New CherryHead Tortoise

[Mrallniter7]

I am new to the forum and was wondering if I could get some help. Need to know the sex of it and about how old it is. I tired getting info from seller, but he does keep track of this info. Don't get me wrong the CherryHead is beautiful and we love it.

It's a little less then 3" long and here are pic.

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[N2TORTS]

Welcome to the forum..... Congrads on your lil' guy/gal Cherry
at this age your tort is way to young to visually sex....

JD~

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[Madkins007]

Sex- way too young to tell. We usually don't know that until they are 3-6 years old or so.

Age- probably between 6-12 months, roughly. Tortoises mature more by size than age, so it is often difficult to tell.

 

[Mrallniter7]

First I would like to say Thank you to everyone for your replies.

I understand that the tortoise is too young to sex, How should I handle about finding a mate for it, so they can grow together or should I just wait?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hello there, Mrallniter7..

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

What would you like us to call you?

Also, when we know appx. where in the world you are, it helps us answer your questions.

Take a good look at the seams on the bottom of the shell (plastron) around the tail area, then look for another tortoise the same size and who's seams look different. On the redfoot tortoise, the seam between the anal/femoral scutes is straight for male and indented at the edge for female. So if you were to find another tortoise that looks different from yours, chances are pretty good you would have the opposite sex. But because babies' shells changes as they mature, its still a crap-shoot.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[Madkins007]

First I would like to say Thank you to everyone for your replies.

I understand that the tortoise is too young to sex, How should I handle about finding a mate for it, so they can grow together or should I just wait?

Most of us don't worry about the sexes of the young ones. Red-footed tortoises are a little unusual- most species do not appreciate cage mates or at best are just tolerant of them. Red-footeds and a few other species actually do a little better with a cage mate- although they are OK on their own.

In red-footeds, the gender of the cage mate does not really matter most of the time- male and female rarely fight, and if they do it is usually because they are stressed (small habitat, not enough hides, etc.). If you DO plan on breeding them, then a.) be patient cuz it is years down the road, and b.) the most success comes from groups that have a couple males and more females

 

[Mrallniter7]

Hello,

Sorry didn't notice that my name was not coming up on the forum my Name is "Alex" and our CherryHead name is "Valentine" My son named it: "Valentine" since they (wife & son) gave it to me for Valentine's Day....

Thanks again for all your replies....

 

[cdmay]

Like everybody else said...welcome.
That looks like a cherryhead (or Chaco) plastron. Even though that animal is way too small to sex, I will offer an opinion anyway. I say that eventually this little one will turn out to be a male.
I cannot explain or prove this in any way, nor do I have any experience in these matters. But if I had to guess, I would say male.
Please do not hold me to this though. OK?

 

[Madkins007]

Ha. No experience?