Help with sexing

Nicholas-Owen

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Hello, I’ve had my tortoises about 8 years now unsure of their sex when I purchased them they thought they were Male and female now I know I have a female in the two I have as one of them laid a egg last week, however this wasnt buried in the enclosure this was just sat on the top of the substrate and unfortunately it was smashed I have since then changed their bedding to something more compatible for her to dig as I wasn’t expecting this to happen I need help with sexing the tortoises and if you have any advice on what else I can do it would be great.
 

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Nicholas-Owen

New Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2019
Messages
6
Location (City and/or State)
Northumberland
4FEC41EB-3046-41B4-9F7D-7143445C8862.jpeg 7A6E47B1-BE3A-44E4-AE02-AD667C7E958E.jpeg DC85C377-BE09-4FC4-B90F-B53F353A2491.jpeg Hello, I’ve had my tortoises about 8 years now unsure of their sex when I purchased them they thought they were Male and female now I know I have a female in the two I have as one of them laid a egg last week, however this wasnt buried in the enclosure this was just sat on the top of the substrate and unfortunately it was smashed I have since then changed their bedding to something more compatible for her to dig as I wasn’t expecting this to happen I need help with sexing the tortoises and if you have any advice on what else I can do it would be great.

These are both Hermanns and one is larger than the other if this helps
 

Nicholas-Owen

New Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2019
Messages
6
Location (City and/or State)
Northumberland
7D8B47D7-1ABB-470B-A42B-D5371D4413F1.jpeg 140525B1-D0B6-460B-B9C7-0C4BDDC69607.jpeg AB73E7E4-BAD5-48DD-BE1F-1854854C510E.jpeg Hello, I’ve had my tortoises about 8 years now unsure of their sex when I purchased them they thought they were Male and female now I know I have a female in the two I have as one of them laid a egg last week, however this wasnt buried in the enclosure this was just sat on the top of the substrate and unfortunately it was smashed I have since then changed their bedding to something more compatible for her to dig as I wasn’t expecting this to happen I need help with sexing the tortoises and if you have any advice on what else I can do it would be great.

These are both Hermanns and one is larger than the other if this helps
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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I can't tell the sexes from your pics. Too much dirt and I can't make out the tails. The top one looks a bit male-ish and the bottom one looks kind of female-ish. The side lighting is making it look like both have some plastron concavity, but its hard to tell in a 2D pic. Rinse off the dirt and try to get a pic that shows their tails.

Females that are new to laying eggs will often drop a couple on the surface. Sometimes they are not shelled or only partially shelled. I refer to this as "priming the pump". Later this season, or maybe next season, she is likely to dig a proper nest and lay the eggs in it.

In any case, they should never live as a pair. They should be living separately. You can introduce them periodically for breeding, but not for more than a day or two, and you'll need to watch to make sure the male isn't harassing the female too much, or vice versa in some cases.

The soil you've put them on looks like it has some vermiculite in it. I would use that for them to live on.
 

Bee62

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I only see females ( tails ). Females can lay eggs without a male.
But what I see on your first pictures is a badly overgrown beak of one tortoise.
 

dmmj

The member formerly known as captain awesome
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I am not an expert but I was thinking female the entire time I was looking at the pics. @HermanniChris
 

Nicholas-Owen

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Jul 7, 2019
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Location (City and/or State)
Northumberland
Thank you everyone do yous have any suggestions about the over grown beak obviously this will be a learning curve or do yous suggest like cuttle fish bones to grind them down or something more specific
 
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