Boy or Girl Sonoran Desert Tort?

[Dovey]

Apologies for crap photos! I foolishly took these pictures while cleaning koi filters and with sun glare on the screen. This wee one is about 6 inches long.

 

[Tom]

Still too young to tell. Tail is small, but it might grow. Gular scutes are looking kinda big, but the tortoise might grow into those. Plastron concavity doesn't happen until they are older and larger.

Its not good to lay them on their backs like that. Better to point their nose toward the sky for plastron shots.

 

[Dovey]

Thanks for the advice! No more back flips!

Is a long tail indicative of male or female? It's a short-tailed species, for sure! At what size does concavity become a sign?

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the advice! No more back flips!

Is a long tail indicative of male or female? It's a short-tailed species, for sure! At what size does concavity become a sign?

Males have much longer tails. I've seen males show concavity as small as five inches, and sometimes not until 7 or 8 inches. It also depends on age. If they are kept too dry, fed poorly, and subjected to improper temperature extremes and incorrect hibernation, they can still be tiny at 20 years old, but still show the secondary sexual characteristics that allow us to sex them.