I'm a bit curious on how to tell the age of the turtle. Do the large hexagons in the middle of the shell tell the turtle's age?


For example, do those five shapes down the middle of the turtle mean its five years old?




I'm interested on finding out the age of my turtles.

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Nope - The hexagons are called scutes...and to tell the age is said to be done by counting the rings (like the rings of a tree) that are inside one of those scutes. Each ring is supposed to represent one year. It's still only a best guess though because some years the turtle may have an exceptional growth period adding an extra ring - and some years there may be an extra long hibernation period and a turtle may skip a ring. It is an estimation though - and you can guess that if it has say 5 rings inside a scute - it could be anywhere from 4-6 years old. Here's a link I came across that might help - or confuse - you more...;-)
How Old Is My Turtle

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Thank you very much!

__________________
There's no such thing as an aquarium that's too big!

~My Herps~

3 Red-Eared Sliders- Jimmy, Sky, and Soldier

~My Fish~
Betta-Peach
2 Mickey Mouse platys- Flower and Zaphod
And countless platy babies!

~My Wishlist~
All the herps in the world!

What's a Chelonian?

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Chelonia-The family of turtles

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The rings of a turtle's shell, as mentioned, are only a very rough estimate, especially in captive turtles. Plus as a turtle gets older the rings wear down, essentially making them look younger the older they get. It's also better used on tortoises and box turtles. Red-eared sliders don't have very obvious rings. The yellow and green patterns aren't rings.

Your turtles look really young, just based on their size and proportions. If your turtle was 5 years old he'd probably be really malnourished.

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