Male or Female?

Status
Not open for further replies.

anniiie321

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
27
Hello all, My name is Annie and i've just joined this forum :)
I have a red-footed tortoise named Lucy who is about 3 years old now and almost 7 inches long. Recently, I have been trying to confirm if she is in fact a female.. or a male? I am not experienced in sexing tortoises and she doesn't seem to outright resemble any photos I compare her to when trying to figure it out :p
I was wondering if someone may be able to help me? I have attached photos of her underside. If something else is needed please ask :)

Also, I received her from a breeder when she was one year old, I did my research before getting her and was feeding her on a weekly schedule consisting of mostly staple greens (usually romaine) and fruit with one day for meat (i use cat food) and one day of tortoise food (ZooMed, to ensure she gets everything she needs) However, i was wondering now that she is older if her diet should change? More greens? less fruit? more meat? Overall, her stools have been fine, usually green or dark green and not too mushy or hard with the occasional one that is more on the mushy side.

On that note, I hope someone is able to help me and I look forward to being a part of this forum :)
 

Attachments

  • lucy.jpg
    lucy.jpg
    84.2 KB · Views: 96

dmmj

The member formerly known as captain awesome
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
19,695
Location (City and/or State)
CA
I was told I have a male RF and that looks pretty much like mine.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,388
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Hi Annie:

Welcome to the forum!!

We have several redfoot keepers here on the forum, with a couple three or four who are VERY knowledgeable in that regard.

The "go to" person we all count on for sexing the tortoises is Egyptian Dan. If he tells you what sex Lucy is, you can take it to the bank! But then, of course, there's Fred, Terry, Madkins, Douglas, Matt....I guess there are really too many to mention them all. Annie, you're in VERY good company!!
 

Kristina

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
5,383
Location (City and/or State)
Cadillac, Michigan
Female :)

She is a cutie too! I would love to see some pictures of, well, the rest of her ;)
 
M

Maggie Cummings

Guest
I don't mind admitting I was wrong...sorry I scared you:)
 

PeanutbuttER

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
863
Location (City and/or State)
Utah
Marty333 said:
Uh oh it looks Lucy is going to have to become a Lucifer XD

Very funny :)

This was a hard one. I would have guessed female, but it does look fatter and a bit longer to me than my presumed female, so I was initially thinking male like everyone else. These guessing posts are my favorites, but once Danny posts his answer it takes the fun out of guessing. ;)
 

Madkins007

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
5,393
Location (City and/or State)
Nebraska
The criteria I use are:

- Shell shape. For Northerns, the male's shell pinches in at the waist a bit. For most Red-foots, the male plastron is indented.
- Tail. Male tails are amazingly long, and are usually carried tucked in the 'leg pit' of a rear leg.
- Anal scutes. The last two scutes on the plastron. If they form about a 90 degree V, it is a female. Males form a much wider angle, almost 180. There are also two points on the ends of the scutes- the closer they are to the marginals, the more likely it is a female. Males have a much wider gap to let the tail swing side to side.
- Birth certificate. Probably the easiest way is which box is checked on the birth certificate. (I just added this to see if anyone reads this!)
 

mikey meyer

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2010
Messages
77
Location (City and/or State)
El Paso, TX
anniiie321 said:
Hello all, My name is Annie and i've just joined this forum :)
I have a red-footed tortoise named Lucy who is about 3 years old now and almost 7 inches long. Recently, I have been trying to confirm if she is in fact a female.. or a male? I am not experienced in sexing tortoises and she doesn't seem to outright resemble any photos I compare her to when trying to figure it out :p
I was wondering if someone may be able to help me? I have attached photos of her underside. If something else is needed please ask :)

Also, I received her from a breeder when she was one year old, I did my research before getting her and was feeding her on a weekly schedule consisting of mostly staple greens (usually romaine) and fruit with one day for meat (i use cat food) and one day of tortoise food (ZooMed, to ensure she gets everything she needs) However, i was wondering now that she is older if her diet should change? More greens? less fruit? more meat? Overall, her stools have been fine, usually green or dark green and not too mushy or hard with the occasional one that is more on the mushy side.

On that note, I hope someone is able to help me and I look forward to being a part of this forum :)
It looks female to me. I just got done talking to Jackrat on here and asked him the same thing. He said that males have a concave plastron and an hourglass shaped carapace after they are mature. The male's tail is longer and slimmer and the female's tail is shorter and thicker. And that the anal scute(the opening in the shell that the tail extends through) is wide and sweeping in males. females have a narrower opening with a deeper ''V'' shape. Hope that that info helps you!
 

anniiie321

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
27
shell.jpg
egyptiandan said:
Looks like a female to me. :)

Danny

:) thank you, thats good news haha. That means i can expect her to get about 10 - 14 inches?

Also, I was wondering if she is showing signs of pyramiding? As she has gotten larger her shell has protruded a little bit, but i thought that was normal growth. I'm pretty certain i feed her everything she needs, and she gets zooMed tortoise food once a week to ensure that too.. so I don't know. I attached a photo that sort of shows it...
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,388
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Hi Annie:

You need to change your mind set about food=pyramiding. We're pretty sure now that humidity plays a very large part in the pyramiding equation. They need more humidity as babies that we have been giving them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top