How Do You Tell The Age Of A Turtle. The heaviest wild snapping turtle weighed in at 68 pounds. The most common answer you’ll get when asking how to tell the age of an eastern box turtle is, “count the rings on the scute.” so, scutes are the scales that grow on your box turtle’s shell.
Always handle a snapping turtle with care and visit a veterinarian for the most accurate estimate of your snapping turtle's age. Once you divide the counted rings with 2, you will roughly get an idea about how old your turtle is. Each year, a turtle’s plastron grows a new layer, resulting in the appearance of rings, much like a tree’s rings, on the creature’s shell.
