Male or female

JT Tortoise

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Joined
Dec 26, 2019
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10
Location (City and/or State)
El Monte
I’m thinking of getting a female sulcata for my male and this person is saying this is a female, I just want other opinions cause it looks male to me and I just want to make sure I don’t end up with another male. Thanks

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zovick

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Nov 17, 2013
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It looks female to me. Let's see what others have to say.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Its still immature, but looking female.

A few things...
  • Tortoises should never be kept in pairs. Its torture. That female will be harassed literally to death.
  • Tortoise don't see other tortoises are "friends" they see them as territorial intruders to be driven away, or in the case of a male presented with a female, she's seen as something to rape. All day every day. Sounds harsh, but that is tortoise life. We are dealing with reptiles here.
  • If you want more than one, you'll need to house them separately and far enough apart that they can't smell each other. I'm all for people getting more tortoises, but I'm hoping to help you avoid the common pitfalls.
Your tortoise will be happiest as the sole queen of her territory. They don't want or need company.
 

Markw84

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I agree - still immature and can change yet. At 11" you just can't be sure. They all look pretty female at that size. However, looks like it is about 10-11 years old - so has grown pretty slow and quite pyramided. At that age, they can mature smaller. It is looking female, but I'm always reluctant to be sure until they are close to 16".
 

Clueless Tortoise

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Aug 11, 2020
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Raleigh, NC
It’s definitely a female. U can easily tell because female have short, stumpy tails ( like your tort has) while males have longer, skinny tails. Even when young u can still generally tell. Hope this helps :)
 
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