Female?

[Bass.Isles]

Hey everyone. Isla looks pretty obviously female to me, but I just wanted to know if y'all concur. Thanks!

 

[maplewood]

I agree it's looking that way but it's still a little early for me to tell! She's looking great!

 

[Tom]

Too small. They all look female at that size. You can usually tell once they are 14-15".

 

[Big Charlie]

Cute feet!

 

[Bass.Isles]

Too small. They all look female at that size. You can usually tell once they are 14-15".

Ugh, okayyy. Lol. [emoji6]

 

[teresaf]

She's older than she looks, right? I don't know that it helps to know the age but 5 year olds can be sexed but they're usually bigger of course. If they're going to be sexed as female itll be older because they can change to male at any time, whereas males can sometimes develop earlier.

 

[Bass.Isles]

She's older than she looks, right? I don't know that it helps to know the age but 5 year olds can be sexed but they're usually bigger of course. If they're going to be sexed as female itll be older because they can change to male at any time, whereas males can sometimes develop earlier.

Ummmm, she is.... almost 27 months old. [emoji5]

 

[teresaf]

Yep too young. Like Tom said around 12" you should know for sure. Unless it turns male then you may know sooner.

 

[Bass.Isles]

Yep too young. Like Tom said around 12" you should know for sure. Unless it turns male then you may know sooner.

If she should "turn male", what kind of behavior/physical traits would develop? So i can look for them. Thanks!

 

[Tom]

If she should "turn male", what kind of behavior/physical traits would develop? So i can look for them. Thanks!

The first tell tail sign is usually the tail growing larger and longer. Adult females have a tiny nub and males big honkin' 3-4" tails that run along the back of their thigh.

Anal scutes also begin to take shape. A rounded "U" shape for females and a wide open "V" shape for males. Your tortoise is literally right in the middle of these two extremes right now.

Plastron concavity is another indicator. Males will eventually have concavity, where females remain washboard flat.

In older males, they often grow elongated and enlarged gular scutes too, but this is not universal. Females always have small gulars, but some males do to.

Some males also have a proportionally larger head in comparison to females, but I've seen many exceptions to this one.

All these things are great, but often the first sign that you have a male is when your young tortoise "poops its guts out". This is how some people describe the sight of their first tortoise erection. People with a medical background sometimes mistake this for a prolapse. This can happen when males are only 8", but usually not until they are closer to 12", and not all males do this. I have adult males that I've never seen do this. I have other males that did it a lot as juveniles. In short, if you see a penis on your juvenile tortoise, you have a male. If you don't see one, you may have missed your male during this eversion, your young male might not have everted, or you might have a female.

In all cases, time will tell.

 

[Tom]

I looked for the old threads where we posted pics of adult males and females, but I can't find them. Instead, I Googled "female sulcata pics" and found my own photos!!!
Here is an obvious female. Note the size of the tail and the shape of the anal scutes:

Here is an obvious male. Look at this tail and anal scute shape in comparison:

 

[Bass.Isles]

I looked for the old threads where we posted pics of adult males and females, but I can't find them. Instead, I Googled "female sulcata pics" and found my own photos!!!
Here is an obvious female. Note the size of the tail and the shape of the anal scutes:

Here is an obvious male. Look at this tail and anal scute shape in comparison:

These are awesome! Thanks so much!

 

[teresaf]

And the concave plastron on that male....that makes it easier for them to mount the females.