Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a male and female res living together. they're about 3 years old. The male it 4 inches, the female is almost 4.5 inches. A few months ago i desided to start monitoring their growth and weight along with a bunch of other reptiles i'm keeping. The first two months saw 20 gram gains in both male an female. This didn't seem exrtaordinary. This month my female gained 80 grams. Does anyone have any idea why she would shoot up in weight when my male gained a normal 20 grams.
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- Melanie

2.0.0 cats
0.0.3 crested geckos
1.2.2 leopard geckos
1.0.0 Bernese mountain dog
1.1.1 red ear sliders
0.0.1 emperor scorpion
0.0.1 chilean rose tarantula
1 south american cichlid tank
2 planted tanks with dwarf cichlids and platies

Could be because females grow larger than males! =)

yeah but an 80 gram weight gain seems like a lot, i may be wrong though
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- Melanie

2.0.0 cats
0.0.3 crested geckos
1.2.2 leopard geckos
1.0.0 Bernese mountain dog
1.1.1 red ear sliders
0.0.1 emperor scorpion
0.0.1 chilean rose tarantula
1 south american cichlid tank
2 planted tanks with dwarf cichlids and platies

Turtles won't always grow at the same rate each month, and definately won't stay the same size as their tankmates. One of my RES is a good deal larger than the other, and both are males and clutchmates.

It is possible that your larger one is more aggressive and is getting more food than he should. I fed mine separetly for awhile when I noticed that my smaller turtle wasn't getting much to eat. Also make sure you aren't overfeeding them.
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A mans got to do what a mans got to do. A woman has to do what he can't.

Mom to:

1 little boy born 7/19/04
2 male RES, born 1999
1 ribbon snake, age unknown
3 FBT, ages unknown
1 female bearded dragon, born 5/2002
1 male lab mix, born 5/24/03
1 female calico cat, born 6/7/04

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sig file edited 1/29/05 [phw]