AboutMark Adkins Expertise I will be glad to help with your tortoise- and turtle-related questions. My specialty is Red-foot and other Tortoises, but I can help with many aspects of turtle care.
Understand- I am not a vet, and the more information you can give me, the more accurate my answer can be.
(Because of the number of questions I get, I reserve the right to direct you to a good website that will help rather than re-inventing the wheel.)
Experience Tortoise and other reptile keeper since 1964.
Member of the Nebraska Herpetological Society.
Author of books and articles on tortoise care.
Currently own five Red-foot Tortoises.
Expert: Mark Adkins Date: 7/15/2008 Subject: turtles
Question I rescue wild turtles but I dont even know how to sex them, do you
Answer Rescuing wild turtles is a pretty specialized skill- a true 'rescue' means you have the training and legal documentation to take an injured or at risk animal and take care of it better than it would be taken care of in nature.
The reality is that most animals do FAR better left on their own unless the rescuer has extensive training or skills in dealing with that species. Taking an animal out of its home range is an INCREDIBLY stressful thing to do to it, and should only be done if there is a clear and valid reason to do so.
I am not trying to talk you out of rescuing- we need more good animal rescuers. I am just pointing out that basically kidnapping an animal from its home is not automatically a 'rescue'.
Having said all that, turtles are tough to sex. Most turtles cannot be reliably sexed until they are sexually mature- often 4-6 years.
Common indications a turtle is a male are an in-curved belly (concave plastron) and a tail that is long, thin, and has the vent (cloaca) in about the middle. Males are also usually smaller and sometimes more colorful than females.
Females have flat or convex plastrons, and short wide tails with the cloaca at the base.
In many pond turtles, the males have elegantly long front claws. In some box turtles, males have red eyes. In some tortoises, the shape of the cloacal opening helps.
Try http:www.austinsturtlepage.com for more general info.
