From the time he was just a wee tot, the vet even said it looked like I had a little boy. He is now 6 inches and sometimes I think he looks more like a girl. He is now 17 months of age. Whatcha all think????
Guess the sex game - Let's Play
- Thread starter DesertGrandma
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I am never right, but I say GIRL
I say female for now too.
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Boy~
Here is an example of a female 6" Leo ....Notice the anal notch and how rounded it is ....your little guy is very flared and even at 6" has quite the tail - look at distance between tail tip and anal slit.
Again just my " Guess" ~
JD~
Here is an example of a female 6" Leo ....Notice the anal notch and how rounded it is ....your little guy is very flared and even at 6" has quite the tail - look at distance between tail tip and anal slit.
Again just my " Guess" ~
JD~
Joy, can you take a "straight on" shot of the plastron showing the supracaudal scute and tail? Like the first one in JD's post.
You bring up good points JD, and I do admit, I'm a little stumped on this one. But, let me show you why I think female.
This is a male babcocki, slightly larger than yours at 7 inches. Check out this tail!
Though hard to clearly see, the thickness of the tail gradually tapers to the tip, whereas in females and in your picture Joy the thickness of the tail tapers down to the tip very abruptly after the cloaca. Also In your picture Joy, the distance between the cloaca and the tip is very short, and is very thick right before the cloaca giving it a stumpy female look. Side note - my tortoise has the weirdest anal scutes I have ever seen.
Here's another male of similar size.
The tail is a lot shorter, but you can see that there isn't an abrupt tapering of the tail. It's a more even gradual tapering to the tip.
Now looking at the anal scutes. I have one female that had flared anal scutes that looked just like yours Joy until it was about ten inches. Here's what it looks like now at 14".
Now it has a more female form, but it didn't start curving inward until after she was 10 inches. If you look at the inside of the anal scutes they are almost straight and not the typical U shape until the very tips. Side note on this one too, she just laid a clutch this morning so that's why she's so dirty.. Now that I take a closer look at yours Joy I see that the very tips are starting to point outwards like a male...so that's really what has me stumped.
If you notice in my pictures the supracaudal scutes really tell a lot in terms of sex determination. Even at a young age, the female always had the "V" type supracaudal scute so that's why I'm curious about what your tortoises looks like.
Phew sorry for the wordy post.
You bring up good points JD, and I do admit, I'm a little stumped on this one. But, let me show you why I think female.
This is a male babcocki, slightly larger than yours at 7 inches. Check out this tail!
Though hard to clearly see, the thickness of the tail gradually tapers to the tip, whereas in females and in your picture Joy the thickness of the tail tapers down to the tip very abruptly after the cloaca. Also In your picture Joy, the distance between the cloaca and the tip is very short, and is very thick right before the cloaca giving it a stumpy female look. Side note - my tortoise has the weirdest anal scutes I have ever seen.
Here's another male of similar size.
The tail is a lot shorter, but you can see that there isn't an abrupt tapering of the tail. It's a more even gradual tapering to the tip.
Now looking at the anal scutes. I have one female that had flared anal scutes that looked just like yours Joy until it was about ten inches. Here's what it looks like now at 14".
Now it has a more female form, but it didn't start curving inward until after she was 10 inches. If you look at the inside of the anal scutes they are almost straight and not the typical U shape until the very tips. Side note on this one too, she just laid a clutch this morning so that's why she's so dirty.
. Now that I take a closer look at yours Joy I see that the very tips are starting to point outwards like a male...so that's really what has me stumped.If you notice in my pictures the supracaudal scutes really tell a lot in terms of sex determination. Even at a young age, the female always had the "V" type supracaudal scute so that's why I'm curious about what your tortoises looks like.
Phew sorry for the wordy post.
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Great Post Neal ! ^5 .....your right those are the wierdest anal scutes I've seen on a small male ......
again Leo's arnt my expertise (although I've had plenty of them ) ... but worth a guess.............
JD~
again Leo's arnt my expertise (although I've had plenty of them ) ... but worth a guess.............
JD~
Great posts. Thanks guys. The reason I started thinking Humphrey might not be a male is because he stopped holding his tail to one side like he used to always do. I ran outside and pulled him out of his hiding spot to take these pics. Let me know what you think now.
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Neal said:Well...The anal scutes say male and the tail says female. How about we play again in a year?
* BOB BARKER* .....v^v^ " COME ON DOWN" ...Your The Next Contestant On Guess My Sex ........
Count me in ! This a good one guys.....
hahahahahaha...I was so hoping for an opinion . Okay one more year and I"LL BE BACK...
Thank guys
. Okay one more year and I"LL BE BACK...Thank guys
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