eastern painted turtles

Question
I purchased three eastern painted turtles as babies in September 2008. They were all the size of a quarter when I got them. One is now almost three inches (shell size) the next is about two and one fourth and the third has not grown at all,even though he eats. ANY ideas??

Answer
Although I don't do water turtle questions, the problem is almost certainly that they are overcrowded and the big one is keeping the others from the good food, good basking places, etc.

The rule of thumb for turtles is about 10 gallons of water space for every inch of turtle length, partly to avoid this very sort of problem. (Some keepers do 10 gal/inch for the first turtle's size, 5 gal/inch for the 2nd turtle, and a couple gal./inch for each additional turtle)

With about 6-7" of turtle, you should be keeping them in at least 50 gallons of water, or a 100 gallon tank 1/2 filled.

Try http://www.turtleforum.com for more help, or http://www.austisturtlepage.com for care ideas.