# Does anyone know???



## Jentortmom (May 1, 2008)

I was wondering if there was a way w/o blood to tell if a DT is a mojave or sonoran DT, or a mix w/ texas tort. I just listened to a presentation about DT's and where captive ones are coming from,and I was just curious...


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## egyptiandan (May 2, 2008)

Blood tests are the best way Jen, but you should be able to tell the hybrid Desert/Texas tortoises from true Desert or Texas tortoises.
Telling the 3 different Desert tortoise populations apart visually can be almost impossible.

Danny


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## janiedough (May 2, 2008)

can you use blood tests to tell the sex of your tort?

i know they do this in birds...


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## egyptiandan (May 2, 2008)

The short answer is yes you can.  but you can't until he's adult and by than you can visually tell what sex. 

Danny


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## Jentortmom (May 4, 2008)

Thanks Danny that is what I figured.. Of course I will have to wait a while as mine are tiny just over 2 inches. They are so cute, one is really really orange, and they other one is much darker w/ some orange. I promise I will post pics soon,


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## chelonologist (Jun 26, 2008)

egyptiandan said:


> The short answer is yes you can.  but you can't until he's adult and by than you can visually tell what sex.
> 
> Danny



I'm working on a headstarting study at Ft. Irwin, where we're radiotracking pen-raised juveniles that have been released outside of the pens. We're curious about the sex ratio of our study group, so we've drawn blood samples to determine their sex. Some of our guys are really small, and the largest ones aren't even close to adult size. But one of our research partners believes he has a test to determine sex, even at a young age. We collected the blood samples about 6 weeks ago; I'll report back if we get positive results.


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## Jentortmom (Jun 26, 2008)

chelonologist said:


> egyptiandan said:
> 
> 
> > The short answer is yes you can.  but you can't until he's adult and by than you can visually tell what sex.
> ...



That would be great!!


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## Crazy1 (Jun 26, 2008)

Now Michael that could be really good news. Please keep us posted.


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