ophelia is a boy :(

[heyprettyrave]

but i need some verification please... she(he) has been mounting my little one Dehlia and chirping and today i saw something quite terrifying ha ha so i am thinking she is a man now and i dont know what to do......

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i hope this is a good enough picture to tell whether she is or not

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im actually thinking of relocating my girls(boy) i am really upset about this but they need a good home and i think i will be traveling alot with my fiance next year. so i think that may be the best decision

 

[Mgridgaway]

Something quite terrifying? Was it coming out of the tail?

 

[cdmay]

'It' may be an inter-sex specimen. They do exist.
A friend in California has an old female Greek tortoise who has laid fertile eggs but that also has a penis and actively tries to breed other known females.

But then again, fairly long tails are not that unusual with female red-foots and it is entirely possible that she was just exerting some sort of dominance/captive frustration behavior.

 

[heyprettyrave]

oh yeah there was something very large coming out of her tail

 

[cdmay]

oh yeah there was something very large coming out of her tail

Well OK then... "Something very large coming out of her tail" does indicate a male.
How large is this tortoise? Northern red-foots, depending on the population, often do not exhibit secondary sex characteristics until 9 or 10 inches. It is likely that Ophelia is simply a maturing young male.
That sure is a pretty red-foot regardless of what he is.

 

[heyprettyrave]

thank you she/he is such a wonderful tortoise, and i would say she is about 6 in right now roughly. I think i am going to look into re homing the two of them to a nice home and person.. though i am alittle unsure how to go about this

 

[Mgridgaway]

You could always try posting them in the marketplace adoptions section. I think there are a few people in New York and even more still within a few hours drive. NY is like a 3 hour drive from Maryland.

I would consider finding another means of caring for them when you travel instead of just rehoming them! From your profile it sounds like they're your pride and joy. That shouldn't stop just because one is a boy

 

[heyprettyrave]

well its mainly because i know when i get married we are going to be moving alot and i just felt like the best thing for them would be a permanent home where they can be looked after.. idc that shes a boy though it is disappointing, i love them dearly but its going to make our life even more difficult i feel

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my fiance is in the navy btw lol i forgot to say that

 

[AnthonyC]

Now that's just plain freakadelic!!!!

'It' may be an inter-sex specimen. They do exist.
A friend in California has an old female Greek tortoise who has laid fertile eggs but that also has a penis and actively tries to breed other known females.

But then again, fairly long tails are not that unusual with female red-foots and it is entirely possible that she was just exerting some sort of dominance/captive frustration behavior.

 

[cdmay]

thank you she/he is such a wonderful tortoise, and i would say she is about 6 in right now roughly. I think i am going to look into re homing the two of them to a nice home and person.. though i am alittle unsure how to go about this

"She" is only about 6 inches now? In that case I am sure that it is just a young male that is showing signs of maturity.

 

[Mgridgaway]

well its mainly because i know when i get married we are going to be moving alot and i just felt like the best thing for them would be a permanent home where they can be looked after.. idc that shes a boy though it is disappointing, i love them dearly but its going to make our life even more difficult i feel

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my fiance is in the navy btw lol i forgot to say that

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Oh yeah, that'll explain it. I grew up near Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and knew a lot of "army brats" as they were called. And now that you have a boy and girl there's a decent chance you'll have hatchlings in a few years. It can be rather daunting! But plenty of families make the transition with dogs and cats, etc. with little problem.

At any rate, I'm sure everyone on this forum will be glad to help out in whatever way they can no matter what decision you make

 

[heyprettyrave]

yeah i was wondering about that, because my other tortoise is so much smaller than the male can my little girl get hurt? shes half the size so im worried about how itll affect her and when she can actually have the eggs, bec im not sure having little baby torts is something i want to take on just yet lol

 

[cdmay]

yeah i was wondering about that, because my other tortoise is so much smaller than the male can my little girl get hurt? shes half the size so im worried about how itll affect her and when she can actually have the eggs, bec im not sure having little baby torts is something i want to take on just yet lol

It is best to keep them separate until she is large enough to breed--say 10 inches at least.

 

[heyprettyrave]

but if i cant do that? i have no way to build another enclosure for her, would she be alright

 

[cdmay]

but if i cant do that? i have no way to build another enclosure for her, would she be alright

She might be OK but then think about it...a horny young male constantly trying to breed an under aged and under sized female. That has to be stressful if not dangerous over a long period of time.
In the closed spaces of a captive environment the young female can't get away from the male, who in turn, always has her in his face.
See what I mean?

 

[Mgridgaway]

I know it's difficult but have you considered rehoming just one and keeping another? It may be a good compromise to your problem, and one tort is certainly more manageable than 2.

 

[heyprettyrave]

i ahve considered it.. im heart broken about it and i dont want to do that but if going to be dangerous for my little one i probably will have too

 

[Mgridgaway]

If you did seperate them it wouldn't be forever...maybe another year, two at the max. But you'll always have the issue of babies unless one is infertile.

It's a sad situation either way Let us all know if we can be of any help!

 

[heyprettyrave]

yeah and i am def not financially well off to be having any little torts lol.. i put up an adoption thread