please help with the sex of my 2 new russian torts

[orguss1]

Hi
Just got our new torts and was wondering if anyone could help with determining sex.
They are both a bit over 4 inches i am thinking 2 female my wife is thinking 1 of each . What do you think.

 

[Jacqui]

Your pictures did not come through.

 

[orguss1]

Lets see if this works i tried using the image upload via the site but this might work better think i did it right via photobucket

 

[orguss1]

Oh and the one at the bottom has a spur at the end of the tail

 

[JoesMum]

They are very small. I wouldn't like to call it yet. Keep an eye on them Russians do not always share nicely and both males and females are capable of bullying. They are loners in the wild, roaming large distances and meet up to mate before moving on. They don't get lonely or crave company.

If trouble starts, you will need to split them and accept that this split may well be permanent.

 

[mainey34]

They are to small to tell right now...sorry.

 

[Blastoise]

I think they are both female. Males i have seen over four inches had much longer tails.

 

[biochemnerd808]

I think the top one is male, the bottom one is female. But it may still be too early to tell.
My male is 5.5 inches, and when I got him at 5 inches, his tail was still pretty short, @Blastoise, like this one, but he's definitely male, and just in this past year his tail has grown a ton.

Like others have said, it's still too early to tell for sure.

Keep an eye on them - RTs are very territorial, and don't often get along in sets of 2. One may bully the other, preventing it from getting as much food, or time under the basking lamp. This can happen, no matter the gender.

I think they are both female. Males i have seen over four inches had much longer tails.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

You can usually sex Russians at that length. Bottom one is a female. Top one is a bit harder to see, but also appears to be female. You're lucky to have two girls; males are more common in the pet trade.

 

[orguss1]

No problems with food or basking they seem very happy with each other. They even burrow together at night like they're cuddling.

One thing which makes me wonder about what you say about the top one is that at least once a day he mounts her and sticks his neck out like trying to mate. I'm sure its way to early for that and if they're anything like my dogs my girl dogs hump on each other for dominance do torts do this too?

I think the top one is male, the bottom one is female. But it may still be too early to tell.
My male is 5.5 inches, and when I got him at 5 inches, his tail was still pretty short, @Blastoise, like this one, but he's definitely male, and just in this past year his tail has grown a ton.

Like others have said, it's still too early to tell for sure.

Keep an eye on them - RTs are very territorial, and don't often get along in sets of 2. One may bully the other, preventing it from getting as much food, or time under the basking lamp. This can happen, no matter the gender.

I think they are both female. Males i have seen over four inches had much longer tails.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

No problems with food or basking they seem very happy with each other. They even burrow together at night like they're cuddling.

One thing which makes me wonder about what you say about the top one is that at least once a day he mounts her and sticks his neck out like trying to mate. I'm sure its way to early for that and if they're anything like my dogs my girl dogs hump on each other for dominance do torts do this too?

Female tortoises are not as aggressive as males, and may be able to coexist more easily, but often cannot. Your two females may bed down peaceably together, but only a handful of tortoise species are social, and Russians are not one of them.

What you're observing in the daytime is, as you guessed, dominance mounting, like you would see in other animals, like dogs. The dominant female might not physically injure the submissive one, but this kind of daily intimidation is still not good. In the wild, Russians have home ranges of 25-50 acres, and don't encounter each other very often. A little conflict now and then is okay, but daily conflict is stressful and can depress the immune system.

If this kind of treatment continues, the subordinate female might have stunted growth, get a disease, or maybe even die. As usual, these two Russians need to be separated so they can each have enough room, and so that one does not bully the other.