Need Help to sex baby Sulcata please.

pete55

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Hello from the UK - my first post but a great forum and packed with information.

I've had an adult male Sulcata for 4 years now and had a lot of trouble getting a female. Currently I've been raising another in the hope it's a female.

She? is 8 inches length and doing well. However I'm not yet certain she's a female and would welcome other enthusiasts opinions. I've hopefully attached pictures the correct way. The vent picture was tricky as she was starting to send a gush of urine towards the camera lens!!!

Oh and Season's Greeting to All - Pete ;)

Sulcata Juv F 2.JPG Sulcata Juv F Plastron.JPG Sulcata Juv F1 Vent.JPG
 

Greg T

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I'm not sure he/she has reached maturity enough yet to tell for sure. The scute split looks more male, however the stubby tail looks more female. My male hit puberty at 5 years old and the change was amazing, so I woudl expect you to see some obvious differences in the next year. Do you see any indention to the plastron, or is it still very flat?

For my guess, I'm going with female on yours. Very nice looking tort too! :)
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Pete, and welcome to the Forum!

Your little guy is still in the pre-puberty stage, and it's hard to tell yet. All young tortoises look female until they start to reach sexual maturity. So far, the anal scutes are pointing slightly outward. That usually means male. But, like Greg said, right now the tail looks female. I think you're going to have to wait a bit to know for sure.
 

pete55

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Thanks very much for the fast replies :)

At the moment the plastron is flat. You dont get to see many definite females being available in the UK. I do have the chance of some babies from
an experieced breeder that were incubated at 90F and wondered if the chances of picking a female were good at that incubation temperature???
 

Tom

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Thanks very much for the fast replies :)

At the moment the plastron is flat. You dont get to see many definite females being available in the UK. I do have the chance of some babies from
an experieced breeder that were incubated at 90F and wondered if the chances of picking a female were good at that incubation temperature???

I agree with Greg and Yvonne. Too soon to tell, but looking female-ish.

If those eggs were truly incubated at 90, then they should all be female. The problem is that in the real world, was that thermometer really accurate, or was it 2 degrees low? Was there a cold spell that happened during that critical phase of incubation where sex is determined? It is still a gamble, but your chances are much greater the closer to 90 degrees it actually was.

BTW, that is a very nice looking tortoise. One of the nicest sulcatas I've ever seen from the UK. I read that you've had your male for 4 years, but how old is this female? How have you been raising her to get such a nice looking carapace? Her overall health and condition looks great.
 

pete55

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Thanks for the detailed and informative reply Tom and nice to 'meet you'.
My male is 12 yes now but I've only had him 4 yrs. A nice male and 24" in length. The youngster is 2011 hatched. I maintain them on a weed diet mainly with some pellets and graze. They have raised humidity in their housing and access to outdoors when weather ok. Similar to my Testudo. The main factor is the environment is warm overnight and lamps used for basking by day. I learnt that from an old friend in Florida who was very successful in breeding Galapagos and Aldabrans. At the time his biggest Galap was recorded as one of the largest in USA and over 800lbs!

I'm pretty sure the breeder of the hatchlings will have incubated at stable temperature as he's the organiser for our regional Chelonia club. I may ask to see their anal scutes for early indications of a 'U' shaped anal notch. Do you know of any other indicators to improve the odds?

Peter
 

Tom

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Thanks for the detailed and informative reply Tom and nice to 'meet you'.
My male is 12 yes now but I've only had him 4 yrs. A nice male and 24" in length. The youngster is 2011 hatched. I maintain them on a weed diet mainly with some pellets and graze. They have raised humidity in their housing and access to outdoors when weather ok. Similar to my Testudo. The main factor is the environment is warm overnight and lamps used for basking by day. I learnt that from an old friend in Florida who was very successful in breeding Galapagos and Aldabrans. At the time his biggest Galap was recorded as one of the largest in USA and over 800lbs!

I'm pretty sure the breeder of the hatchlings will have incubated at stable temperature as he's the organiser for our regional Chelonia club. I may ask to see their anal scutes for early indications of a 'U' shaped anal notch. Do you know of any other indicators to improve the odds?

Peter


Anal scute shape on babies is generally not a reliable indicator. I know of no way to tell on a hatchling other than endoscopy.
 
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Tom

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Pete, I hope you stick around and become an active member of our site. I frequently get messages from UK members looking for sulcatas and prior to you, there has not been a breeder over there that I know of that I could recommend. Every one that I have heard of is using the dry routine and their babies look awful and frequently die. It is great to know that at least one person over there seems to have gotten the new info.
 

pete55

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Planning on going to view babies that were incubated at 32.5C in hope of females.

Oh and the geese in background are Dewlap Toulouse that I breed.
 

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