Land turtles live on average in captivity for about 40 years. With proper care and the absence of disease, a turtle can live in your home for 50 years or more. How do you determine the age of a turtle that has recently become your pet?
Instructions
Step 1
It is the task of breeders to provide detailed information about the age of the turtle and the intricacies of its maintenance. But even they are far from always able to accurately determine the age. There are only a couple of ways to do this. One is to measure the length of the carapace. Attach a ruler to the shell and record the distance of the points farthest from each other. Compare the results. Newborn land turtles are born a little over 3 cm in size. By the age of one, their shell grows to 5 cm, by the age of two - up to 6 cm. At 3 years, the size increases to 8 cm, at 4 - up to 10 cm, at 5 - up to 12 cm, in 6 - up to 14 cm. Depending on the quality of the feed, the level of daily calcium intake and the conditions of the turtle, their growth can reach large sizes, but rarely exceed 18 cm. Terrestrial turtles living in the wild reach almost 30 cm sizes.
Step 2
Take a close look at the number of rings on the carapace. The first of them appear closer to one year of age. It is during this period that the land turtle grows especially intensively. During the first year of life, 2-3 rings appear on the shell. In each subsequent year, as a rule, 1 or 2 more are formed. In long-lived turtles, they fade greatly and become smooth with age. It should be noted that this method of determining age "works" only in conjunction with the first, and you should not rely entirely on its results.
Step 3
Land turtles become sexually mature by 5-6 years, in the wild - by 10 years. In females, the process begins later than males. By this period, the shell of both sexes takes on an elongated shape and darkens. Males develop long claws and a tail, they become more aggressive towards each other and pay more attention to females. But under good conditions, puberty can occur much earlier, so this method is far from accurate and is not taken into account without the first two.
