*Pics* New Leopard B-mo

[karlyholmes]

Well I have him! And definitely a male. It's pretty obvious the previous owners had no idea that torts need humidity because his pyramiding looks bad to me. His enclosure is too open and the only substrate is bark. We have some work to do!!

 

[katrvt]

He is cute, but much too small for gender to be evident yet. Congrats on your new addition!

 

[wellington]

He is very cute. Pyramiding not the worst i'v seen. Unless he has flashed you, he is too little to sex for sure. Get him set up right and he sure start to grow smoother. Congrats.

 

[bouaboua]

Very cute and not too bad like everyone saying. Good. He? is with you now.

 

[karlyholmes]

Yes! He is with us now, and we are working on getting a better more humid and moist environment for him. I soaked him this morning while I set up the enclosure and got the dry icky bark out. He says, "leave me alone! they call this thing a 'hide' for a reason lady!" lol

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Congrats

May I ask how you determined it's a male? I notice the split scute and I'm always hopeful that a split indicates female. I know it's not a guarantee....but I'm always curious about gender when I see one.

 

[karlyholmes]

He has a very V-shaped outward turning scute where the tail is. The tail is very long and fat. And his plastron is very concave.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Karly:

Take the palm of your hand and pat down your substrate to pack it down better. It will be easier for those little feet to walk on.

If your tortoise has a concave plastron, there may be something wrong. Can we see a picture of the plastron? He's too young to have that male feature show up yet.

He's an awfully pretty little tortoise. And I love your avatar picture!

 

[karlyholmes]

 

[karlyholmes]

It looks like it dips in just slightly in the center there. And thanks, that's my middle child Koa when he was 9mths old

 

[karlyholmes]

Also, the temp under the lamp is now staying at 97-98

 

[Yvonne G]

No, that's just where the umbilical was. Not a concave plastron. That will straighten up as he grows. He's really too young/small yet to sex.

 

[karlyholmes]

Really? hmm interesting! Well how big or old are they when they are sexed?

 

[Yvonne G]

Leopards are about 4 or 5 years old...maybe 6 or 7 inches from front to back.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Agree that what you see is the umbilical scar

You have an unsexed baby. I've found both size and age to help in IDing the sex. I have a 2 year old male that is almost 9" long. He has yet to show enough physical characteristics to be 100% that he's male...but his tail has enough length to rule out female. Another member posted photos of his 9" 6yr old and it has all the physical characteristics of a male. Massive tail, concave plastron, "handle bar mustache" anal scutes. So even though ours are the same size, the 4 year age gap makes a noticeable difference...

I'd say once yours is 6-8" you can get a better guess, or once it's 3+ years.