Anybody want to guess my sulcata's sex?

[TKCARDANDCOIN]

aktech23, regardless tortimer is a beautiful little tort.

oh and by the way yvonne in your first post you stated "male tail" and never made reference to "cloaca"placement at all.And in dannys post he made reference to "TAIL" and how they are hard to sex until after 12 inches because of tail size, not cloaca!

There are more ways to sex a tortoise other than looking at tail size!!

 

[aktech23]

UDATED!

I tried to edit the first post, but could not due to the length of time that had passed.

I thought it would be neat to add to this thread to see the changes over the last year. Hopefully people read the entire thread before they make a guess.

Tortimer is now 13" SCL and I still do not know it's sex. Last year seemed to be a split with the experienced guessers thinking male, but other posters guessing female.

If he is male he has yet to reveal his "stuff"

[/b]

 

[Tom]

This is one of those in-between ones. Mixed signals.

Big head in relation to body=male.
Small gular scutes=female.
Smallish tail=female.
Cloacal opening at the end of the tail=male.
Anal scutes looked male to me last year, kind of female"ish" transition this year.

What we can't see in the pic is concavity. Is there any concavity to the plastron, at all? Yes=male, no=female.

There might be behavioral cues here as well. If you've had a bunch of sulcatas of both sexes, you'll know that there tend to be male and female personalities. Having said that, I have a male who I was sure was a female for the first nine years or so. He acted like a female, looked like a female... until the day he started acting like a male and breeding the female. Now, several years later, he's obviously a male, although he still has a girly head on him.

I'll wait to guess until you tell me about the plastron concavity.

 

[aktech23]

I'll try to get a picture of the plastron, but it is flat. I don't know if it'll be out when I get home from work, but grazing time is getting later with the lengthening of the days. It may be the weekend before I get a photo opportunity.

one day i'll know! it will be interesting to see how things change as it ages. I don't know how old the tort is, I've had it since 06/2008 it was wandering the streets of my neighborhood.

 

[Tom]

I went back and studied the photos again. The plastron APPEARS to be starting to suck in, just a little, toward the bottom third. This is what Bert/Bertha did with me. Totally flat for nine years, then BAM! concave. It seemed like over night.

I'm guessing male.

It would be great if we could keep getting updates and new photos every few months. Great learning experience for all of us. Thanks for posting.

 

[aktech23]

Thanks!

My plan is to keep updating this thread as he grows. 9 1/2 to 13 doesn't sound like much, but when I look at the shots on the first page I think "dang, he's getting big!"

 

[Vegas_Leopard]

I'm almost 100% positive it's a female.

 

[egyptiandan]

Tortoise sexing is never easy

I said male first time now I'm going with female The tail has not gotten any longer, the ends of the anal scutes have not grown apart. All these point to female.

Sorry for doubting you Yvonne

Danny

 

[TortieGal]

I'm not an expert but I think it’s a Girl. It will be fun to see who's right!

 

[Nobody]

If you take those odds based on that picture you will be changing the name of your tortoise down the road.I think danny is wrong, in fact I would take a bet.The tail of a tortoise does not always tell the sex and what are you looking at, you can't even see the tail in the picture?If i were you aktech23 i would give it a girls name.

What I was going by was the cloaca placement, not the tail itself. In a female the cloaca is closer to the body. Tortimer's cloaca is further away from the body towards the tip of the tail. In other words...male!!

Yvonne

Forgive the ignorance but what is a cloaca?Or what does it mean?
Thanks.

 

[Annieski]

If you take those odds based on that picture you will be changing the name of your tortoise down the road.I think danny is wrong, in fact I would take a bet.The tail of a tortoise does not always tell the sex and what are you looking at, you can't even see the tail in the picture?If i were you aktech23 i would give it a girls name.

What I was going by was the cloaca placement, not the tail itself. In a female the cloaca is closer to the body. Tortimer's cloaca is further away from the body towards the tip of the tail. In other words...male!!

Yvonne

Forgive the ignorance but what is a cloaca?Or what does it mean?
Thanks.

The cloaca is a multi-purpose opening to allow for release of 1. urine 2. poop 3. eggs/penis The internal organs are channeled in like a three-way valve.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Well, I just tuned in to this thread, and I think Annieski should get a gold star for her brief but graphic definition of "cloaca".

 

[Annieski]

Thank You Stephanie. My kids tell me I'm TOO wordy----but in their case, they just don't get it the first time.