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Turtles/Sex of a turtle
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Question
How do you tell the sex of a turtle
Depends on the kind of turtle. Some basic rules are:
1. You can't tell most turtles until they are a couple years old.
2. Most males have in-curved bellies, females have flat or out-curved bellies.
3. Most males have longer, thinner tails with the vent near the middle. Females have short wide tails with the vent near the base of the tail.
In some species you can tell by other ways:
- In most turtles, the male is smaller and more colorful than the female, unless the males fight for females.
- In most slider and other pond turtles, the males have long front claws.
- In some box turtles, the males have bright colored eyes, usually red or orange.
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Answers by Expert:
Mark Adkins
Expertise
My specialty is tortoises, especially Red-foot Tortoises. I will try to help with any tortoise-related question I can. I will also help with general questions about things like behavior of wild turtles, etc. You can also try my website at http://www.tortoiselibrary.com
PLEASE- No water or box turtle questions. If you have a question about Box Turtles, Red-ear Sliders, Painted Turtles, or other turtles, please try a different expert or http://www.turtleforum.com. It is free and very helpful.
I am not a vet or a breeder, herpetologist, etc. I'm just a guy who likes tortoises. I reserve the right to send you to a website or forum if they have a better answer than I can offer rather than doing long cut-and-pastes, etc. I also will not second guess a vet or recommend home surgery or self-prescribing prescription meds.
Experience
Have kept tortoises on and off since 1965.
Currently keep a herd of 4 'Cherry-head' Red-foot Tortoises.
Have written extensively on this subject.
Education/Credentials
Associates Degree in Applied Science,
Graduate- Tortoise Trust Course in Advanced Chelonian Husbandry
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