Male or Female?! I'm confused..

Astrochely

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Hi guys,

Sorry for the phone pictures.

I need feedbacks based on these details:

1. Pictures attached.
2. I have been keeping cherry heads for almost 7 years now. And I am males heavy. While some specimens looked males upon the first glance, some do not. And that's when some "females" (short tails, flat plastrons & rounded body) suddenly showed their willies after almost 7 years. So I have been hunting to add more females into my collection. And a guy decided to sell his. This animal look almost exactly like one of my males. Except it is 11inch (my biggest 7 year old male is almost 9inch), possesses totally flat plastron and very a rounded body. The guy also added that it grew from 7 inch to 11 inch within a year. Before viewing the animal personally, my initial thought it was one of those flat plastron with wide scute's male. But when he brought the animal, I now think it could be a female. First is due to the shape and how the tail side tuck (it didn't tuck fully as my males). Second, it didn't evert anything when it was pooping while being held upside down in my hand (my males will usually flash especially when I hold them for a such lengthy period). Third, I massaged the tail and it felt hollow (all my males tails feel "full" indicating there are something in their tails). However, due to the width between the two anal scutes, it could still be a male.

So, based on the above, I need some help. What do you think it is? Male or female?!

Thanks in advance.
 

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Yvonne G

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That sure looks like a male tail to me. The cloaca is way down to the tip of the tail.

Red and Yellowfooted tortoises are very hard for me to sex I.D. I have two RF and 1.2.3 YF and the only reason I know enough to put then in the number sequence like that is they've laid eggs.
 

Bryan

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Looks like a female to me, my males all have much longer tales and none of them are that big (11"). If you don't want it then I want to buy it! :)
 

N2TORTS

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You have a FEMALE~:D

Here is a large Cherry like you have Pictured

MALE
 

diamondbp

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N2TORTS said:
You have a FEMALE~:D

Here is a large Cherry like you have Pictured

MALE

Well I think that pretty much clears it up lol You have a female
 

Yvonne G

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Oh my lord in heaven! Just look at that tail! I'm sure my male YF's tail isn't that long/big.
 

Sulcata_Sandy

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Yvonne G said:
Oh my lord in heaven! Just look at that tail! I'm sure my male YF's tail isn't that long/big.

Hahaha, I KNOW! I've seen that pic before, MAN that is an impressive male tail. I'm not going to show my male RF that picture, he will get a complex. [PURPLE HEART]
 

N2TORTS

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HYPO Northern Adult RF MALE …..







LARGE FEMALE CHERRY LIKE YOU HAVE PICTURED





( Notice the “ concave” …..and often misleader folks get wrong when sexing their tortoise…*Some Large Mature Females will have a concave plastron.)


Jr. Male




Jr. Female


 

Millerlite

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Yvonne G said:
That sure looks like a male tail to me. The cloaca is way down to the tip of the tail.

Red and Yellowfooted tortoises are very hard for me to sex I.D. I have two RF and 1.2.3 YF and the only reason I know enough to put then in the number sequence like that is they've laid eggs.

Lol, can picture you now. My male just laid an egg!

I read jd's thread on sexing and it helped me out a lot. I always look at shell shape with reds, cuz it tells so much. Then tail. Males have huge tails, females have short stubby tails. The shape of the plastron around the tail tho I've seen different shapes in males and females. I find other species hard to sex my mountain tortoise especially

Kyle
 

Astrochely

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Since the majority said "female", I will now buy it haha!

I have browsed thru that link countless of times because all of my cherries do not show the typical gender sexing except how big and long their tails are..but some of my males still managed to fool me. Apart from having flat plastrons and short tails, they even bent over for the more dominant males to penetrate. Then one day they decided to flash and I was totally dumbfounded LOL!

Upon checking the new specimen, it felt completely different. Based on the details in my initial post, I think it's a female. But I wasn't sure.

So thanks for the help guys! It really helps. Appreciate it very much :)
 

T33's Torts

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Re: RE: Male or Female?! I'm confused..

Millerlite said:
N2TORTS said:
Heck Kyle I forgot about that thread ...........:rolleyes:

Thanks ...maybe it can help some other folks ~:)

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-51691.html

Haha, your threads my cheat sheet ;)

And no problem. I think everyone on this forums like the sexing game... That just sounds wrong but you get what I mean

Kyle

*shakes head disapprovingly*
Naughty. Very naughty.

;)
 

Bryan

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Astrochely said:
Since the majority said "female", I will now buy it haha!

I have browsed thru that link countless of times because all of my cherries do not show the typical gender sexing except how big and long their tails are..but some of my males still managed to fool me. Apart from having flat plastrons and short tails, they even bent over for the more dominant males to penetrate. Then one day they decided to flash and I was totally dumbfounded LOL!

Upon checking the new specimen, it felt completely different. Based on the details in my initial post, I think it's a female. But I wasn't sure.

So thanks for the help guys! It really helps. Appreciate it very much :)

Did I say female? I meant male! Seriously I want to buy it! :(

All joking and weeping aside, that is a beautiful female Brazilian RF, congrats man!
 

Redfoot NERD

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I confess I did not read anything past JD's post..... here's one of my male Brazilian's... not 10" SCL -



Forget anything you think you know about redfoot tortoise.. IF they come from south of the Amazon river! These redfoot tortoises ( aka cherryhead ) did not read the book! They [ apparently ] are a different breed of redfoot's. In my 15 years raising and breeding 'carbonaria tortoises - they break all the rules.

That is no doubt a female Brazilian redfoot tortoise!
 

Madkins007

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We've often discussed that the southern groups of red-footed tortoises, those from south-east Brazil (Easterns or 'cherry-heads') and the Gran Chaco areas, are quite different than the northern groups- to the extent that some people think they should be considered a different species or sub-species.

As far as sexing goes, however, most of the 'rules' apply- males have the big tails, deeply indented plastrons, and more tail motility due to the gap between the carapace and plastron to the rear and a wider angle to the anal scutes. The thing they don't do is the 'wasp waist' constriction in the middle of the shell like the northerners do.

Other interesting things about the Easterns (cherry heads) is that they hit sexual maturity at a smaller size and do not follow as tight of a mating/nesting schedule compared to the northern groups.
 

N2TORTS

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well there is always an exception with the "Brazilians aka Cherryheads" as Terry mentioned .....Mark , I will have to disagree with stance on body shape ...Because this Male sure looks " wasp shape" from above ~ :rolleyes:



Again why one should use “many” of the identifying marks when sexing your “Cherry Head”

J~


Also my records with the Cherry Herd from 2010 to current of every lay/hatch follow suit just fine with consistency nesting and egg laying routines about 30-45 days- nothing different then the “redfoot” side….true you might see sexual “advancements” from young males trying to mount, but you will not be getting any fertile eggs out of a 9” or smaller female and even more so need to be in the 10-12” range before you see any consistency with successful hatchings.
 

tortoise5643

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Since this thread is about sexing, I was wondering if y'all could identify from these blurry pics that I got about whether or not this redfoot is a male? I will get this big tort for free but if it's a male, I can't take it because I already have 3males and 2females which I know isn't ideal so I I get another male, that would be bad. But if it's a female, then I have 3males 3females.
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