5 year old leopard sex

[jeffbens0n]

I have been sure that this was a male for the last several years, but being that he is now almost 12 inches SCL and 5 years old this spring, I am now questioning that. The anal scutes definitely look male, but the tail really looks female. No concavity to the plastron in case you can't see from the pictures.

So lets hear some opinions on this:

 

[Neal]

You know my opinion.

Odd things on this tortoise. Now that I can see it close up...the supracaudal scute is starting to curve like you would see on a male. The anal scutes are all wrong for a female. But the tail...there's no way that's a male's tail...so I am sticking with female.

 

[JoesMum]

Until they get to this age nothing is certain and even then mistakes get made

I say female too.

 

[tortadise]

female. a good looking one too.

 

[wellington]

I am not good at these things at all. But I guess "hermaphrodite" . Sorry, I just had to

 

[tortadise]

I am not good at these things at all. But I guess "hermaphrodite" . Sorry, I just had to

taking the easy way out eh? thats funny. After so many years of seeing hundreds of torts come through my facilities it gets easier over time. However it can get very pondering at times. Sometimes with even huge sulcatas.

 

[JeffG]

I am FAR from competent at sexing tortoises, but from comparing it to my leopards, I would agree with the others. The anal scutes look very male, while the tail looks very female.

In my very limited experience though, a very obvious looking tail is generally a more accurate indicator of gender than very obvious looking anal scutes. Because of that I think it is more likely that this is a female.

 

[Neal]

....holy crapasaurus rex Jeff! What are you feeding this girl? 12 inches at five years old!

My vote is that she is going to be over 20 inches full grown. Maybe she's got some Ethiopian in her.

 

[Katherine]

Geez tough one! Maybe he is a late bloomer and will wake up with a tail in a few months? I would have said male 100% and then I clicked on the picture and zoomed in to see that wimpy tail. No idea anymore. It seems like opening below the anal scutes would have a hard time passing an egg, my females have almost a diamond shaped space between anal scutes and rear carapace, but I really got no idea on this one!! I will **guess** male, despite the shortcomings in the tail area...

 

[jeffbens0n]

OK since there seems to be a few varying opinions on this one, here are a few pics over the last couple years, lets see if this helps anyone:

August 2010, 3 years old, 6 inches SCL:

October 2011, 4 years old, 8 inches SCL:

April 2012, About 5 years old, just under 12 inches SCL:

 

[yagyujubei]

I'm going to have to say female as well. The tail really looks female, though I do see some concavity in the plastron. I have seen "male" anal scutes on females before, usually associated with MBD, or very pyramided ones. I think, though, that a male of his size should be sexuzlly mature by now, and it should be quite obvious. You might have to put her with a known male to be sure.

 

[tortoiselover+breeder1234]

I'm not experienced, but I would probably say female.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm afraid I'm going to be the one that puts a monkey wrench into the mix. I'm going with male and sticking with it. The tail isn't very big, however the cloaca is pretty far away from the body. And, of course, there's the anal scutes thingey...plus the tortoise looks a little on the elongated side. It has been my experience that SOME male babcocks are more long than round and the females are more round.

 

[Neal]

If you don't mind Jeff, I'll post some of the pictures I sent you so everyone can compare.

Female
(Compare this with the 6th picture in post 10)

For me, the tail is always the best indicator, and that's usually the first thing that happens during dimorphism (in my experience).

Male
This is a relatively small male, approximately 7 inches.

There are males with flat plastrons and females with slightly concave plastrons in all types of tortoises and turtles, and all sorts of variations of anal scutes. At 12 inches (which is a bit rare for a male babcocki), your tortoise is going to have to go through some serious dimorphism if it is a male.