Sizes of Species
Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:08 pm
What age are each species (averagely) when they get to their full size?
I think it is generally accepted that most won't grow appreciably past 3 years, however may make some small incremental increases, or changes to secondary sexual characteristics, colour changes etc. Averages for species are difficult, like people they are quite variable. In generally Southern Aus species follow a pattern of males being smaller than females, although there are examples of very large males, of just about every species and variant.
The point about growth potential, how long it takes etc, is how and when the animals are grown to their genetic potential - wild animals, or those from Wild Caught backgrounds often won't grow as big as captive born animals and often a result of their nutritional status when young.
Females of Alpine Blotched for example are often 2* the weight of males, despite only being 10cm or so longer. The genetic potential has a lot of variables.