Determining age

[way2gfy]

I have no idea the age of my DT (due to how we found each other) and was wondering if anyone can give me an age range??

Pretty sure it is a boy due to curve in bottom shell by the tail and the horn by his head... but does that still apply if they are really young?

His shell measures out to be 4 inches.

Anyone have any idea how old my Squirt is??
(pictures posted in some of my other posts, most recent one was yesterday about 'hibernate or not')

Thanks.

 

[Yvonne G]

Squirt is too small to be able to sex him yet. He will have to grow a few more inches (straight line front to back) before you can tell. When small, desert tortoises all look female. When they get to be about 8 or 9" long you can start to see the characteristics in the males. Its usually the tail you spot first. The male's tail is fatter and longer than the female's, but unless you have one of each for comparison, its difficult. I took some pictures of male/female a few weeks ago. Here's the link:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-7319.html

Yvonne

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(I would guess him to be 5 or 6 years old.)

 

[CGKeith]

I replied to this in your other post. Sorry, I read this one and then went to the other one to see the pictures.

 

[Madortoise]

My Penelope is about 6" and has a few more years to go to verify the gender. Hang in there.

 

[Madortoise]

oops, sorry. You were asking about the age. I wonder if the growth is somewhat stunted for those torts that were neglected. I'd go by the size and developmental milestones.