Im sorry they wont be stunted by cramped conditions either, simply miserable.
A lack of growth, especially in such conditions, is far more likely to be the result of poor/incorrect/insufficient diet & poor husbandry, and any deformity the result of MBD calcium deficiency, lack of uv etc.
I understand what your saying, however, more often than not growth continues regardless. The result of that is that the overall health suffers, the immune system is compromised and secondry issues set in, such as shellrot, infected wounds, nails falling out, swollen eyes and so on.
You were simply misinformed Betty.
Just on the issue of 'stunted' chelonians, many that are considered so, are infact not.
The reason behind this is that captive turtles are just as often as not, overfed.
I once had a woman tell me proudly, her two yo turtle was already 30cm in diameter.
It turned out she fed it three times a day, year round and kept it at its maximum temp.
Inspection of the turtle showed its shell was badly domed (MBD) and when out of the stagnant water she kept it in (with no land area) it was unable to move on land.
Xrays would certainly have shown a weak under developed skeltal structure.
Turtles in such conditions grow faster than the bones and shell, and due to the accelerated growth they lack calcuim from the diet sufficient to match. These turtles a very unhealthy, and wellmeaning but incorrect advice from petstores and the like, are the major contributers.
This particular species would not reach that size for around 15 yrs in the wild.
This is not often considered when people look at a small turtle and assume its stunted.
