding well and very consistently, but not power fed. Many greens raised in captivity will grow at lesser rates than these due to being either sporadic feeders, not fed frequently by the owners, or just being genetically smaller individuals. Eric could possibly have an extremely exceptional male, but it could also be a female. It would be interesting to see the spurs on this green. A female of that size would have virtually no external spur structure at all, and a male would have considerable external size to its spurs.

Kelly

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