Bringing sexing back

[ColaCarbonaria]

Ok @Anyfoot you asked if I was 100% on the sex of the erosa and I am but the redfoots I’m not so sure. Anymore. These guys are 6ish yrs old and between 9.5-11.5 inches long, all cooked to be girls and are related so I want to identify the sexes so I can figure out what to do with the colony going forward. The reason why I’m asking is I’ve heard and seen #’s 5&6 clucking while mounting, now I’ve seen them mount each other but really just thought it was domination/pecking order stuff but since they’ve been inside for cold snap I’ve heard the vocalization. I thought only males “clucked” but was told females can as well, so I’m not sure. And I’ve been told redfoot males are all John Holmes of the tortoise world and I don’t have any huge discrepancy in tale size so that’s why I’m confused. So I’ll attach pics of everybody’s undercarriage with correlating number and you guys can chime in on what you think, pics are from sept.

 

[Anyfoot]

5 and 6 look male to me. They have anal scutes of females at the moment though. But those tails are definitely male looking. I'm guessing the anal scutes are still going to open wide with more growth. Rest are female. What is the SCL (straight carapace length) of #5&6?

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

11.5” They are some of th bigger of th group. And what’s confusing to me is like #4 anal scute looks different, more broad and male (to me) but tail isn’t huge, and like you said th scutes don’t look “male” on 5,6. 1,2&3 are th smaller of th group.

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

And honestly I thought 3&4 could be male as well, because of anal scute being wider. And wasn’t sure on 5&6 bc th anal scute wasn’t as wide. Just don’t know and I see them everyday so I just double guess myself....

 

[Anyfoot]

See what happens. Are 5&6 concave on the plastron. The 11.5" is just the shell length without bending tape to carapace contour isn't it? At that length I'd be tempted to say female with male looking tails. I have one like that.

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

Ok. They are not concave on plastron which is another reason for the confoundedness. And yes that’s scl, no bend. Cool, as with all things time will tell! Thanks. Happy New Year

 

[Anyfoot]

Ok. They are not concave on plastron which is another reason for the confoundedness. And yes that’s scl, no bend. Cool, as with all things time will tell! Thanks. Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you too

 

[Anyfoot]

Can I see a photo of 5&6 from above please?

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

Can I see a photo of 5&6 from above please?

It’s not notifying me of posts. Just took these


5 is 11.5”
6 is 10”

 

[Anyfoot]

They are Females.

When you tagged me in it didn't notify me.

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

They are Females.

When you tagged me in it didn't notify me.

They don’t want us to be friends. Tell me why you say that.

 

[Anyfoot]

They don’t want us to be friends. Tell me why you say that.

At first I didn't realise how big they were. So I thought they were immature males still developing. The fact they are a large size says they are near full size. There is no signs of the hour glass shape coming in that the northern males get when this size. I should have never doubted the anal scutes.
I've had one of my females mount a male and cluck like a male. My male is not interested in her but he is in other females. Maybe this clucking female wanted some attention. MAYBE.

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

Gotcha. I was wondering if anyone else had seen the clucking out of females as well, I just didn’t know if they could. I’m just going to keep watching them, especially since they’re inside and in close quarters during this cold snap, but still number 4 with the wide shallow anal scute opening and normal smallish tail is confusing to me, but time will tell.

 

[MPRC]

I have one female who mounts and clucks. I still think #5 looks male.

 

[Bryan]

Gotcha. I was wondering if anyone else had seen the clucking out of females as well, I just didn’t know if they could. I’m just going to keep watching them, especially since they’re inside and in close quarters during this cold snap, but still number 4 with the wide shallow anal scute opening and normal smallish tail is confusing to me, but time will tell.

I have a female Brazilian that clucks and mounts another female. It caught me off guard when it initially happened as well.

 

[MountainFox]

After reading a prior thread about a RF mating with a log (and watching an included video of RF mating noises), I definitely read the title of this thread as “Bringing Sexting Back”. We can also blame Justin Timberlake’s “Bringing Sexy Back” for my confusion. Of course, we all know tortoises can’t text, regardless of message content.

Now that I think about it, I’m guessing the play on the song title was intentional! I’m off to see if YouTube has any videos of tortoises “texting”....