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: 2/11/2007 Subject: Sex of a turtle
Question How do you tell the sex of a turtle
Answer 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.
