# gender?



## armandoarturo (Jun 19, 2011)

This is a friendÂ´s tortoise...
Im guessing its... female...
im not 100%...
what do you all think?


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## dmmj (Jun 19, 2011)

a concave plastron usually indicates male, that is the way I would sex it myself.


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## armandoarturo (Jun 20, 2011)

Yes, thats what I thought when I first saw it...
but now im kind of confused.... because the plastorn is not too concave, like my other males...
also... gular horn is not that big... 
what keeps me wondering is that two of my females reacted weird infront of this tortoise, they both started to bump, bite, and push this guy/girl....
And they usually dont do this with my other males...


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## dmmj (Jun 20, 2011)

males will sometimes have their gular missing or smaller from accidents or mating rituals, and females can show signs of aggression to other tortoises and males. Sadly it is not black and white with tortoises. 
Right now I will stick with my original sexing of male.


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jun 20, 2011)

I'm thinking this tortoise is female because its tail is short, its anal scutes form a V, and the plastron, while not actually flat, is not concave, either. As mentioned above, the gular spur is also comparatively small, so I think this is a female.

BTW - This looks like a _Gopherus_ species. Is it a California desert tortoise or a Texas tortoise? Or since it's in Mexico, is it a Bolson tortoise?


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## armandoarturo (Jun 20, 2011)

Im in northern mexico...
all my tortoises are CDTs...
what really makes me wonder is that this little guy its really agressive with all my tortoises..
females and males.
it bumps everyone... this is the first time i get to see this 
my females dont act like that at all, and my males do fight sometimes but not like this...


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## Yvonne G (Jun 20, 2011)

Hi Armondo:

Desert tortoises are sort of hard to sex when the male doesn't carry the male traits, such as indented plastron, large gular. But my guess is that this is a female with aggression issues.

The tortoise looks to be fairly young, with all the lines on the carapace. Usually by the size she is, those growth lines have worn a lot smoother than that. It might just be that it is male and hasn't developed the traits yet, but the tail really looks female.


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## armandoarturo (Jun 20, 2011)

Yes, im guessing its females aswell...
but im really confused...
it keeps bumping and flipping everyone!! males and females
my females push back and after a little while they run really fast away from this tortoise
I dont think that it could be a male that hasnt developed the traits yet because its big enough now...
all my males that are that size or smaller, do have a really concave plastorn.
Also, my males dont usually flip my females over their back..
they just bite them, and round them bobbing the head.
This tortoise just runs and crashes with my tortoises and keeps doing it.
I had to separate it...


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