Sulcata sex?

tortlvr

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I have a 5+ year old sulcata. It's 19 pounds and 14 inches long. The carapace is flat and the tail seems short to ne. This one displays all the male activities very aggressively. Trys to mate the smaller 2. Gets right in the face of mr 90lb. female. I have a smaller sully half the size thar is for sure male with a longer tail, slight concave plastron and flashing bits. Could this one be trans?
 

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Yvonne G

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You'll just have to wait and see, but my GUESS is, in the words of Marlene Dietrich, ... she vants to be alone!
 

Tom

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I have a 5+ year old sulcata. It's 19 pounds and 14 inches long. The carapace is flat and the tail seems short to ne. This one displays all the male activities very aggressively. Trys to mate the smaller 2. Gets right in the face of mr 90lb. female. I have a smaller sully half the size thar is for sure male with a longer tail, slight concave plastron and flashing bits. Could this one be trans?
14 inches is right on the cusp of being able to reliably sex them. Many are hard to tell until they reach 16-17 inches.

The anal scutes on this one look like they are beginning to go male. The tail is short now but that could change over the next couple of years. Plastron concavity forms as they get larger. They all look female as juveniles.

Its rare, but there are occasional females that are super aggressive and territorial. I had one and only one, and haven't seen any others, but it does happen occasionally. My female got right in the face of a dominant 80 pound male when she was about 8 inches long. He lunged at her and left a furrow in the ground from pushing her backwards about five feet, and then he walked around behind her and mounted her. She never challenged him again and left all the other adults alone after that. It was fascinating to watch because this male was never aggressive except to his brother adult male before I separated them. He never bullied his females. The little one was in with the adults because she wouldn't stop trying to attack all the other juveniles I put her with. If I recall, it was Yvonne that suggested I try her in the adult pen. She tried to engaged the other females, but they simply walked away from her nonsense. They were 65 pounds and she was 3 or 4. She was a monster. She matured nicely and went on to lay many many eggs. She laid huge clutches. Her largest clutch numbered 44. Her usual clutches were 36ish. She really wasn't aggressive anymore after the big male put her in her place. The male recognized the signs of tortoise aggression and dominance even form such a tiny foe, and reacted accordingly.
 
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