Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My RF was hatched on April 4 of this year. She doesn't show any signs of being overweight and the vet confirms this, but she weighs 104 grams! That's more that my 4-year-old RF weighed at a year (and they did come from the same breeder). Now, I'm not complaining, after what I went through with my yellow-foot, but is this abnormal? Not to mention, she is half cherry-head, so I had figured she'd be a bit smaller...hmmmm.

Growth rates can vary a lot. My two 'regular' redfoot babies, that I got from the breeder at 2 weeks old, weighed 55 g at 4 months old, whereas my Cherryhead weighed 94 g at 4 months old (which is very much in line with yours). The Cherryhead had started out from a very large egg and thus was larger to start with.
They are all kept under the exact same conditions and fed the same food, but the Cherryhead, now 2 years old, has continued its 'fast pace', which isn't as fast as it actually looks. If I calculate their monthly weight gains as a function of their body weights, they all gain roughly 7% of their respective bodyweight per month.
As long as you offer a proper diet and they show smooth growth and seem to overall do well, I wouldn't worry about the growth rate.

On a different note,- does the 'half Cherryhead' mean, that one parent is a Cherryhead and the other a regular redfoot? Do you know which parent was the male / female? And if ever you could,- could you post a plastron picture of your baby? I wonder how the plastron of a 'mixed' animal looks!

Thanks and good luck with your baby,
Gaby

Hi Gaby,

Thanks for responding! I've attached a picture of Penny's plastron, but in my honest opinion, it really doesn't look all that different from my "pureblood" RF. Apparently, it was the father that was the cherryhead and the mother was not. The tort has really pretty coloring...her head and legs are completely red and her carapace is a bit lighter than pics of Shellie at that age. Whew! At least she was perhaps hatched from a larger egg and that may be why she is going through a growth spurt. Both torts are kept under the same conditions, same diet.

Thank you very much for your reply and the plastron picture! You are right,- at least the plastron looks like any other 'regular' northern type redfoot. But you sure have a pretty baby there!

Just for your further information: at two years old, my oldest redfoot, who I got at that age, weighed 225 g and was 120 mm in SCL.
One of the two babies I raised from 2 weeks on was 192 g and measured 97 mm in SCL and the other was 172 g and 91 mm in SCL at 2 years old.
My Cherryhead, who will turn 2 years old in two weeks (and who I raised since she was 6 weeks old), weighs 320 g and measures 111 mm in SCL.
They all do great and show smooth growth!

Gaby

Gaby,

I was gauging my cherryhead's weight off my other RF's weight. I got the CH at 3 weeks old and she weighed 47 grams and at almost 4 months, she is 120 grams and 82.55 mm SCL(I may have had the incorrect weight initially).

I got my other RF at 3 months old and she weighed 50 grams...at 4 months was 61 grams. Now, she is 4 years old, weighs 1816 grams, and is 21.59 cm SCL. Maybe these guys just grow large!

There you go...all different growth rates!
Your 4 year old is a lot bigger than my 5 year old 'regular' redfoot. Kathrin, at five and a half years old, now weighs 938 g and measures 170 mm in SCL.
Her growth is very smooth (see picture). Would you mind posting a picture of your a lot faster growing regular redfoot?
I will post carapace pics of my other 3 guys / girls in the next post, so we can compare growth patterns!

Gaby

The following pictures show my two regular redfoot 'babies' at 2 years old and the Cherryhead at 19 months old.
As you can see the regulars are really very smooth, whereas the much bigger Cherryhead shows some signs of too fast growth. The three of them are kept together, and thus live under the exact same conditions. The only way I can explain the Cherryhead's fast growth is, that she takes in more food during feeding times than the other two. But still,- in terms of percent body weight her monthly gain is the same as the one for the other two.

Gaby

n/p

Not a great pic, but here's the carapace of the cherryhead, Penny. She's the one that is almost 5 months old. When I soak the two of them tonight, I will take pics of both of them!

Here's the four-year-old's carapace:

Here's the five-month-old cherryhead's carapace:

As far as I can tell from the pictures they both look very nice! It is amazing at how different rates these guys can grow. And it is very interesting to compare the growth data, husbandry and diet of various animals and the corresponding results.
Some of it might be genetic too. A friend of mine has some huge, over 20 years old adults (up to 43 cm in SCL), whereas I just saw a 45 year old female last week, that was in the 30 cm SCL range. All have comparable growth in terms of none to very slight pyramiding.
Thanks for sharing the pictures,

Gaby

My Redfoot (Peabody) was also an April hatchling. I got
him in July so he would have been about 3 months old. He was
50 grams the day I got him. By the end of December he grew
to 150-200 grams. He grows in spurts. He is now 3 years old and
about 2 lbs. He does not seem overweight.

I don't have his growth chart in front of me but he seemed
to gain about 50 grams/month that first summer.

Linda