how big is this turtle gonna get?!

i've mentioned our aquatic turtle "Socks" before....he became a part of the family just over 2 years ago and was only the size of 2 of my fingers then (and actually, he was probably already a year old at this point - lucky that he hadn't been eaten up yet)...

not the best pic - just so you get the idea of his size
look how cute in his tiny tank!
and look at that other cutie right beside of him - wow, was that really only 2 years ago?!

every summer, he sheds his scales & grows a little more! it's a cool process to watch....his scales (the little rectangle sections on his shell) lift off & then shed....they look like thick, dark fingernails when they fall off and sink to the bottom of his tank

he LOVES to either bask under his heat lamp on his rocks (which helps speed up the shedding process too), swim around & nibble at the ferns & plants in his tank.....or even try & crawl up into his plants (he loves to kill them this way - he sits on them until they lay down & die - then we have to replace them).....he gets turtle food & fish flakes (for color enhancement) every evening when it's time for bed & i turn off his heat lamp.....but his favorite treat is the occasional earth worm that the kids find for him in the yard or in grandpa's garden.....these must make him blood thirsty too - cause he gets so hyper & feisty after eating one.....nipping at anything that moves ~lol~

here he is 2 months after we got him.....climbing into his fern to sit

and here he is 4 months after we got him - he killed the fern, so got a new plant that he couldn't knock down as easily.....he missed hiding under the ferns, so i hot glued that fake leaf to his pot....he'd go up under it and sleep every night

here he is last summer right after we moved him into his big 50 gallon tank....he grew tons in that one year!

nipping at some plants

well, he just shed again & i'm wondering how many more summers he'll do this.....i contacted an expert in turtle breeding back when we first got Socks, and his guesstimate was that he'd grow to about 5" or 6" in diameter....i think he's almost there!

i took this pic this past weekend

and then i think about the local Eastern Red Painted turtles that we see in the rivers & ponds here.....most are just a tad bigger than Socks.....but occasionally, we see one that might be closer to 8" or 9" big! i hope he doesn't get that big - even if he still has plenty of room in his big tank.....i've also heard that turtles are one of those animals that will grow to fit their environment - so the more room they have, the bigger they'll get.....well, we're not going any bigger than 50 gallons, so you better just go ahead and stop growing now Socks!

last evening, gabby put a small plastic crab up to Socks' tank & he went nuts! he tried so hard to get at that crab toy....i wasn't sure if he wanted to kill it or make friends! ~lol~ curtis always brings up us getting Socks a turtle friend, and i think it's a nice idea....but i'm not sure how well he'd do.....after not being around other turtles for 2+ years, you know?.....plus, there's the whole boy/girl/baby turtles thing....i don't know, we'll see (btw - we're pretty sure Socks is a boy - i've heard that boys have long tails & girls' tails barely show past their shell)