Shell seems to be growing a little inwards, kind of flat

[H1-VLTG]

It may be perfectly normal but I wanted to check with you all. Our Redfoot, Ruby, looks as if her shell is growing a little flat on both her sides between her front and rear legs. I'll try to describe what I think I am seeing. Imagine how you pick up a Redfoot by grabbing her shell, using your middle finger and thumb. The part where you finger and thumb would grab the shell seem to be growing inwards, or kind of flat, as opposed to a perfect oval. I tried to upload a picture but it keeps telling me "something went wrong, contact the administrator".

 

[Yvonne G]

That probably means the pictures are too big. You need to download a picture program like Irfanview and reduce the pixels.

Male RF tortoises develop an hourglass shape.

 

[H1-VLTG]

Thanks, I reduced the file size:

 

[H1-VLTG]

My son said our RF is a "she".

 

[zovick]

My son said our RF is a "she".

As Yvonne said, male Redfoot Tortoises become "pinched in" in the middle while females do not. If you post a photo of the underside of the tortoise showing its tail size, we may be able to confirm the sex one way or the other. Also it might be helpful to know how big the tortoise is (length and weight if you know them).

 

[zovick]

My son said our RF is a "she".

Take a look at these photos. They show both sexes fairly well.

male redfoot tortoise shell shape - Google Search

 

[zovick]

@H1-VLTG Were you able to get any more photos of your tortoise? Specifically, the underside showing the tail and the anal scutes? Also, how big is that tortoise? Many species are very hard to sex visually until they get fairly close to adult size.