Young Indian Star Gender - Any educated guesses?

ManAlive85

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Hi all,

I’ve got a couple of Indian Stars, the eldest of which, Joni, is around two years old and weighs around 320g. Now, I know this is generally too young to gender accurately but I bought her on the understanding that she had been incubated for female and I’m starting to see signs that Joni may in fact be a Johnny. I wanted to run it past you guys for an expert opinion.

1. I’ve noticed in the past few months that her plastron is becoming noticeably concaved. Hopefully you can see from these photos.

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2. Her tail seems to be growing longer and the supracaudal scute seems to be turning noticeably inward.

F8B9EF16-61E6-47A4-87D2-6A0A1D4FBCC2.jpeg7BB3407A-450D-4F7C-8359-DE32BC98AE21.jpeg

3. I keep the two torts separately but on the occasions when they’ve met, Joni has behaved extremely dominantly, chasing and biting the younger tortoise (also bought as a presumed female hatchling) incessantly. This, I believe, is unusual Star behaviour, especially amongst young females.

I really don’t mind either way but it’d be good to know as I would like to breed one day in the future. I’d be interested to see if more experienced keepers agree that these things signify a likelihood that Joni’s actually a dude or if it’s more probable that these are just physiological changes that can be expected from a young Star and that it’s too early to call a gender.
 

Markw84

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That tail does look like its pretty big now for a female that size. The supracaudal is also seeming to curve under and inward more. The anal scutes are flaring a bit instead of rounding the opening. The plastron is concave some but not decidedly so yet. By 320g you often can tell sex but not always. I'd agree with you and guess male at this point.
 

ManAlive85

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That tail does look like its pretty big now for a female that size. The supracaudal is also seeming to curve under and inward more. The anal scutes are flaring a bit instead of rounding the opening. The plastron is concave some but not decidedly so yet. By 320g you often can tell sex but not always. I'd agree with you and guess male at this point.

Thanks a lot Mark ?
 

PA2019

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I’ve raised a fair number of Indian stars, I feel that’s a young male for the same reasons Mark mentioned. @G-stars is an accomplished elegans breeder, let’s see if he chimes in.
 

G-stars

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The tail looks like that of a young male and will get long over time. It’s difficult to see any concavity in pictures but if it’s as noticeable as you mention it is then it’s a male.

Try to do a few warm soaks and look at it’s tail, he might be flashing you soon.
 

ManAlive85

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The tail looks like that of a young male and will get long over time. It’s difficult to see any concavity in pictures but if it’s as noticeable as you mention it is then it’s a male.

Try to do a few warm soaks and look at it’s tail, he might be flashing you soon.


Oh, I can’t wait ?! I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

Thanks a lot for your input guys, good to know I’m not just imagining things.

Cheers,

Rich
 
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