Carl is actually a Carla?

[CourtneyAndCarl]

So I was looking around on the website of the breeder that I got Carl from (Arizona Tortoise Compound) and apparently they incubated this year's Hermann's hatchlings to be female. I don't remember their site saying this when I ordered Carl a month ago, but it definitely says it now.

However, after looking it up on the internet, there is apparently no scientific data that indicates Hermann's can be sexually determined through incubation temperatures. So is that just a widely held belief among breeders that they can? Has it been recently proven, or what? Not that I really care, since I got Carl as a companion and not for any sort of breeding.... but... I really have my heart set on calling him/her Carl now

And just because, I attached the most adorable Carl picture yet that I took this morning after breakfast :shy:

 

[dmmj]

Higher temps percentage wise breeds more females, but it is not an exact science by any means, a 1 or 2 degree difference can sometimes throw off the whole ratio.

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

So there is still no guarantee that Carl is a Carla? PHEW

 

[l0velesly]

Such a cute close-up!

 

[wellington]

There is never a guarantee, unless the tort flashes you or it had been surgically or scoped sexed. Here is hoping you ha e your Carl

 

[mattgrizzlybear]

that's confusing

 

[Moozillion]

SUCH a cutie!

 

[drgnfly2265]

Either way, that is a very cute pic of your tort

 

[TortieLuver]

Cute tort for sure however Tdsd temperature dependent sex determination isn't 100%.

 

[Saloli]

You want to know a weird fact? Some species the higher the temperature of incubation the resulting offspring will be almost all one gender or the other ( depending on if it is a high temp male or female species). Though there are other species where the mid range temps are usually one gender and the high and low temps the other. I'm not sure if the mode of tdsd has been determined for hermann's yet.

 

[GBtortoises]

There is and has been scientific proof on this subject for decades. TSD (Temperature Sex Determination) has been positively proven years ago to be effective in influencing the gender outcome of many species of tortoises and turtles including Hermann's subspecies, as well as Marginateds, Ibera, Russians and other Testudo species. It's nothing new, myself and others have been using temperatures to produce the desired gender for over 30 years. TSD is also effective with many temperate climate turtle species too including North American Wood turtles, Spotteds, Painteds, Box turtles, European Pond turtles and others.
There has always been some debate as far as what the exact temperature threshold is that produces males or females. Local conditions (incubation methods, humidity, etc...) may be a factor. In my own experience I've found that somewhere in the neighborhood of 85.5 degrees and below produces mostly male offspring, 87.5-90 degrees produces mostly female offspring. Around 86-87 degrees produces a closer to even gender ratio. I incubate all of my eggs to produce predominately female offspring. Based on feedback, holdbacks and other information that I've tried to maintain over the years using TSD I have been producing an approximate ratio of 5:1 (female:male) offspring. No one produces all female or all male offspring. Even at specific incubation temperatures for a certain gender a small percentage of the other gender are produced.