question: why does it take years to figure out if a tort is a boy of girl?

[terracolson]

I am really wondering about the Leopards, but i will take a in general response..

How are they born looking? or neutral vs. one sex or the other?

Can they appear one sex but change to another?

I am just wanting to understand what i am looking at.

I dont have a male or female to compare to, so if you do that would help me....

here is what i am looking at... on my babies...

What changes will i watching for over the YEARS?

I am not looking for a SEX but a explanation of how this works..does that make sense.

Why does it take so long....

 

[egyptiandan]

The size of the tail is the biggest thing (literally) that will change. Males of course having a larger and longer tail than a female. The other thing that will change is the shape of the anal scutes (the last set of scutes on the plastron above the tail). On males the ends of the scutes will grow out and apart from each other and the sides of the scutes will be concave. On females the ends of the scutes will grow towards each other and the sides of the scutes will be convex. I know there are pictures somewhere on the site of a male and female. Might want to try a search.
I'll go out on a limb
I'm not sure about the first one, but the next 2 look like they will be males to me.

Danny

 

[terracolson]

thank you! thats just what i needed!

 

[chairman]

I imagine that you actually could determine the sex of your youngsters if you were willing to pay for either a DNA test or some variety of tissue scan (not X-ray) to look at what sex organs are inside there. *Although now that I see that Danny has provided guestimates while I was typing my original post, those tests probably won't be necessary.

 

[terracolson]

Yeah thats true.... to bad i dont have a vet in my back pocket..

 

[Stephanie Logan]

And I just have to go completely off-topic and coo over those adorable tiny back feet drawn in at various angles for the camera...is dat a coot iddle babykins so sweet?!!

 

[terracolson]

Thank you for pointing that out.. I so missed it...

 

[N2TORTS]

I am really wondering about the Leopards, but i will take a in general response..

How are they born looking? or neutral vs. one sex or the other?

Can they appear one sex but change to another?

Those are way to young to gaurentee sex . Even guessing is 50/50.
No they dont change sex.
Yes they can appear at a young age to " look" ...like a certian sex.
The best advice I have gotten on certian sex indicators... and makes perfect sense ( honest the most legitment answer i have ever herd) was from Terry .... ask him he might share~
Why is this .... you may ask? ...I guess ... sorta like puberty as far as age of determination ? you reach an age and time to "produce".