Male or female? And health check.

[uscpsycho]

My star is 17 months old and wondering if anyone can definitively sex it. I know it is technically too soon but I'm impatient. And based on what I have read, it seems to be firmly in the male camp but I have zero experience sexing torts so maybe you guys can say for sure? One website says that males have a "tail spur" that's like a nail but I've not seen that mentioned anywhere else. There is a tail spur if that means anything. You can't see it in this photo but it feels like it's there when I touch the end of the tail.

Also, it weighs 312 grams, shell is 80mm wide and 104mm long. Does that sound about right for this age? It eats like crazy but I've never seen it drink (no signs it's ever even touched the water dish) but the food is always wet and it still gets a 30-60 minute bath every day so it's probably hydrating that way. I've always thought it's weird that it never drinks but it seems healthy so I don't stress about it. How long should I keep giving daily baths?

It's also not interested in using any hide I put in there (I've tried a few) but it does have a favorite corner and a favorite spot it wedges into between the pothos pot and the back wall. It seems to be using that as its hideout.

Everything sound good?

*Edit: I just saw another thread where someone said you can tell the sex at 300 grams and 4 inches. I am right on the dot for both!

 

[Sarah2020]

Very young but looks female.

Please maintain the hide as it is nice for them to have a choice and block end to end enclosure view. Great to have a fav corner.

Please read the following to check your setting and make adjustments as required...

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Your aiming for smooth slow shell growth. Add a cuttle fish bone used for parrots to the enclosure this boost calcium for strong shell, bone, claw and beak growth.
I highly recommend warm shallow water soaks for around 30 mins 2 or 3 times a week in a high sided container to avoid it walking out they drink and hydrate.

 

[zovick]

My star is 17 months old and wondering if anyone can definitively sex it. I know it is technically too soon but I'm impatient. And based on what I have read, it seems to be firmly in the male camp but I have zero experience sexing torts so maybe you guys can say for sure? One website says that males have a "tail spur" that's like a nail but I've not seen that mentioned anywhere else. There is a tail spur if that means anything. You can't see it in this photo but it feels like it's there when I touch the end of the tail.

Also, it weighs 312 grams, shell is 80mm wide and 104mm long. Does that sound about right for this age? It eats like crazy but I've never seen it drink (no signs it's ever even touched the water dish) but the food is always wet and it still gets a 30-60 minute bath every day so it's probably hydrating that way. I've always thought it's weird that it never drinks but it seems healthy so I don't stress about it. How long should I keep giving daily baths?

It's also not interested in using any hide I put in there (I've tried a few) but it does have a favorite corner and a favorite spot it wedges into between the pothos pot and the back wall. It seems to be using that as its hideout.

Everything sound good?

*Edit: I just saw another thread where someone said you can tell the sex at 300 grams and 4 inches. I am right on the dot for both!

View attachment 365511

Looks like a female, but it is still a bit young to be absolutely sure. When I raised Indian and Sri Lankan Stars, I was often able to sex males at this size, and this tortoise looks nothing like a male right now.

Do you have any knowledge of the temp at which this tortoise was incubated? In my experience, 84-85F consistently produced males and 88-89F consistently produced females (I raised 3 totally CB generations of both of those types of Stars, so have plenty of experience to prove the TSD parameters noted).

 

[uscpsycho]

Very young but looks female.

Please maintain the hide as it is nice for them to have a choice and block end to end enclosure view. Great to have a fav corner.

Please read the following to check your setting and make adjustments as required...

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Your aiming for smooth slow shell growth. Add a cuttle fish bone used for parrots to the enclosure this boost calcium for strong shell, bone, claw and beak growth.

What makes you think female? Based on this guide it looks male to me. Is the guide wrong or am coming to the wrong conclusion?

I've read that thread and many others here, plus all the comments and I've asked questions. I'm following everything to the T but still getting some slight pyramiding. Hoping that mellows out as it grows rather than become more pronounced. But I don't think I've seen a photo of a mature star tort that had perfectly smooth shells so I think I'm in the normal range.

 

[uscpsycho]

Looks like a female, but it is still a bit young to be absolutely sure. When I raised Indian and Sri Lankan Stars, I was often able to sex males at this size, and this tortoise looks nothing like a male right now.

Do you have any knowledge of the temp at which this tortoise was incubated? In my experience, 84-85F consistently produced males and 88-89F consistently produced females (I raised 3 totally CB generations of both of those types of Stars, so have plenty of experience to prove the TSD parameters noted).

Welp, that's two people who say female so I guess my reading was wrong. We were hoping for a male because they're smaller. Ah well.

I don't know the temp it was incubated at.

 

[G-stars]

I agree. It’s a probable female. Males usually have a longer tail by this size.

 

[zovick]

My star is 17 months old and wondering if anyone can definitively sex it. I know it is technically too soon but I'm impatient. And based on what I have read, it seems to be firmly in the male camp but I have zero experience sexing torts so maybe you guys can say for sure? One website says that males have a "tail spur" that's like a nail but I've not seen that mentioned anywhere else. There is a tail spur if that means anything. You can't see it in this photo but it feels like it's there when I touch the end of the tail.

Also, it weighs 312 grams, shell is 80mm wide and 104mm long. Does that sound about right for this age? It eats like crazy but I've never seen it drink (no signs it's ever even touched the water dish) but the food is always wet and it still gets a 30-60 minute bath every day so it's probably hydrating that way. I've always thought it's weird that it never drinks but it seems healthy so I don't stress about it. How long should I keep giving daily baths?

It's also not interested in using any hide I put in there (I've tried a few) but it does have a favorite corner and a favorite spot it wedges into between the pothos pot and the back wall. It seems to be using that as its hideout.

Everything sound good?

*Edit: I just saw another thread where someone said you can tell the sex at 300 grams and 4 inches. I am right on the dot for both!

View attachment 365511

To answer your question about baths, I would keep soaking it daily until it is 8" or so long. After around 8" the soaks can be cut down to a couple times a week or even once a week if you prefer. It doesn't hurt anything to keep soaking them.