Sexing rads of 10+ inches

Rocky Mountain Man

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Hello,

I had this Rads for more than 5 years now. The tortoise is close to 6 years old and weights about 3,975 g and about 10 inches SCL. I know it is difficult to visually sex Rads but wonder if we can give it a try. Hope the following photos provide some hints. Can it be certain a female or male one way or the other?

Thanks,
Sean

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wellington

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I can only guess. Looks male too me. I can't see the length of tail to be sure if they look as long as I'm thinking they are.
Is there any concaving on the bottom shell? The first one looks like it has some.
 

Yvonne G

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The only way I could tell the difference between male and female radiata was to lay them side by side. It's obvious when you can see both male and female side by side, but not so obvious when they're alone. The male does have a pretty fat tail, though.

Yours is looking female to me.
 

Rocky Mountain Man

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I took some additional photos to help with the guessing. Mainly to show the tail. I do think in about 3 or 4 years I will know for sure or if he flashes before that. I also included a photo with another endoscopy female on the right to compare. This big Radiated disguises very well and got me really puzzled.

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Sterant

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Interested in @zovick thoughts but the plastron, tail and anal scutes look female to me.
 

zovick

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Interested in @zovick thoughts but the plastron, tail and anal scutes look female to me.

Yes, I agree. The tortoise appears to be a female at this time going by all the signs Dan mentioned.
 

kingsley

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Based on the flared (open) supracaudal scute it is leaning to look more like a female. Males tend to have more of an inword spoon like formation of this scute. I am almost certain it is a female, time will tell.
 

Star-of-India

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Looks like a female to me. I’m not as expert by a long shot as others on this forum, but I have 4 radiateds, similar age. My 3 males all have long fat tales. They’ve also all ‘flashed’ so their sex is certain. All 3 have a definite ridge towards the posterior of their plastrons in addition to the beginning of concavity. I plan to sell 2 of the males. One is 10 1/2” and the other 12”. I just haven’t figured out the logistics of listing them here.
 

Rocky Mountain Man

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Hi folks,

Reporting back almost 2 years later: it is a male. I first saw him flashed rather quickly early last week and finally caught him drinking water while flashing his male organ for about 2 minutes.
 

zovick

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Hi folks,

Reporting back almost 2 years later: it is a male. I first saw him flashed rather quickly early last week and finally caught him drinking water while flashing his male organ for about 2 minutes.
Can you post some new pictures of the plastron and tail to show the changes since 2018? It would be of interest to some of us. Also it would be good to know how large the tortoise is. And can you confirm that he is roughly 8-9 years old now?
 

Rocky Mountain Man

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Took some photos today and you can tell some growth over the past 2 years. If it were not flashing, I would still guess it could be a female but certainly one can also argue the tail looks more like a male. Thoughts?

Some statistics about this Rad, it hatched on 1/13/2013 so it is just 3 months shy of 8 years old. I got him when he was about 1.5 year old weighed about 550 gram. It now has SCL at about 13.5" and weighs 6,305 gram.
 

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zovick

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Took some photos today and you can tell some growth over the past 2 years. If it were not flashing, I would still guess it could be a female but certainly one can also argue the tail looks more like a male. Thoughts?

Some statistics about this Rad, it hatched on 1/13/2013 so it is just 3 months shy of 8 years old. I got him when he was about 1.5 year old weighed about 550 gram. It now has SCL at about 13.5" and weighs 6,305 gram.
Anal scute tips are beginning to diverge to the sides and the bodies of the anal scutes are beginning to bulge up above the plane of the femoral scutes. Both of these are male traits. The tail is starting to lengthen and thicken as well, another male trait.
 

Markw84

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I also find that the shape of the supracaudal is a telling sexual characteristic that can become evident earlier. In most all tortoise species, the supracaudal curves inward on males protecting the tail area and actually giving a surface to stand on when mating that still allows room for the tail and penis to reach for the female. Many males are standing on this supracaudal as they attempt to mate in that very upright position. With out this adaptation, the ground could block the tail from any female contact in this position. The opposite is true of a female. She needs the opening to the cloaca accessible from the rear if mating is to occur. An inward curved supracaudal on a female would make this almost impossible.

You can see the inward curve of the supracaudal in your tortoise has already begun. Most people don't seem to think of this when showing pictures to help sex a tortoise and we can't see it well.
 

mrnewberry

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Took some photos today and you can tell some growth over the past 2 years. If it were not flashing, I would still guess it could be a female but certainly one can also argue the tail looks more like a male. Thoughts?

Some statistics about this Rad, it hatched on 1/13/2013 so it is just 3 months shy of 8 years old. I got him when he was about 1.5 year old weighed about 550 gram. It now has SCL at about 13.5" and weighs 6,305 gram.

Thanks for following up.
 

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