# What age can you sex a tortoise? and how?



## Totally_Tortoise (Feb 21, 2018)

HI, I have 2 baby sulcatas that are each about 7 months old. I know how to sex them from what ive read, but what age do they have to be?


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## Grandpa Turtle 144 (Feb 21, 2018)

Hi 


It takes about 3-5 years to sex torts .


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## nextut (Feb 22, 2018)

7 months is to young! Tortoises lived up to more than 50 years. They certainly do not age in dog years! So start them at around 4 years old...


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## Markw84 (Feb 22, 2018)

Totally_Tortoise said:


> HI, I have 2 baby sulcatas that are each about 7 months old. I know how to sex them from what ive read, but what age do they have to be?


Well, with tortoises, size DOES matter! It seems size is a bigger factor in reaching sexual maturity than age is. For me, in raising sulcatas, I find you will often find that males will show they are males as early as their second year. The will "flash" - extending their penis while in a bath or sometimes just because they can and want to! So then you KNOW you have a male. The secondary characteristics you say you are familiar with already - flared and thickening anal scutes, extending gular, concave plastron - normally start showing around 14". If they are slow growiing, that is where age also comes into play and you could see these characteristics start in a 5-6 yr old that is only 12". I have been surprised many times how one that looks very female will suddenly change at 15" even and turn out to be male. So for me I use a 16", and 16 lb rule. If they reach that size and still look female, I am confident they are female.


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## Totally_Tortoise (Feb 22, 2018)

Markw84 said:


> Well, with tortoises, size DOES matter! It seems size is a bigger factor in reaching sexual maturity than age is. For me, in raising sulcatas, I find you will often find that males will show they are males as early as their second year. The will "flash" - extending their penis while in a bath or sometimes just because they can and want to! So then you KNOW you have a male. The secondary characteristics you say you are familiar with already - flared and thickening anal scutes, extending gular, concave plastron - normally start showing around 14". If they are slow growiing, that is where age also comes into play and you could see these characteristics start in a 5-6 yr old that is only 12". I have been surprised many times how one that looks very female will suddenly change at 15" even and turn out to be male. So for me I use a 16", and 16 lb rule. If they reach that size and still look female, I am confident they are female.


Thanks! I don't want to name them until I know their genders.


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## Tom (Feb 22, 2018)

And if no one has mentioned it yet, they should be housed separately. They don't do well in pairs.


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## Big Charlie (Feb 22, 2018)

Totally_Tortoise said:


> Thanks! I don't want to name them until I know their genders.


That's a long time to go without naming them! You could pick genderless names. A few people on the forum have tortoises with the wrong gender-specific name. I used to have a male rabbit named Pansy.


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## creepy-crawler (Feb 22, 2018)

give it a name, you can always change it or add a new one and make a long fancy with the old name as a new last name, do their anal scutes look the same or different, just a tiny curve would indicate a difference in gender, post some pics side by side


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## Totally_Tortoise (Feb 22, 2018)

Theres the pics, their cloacas are dirty I bathe them 2 to 3 times a week is that a problem?


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## Totally_Tortoise (Feb 22, 2018)

Just read that there booties gotta be cleaned, so i'm gonna do that.


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