King Arthur girl?

King Arthur

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Hi, I'm asking for help is King Arthur a girl or boy ? Also how's the look ? Anything I should be watching ? Thank you 😊
 

Ink

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You will need to post pictures, of the plastron (underneath) and tail. If the tortoise is old enough to tell male or female.
 

King Arthur

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Pic is blurry until you hit on pic then seems to clear up. Does this pic help ?
 

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Ink

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How old is your tortoise?
 

Ink

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I could be right, wait for an expert.
 

Yvonne G

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Well, just to make it confusing, I'm going with male. In the Tesudos the male cloaca is a slit and the female cloaca is an asterisk. This tortoise's cloaca is a slit.
 

MarginatedMooney

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It seems like it's always hard to tell gender with Marginateds until they're bigger. Based off of what I've seen and read, it isn't until they're 7 or 8" long that you can definitely tell.

Based on the slit-shaped cloaca, I'm leaning toward a male but I could be wrong. Also, the anal scutes seem to have a relatively wide opening at the end, which is characteristic of a male; A female's would have a tighter v shape. If you said that the tortoise had a concave plastron, I would 100% say it's a male. Male plastrons curve inward while females are flat, but I don't think males develop that concave plastron right away. So we may have to wait and see if that develops along with a bigger tail to say for sure.
 

King Arthur

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That's interesting. I was thinking of posting a side view.. he does have a concave belly.. slightly but not flat. Ok.. we wait then.. Thank you !
 

Sarah2020

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Hmmm, what can I do.. wait till gets older, or something else ? Thank you for input
At 6 I am surprised not more apparent M v F. For habits do not get a friend they like solo life,.read the care sheet for general welfare and that provides info M and F. Just provide the correct set up, heat, light, water , calcium, diet they both need the same. I actually think it's a Female but Yvonne has a valid point re slit so could be male time will tell. Search past threads on this topic as there have been great pictures shared which you can match up.
 

MarginatedMooney

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I was looking at pictures of marginated tortoises and now I'm thinking King Arthur is a female. It looks like female maginateds also have slit shaped cloacas, so that rule may not apply to them. So you have to go by tail size, whether the plastron is concave or flat, and males have a more pronounced flare at the back of the shell. Also, females have a hinge at the bottom of the plastron that helps during egg laying. I think I might see that on King Arthur?
 
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