Male or female Redfoot?

christinaland128

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My nearly 3 yr old Columbian Redfoot is tricking me! Though I'm not surprised.

I thought at first she was a female. Now I'm not sure! My male is mounting her, and "she's" not laid any eggs because she's still young I assume.

I've read that Colombians tend to mature later than cherry heads? My cherry head is mounting my Colombian. So I'm not sure whether to separate them, or add a second female.

Obviously I don't want to add a second female if my Columbian is indeed a male. Anyhow, she's 7" in length.

@allegraf in your thread you mentioned that females can in fact have a concave plastron. Is this just cherry heads?

I guess it's a waiting game! ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1462805261.532635.jpg
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1462805308.136665.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1462805319.623972.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1462805332.757529.jpg
 

Anyfoot

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My nearly 3 yr old Columbian Redfoot is tricking me! Though I'm not surprised.

I thought at first she was a female. Now I'm not sure! My male is mounting her, and "she's" not laid any eggs because she's still young I assume.

I've read that Colombians tend to mature later than cherry heads? My cherry head is mounting my Colombian. So I'm not sure whether to separate them, or add a second female.

Obviously I don't want to add a second female if my Columbian is indeed a male. Anyhow, she's 7" in length.

@allegraf in your thread you mentioned that females can in fact have a concave plastron. Is this just cherry heads?

I guess it's a waiting game! View attachment 172894
View attachment 172895View attachment 172896View attachment 172897
I have a northern female with a concave plastron, quite a big tail to, she holds it to one side as she walks, this photo doesn't give the huge tail any justice. Note her anal scutes are rounded in shape for egg laying. I would guess yours is an immature male, the anal scutes look as if they are opening wider like males, tail looks to be getting big too. I could be wrong. Here is the proven female. IMG_20150816_145656.jpg IMG_20150816_145637.jpg
 

Anyfoot

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Forgot to add, my male cherryhead at 7" had a flat plastron, he's coming up to 8" now and the concave plastron is really kicking in.
 

christinaland128

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Thank you guys! So my next question: my Columbian is occasionally getting mounted and gets irritated. He still eats well and doesn't really hide from the Brazilian. Are they ok together?

In your experience should I consider separating them or adding another? Or will the mounting subside a little once he exits puberty? He's on the other tort a few times a week.

Do they NEED a female or can my two boys live happily together?

@Anyfoot @allegraf @ZEROPILOT
 

Anyfoot

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I have 10 adults. 2:5 northerns and 1:2 Brazilians. At the moment they are all living as a group of 3:7. I collected most of these as rescues from various different sources. What I didn't realize in the early days when I started to collect these was that there are so many different localities of redfoot.(even within northerns) Since I've gotten deeper into this hobby things have become clearer to me. If I could start over I would only get northerns or Brazilians. Probably northerns actually. I will be separating these into 2 groups eventually, should be next year.
So if I was you I would seperate them now purely because of the different localities, (columbian and Brazilian). Then if you can or want to build on each group, be very particular in what new torts you buy. Try and stick to the same localities. I would suggest 2 females to 1 male at least.
I think(almost certain) that 2 of my female northerns are actually mutted up with Brazilians. My group is a mess, I advise you try and avoid this, you may regret it at a later date.
This is assuming you want to incubate eggs later down the line and want to keep the localities pure.

Just something for you to think about.

Now, can we see some more photos please :D
 

christinaland128

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Yeah when I first ordered them, I simply ordered 2 Redfoots. I didn't expect to get two different localities.
 
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