Re: Male VS Female of a Young Star Tortoise

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Posted by Roberto on November 30, 2000 at 17:13:45:

In Reply to: Re: Male VS Female of a Young Star Tortoise posted by kw on March 06, 2000 at 12:50:24:

: If your indian stars are less than a year, I'd guess they are only about 2-3" long. It's going to be difficult to determine their sexes. I've got 2 '98 c.b. stars and will have a new '99 c.b. sent to me when it is safe to ship (later this spring.)

: Talking to various breeders, when indian stars are this young it's difficult to sex them. However, it seems the best bet is to check out the shape of the tail opening on the plastron - the "V". And you also check the supara-caudal scute directly above the tail opening. If you've got a female, the scute turns out slightly; the scute on males turns inward.

: Looking at the "V" where the tail opening is, a male tends to have a wider but shallower "V".

: Are the 5 you have all from the same clutch? If so, you may have only 1 gender since incubation temperature has an effect on the gender of the hatchlings.

: The 2 '98 c.b. stars I have came from 2 different sources and appear to be a male/female pair. But my male came from a clutch that was entirely males. On the female, I'm not sure about the other hatchlings in the clutch but I was assured that she is female and the information I've gotten from experienced star breeders seems to confirm this. The female I'm waiting on came from a clutch incubated to produce females.

: With stars, I'm not sure of the tail length as an indicator of gender. I'm also not sure of the age they'd need to be to show a difference. Tail length is pretty reliable in sexing tortoises in the testudo family. But I'm not sure about indian stars.

: kw

: : Hi! I have 5 star tortoises (abt less than a year) and it's very difficult to deterine their sexes. But I've noticed that 3 of them have their plastrons completely flat, while the 2 of them have their plastrons a bit convex (slightly going outward, like a stomach, not concave). Are the flat ones male?

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: : : If your indian stars are less than a year, I'd guess they are only about 2-3" long. It's going to be difficult to determine their sexes. I've got 2 '98 c.b. stars and will have a new '99 c.b. sent to me when it is safe to ship (later this spring.) : : Talking to various breeders, when indian stars are this young it's difficult to sex them. However, it seems the best bet is to check out the shape of the tail opening on the plastron - the "V". And you also check the supara-caudal scute directly above the tail opening. If you've got a female, the scute turns out slightly; the scute on males turns inward. : : Looking at the "V" where the tail opening is, a male tends to have a wider but shallower "V". : : Are the 5 you have all from the same clutch? If so, you may have only 1 gender since incubation temperature has an effect on the gender of the hatchlings. : : The 2 '98 c.b. stars I have came from 2 different sources and appear to be a male/female pair. But my male came from a clutch that was entirely males. On the female, I'm not sure about the other hatchlings in the clutch but I was assured that she is female and the information I've gotten from experienced star breeders seems to confirm this. The female I'm waiting on came from a clutch incubated to produce females. : : With stars, I'm not sure of the tail length as an indicator of gender. I'm also not sure of the age they'd need to be to show a difference. Tail length is pretty reliable in sexing tortoises in the testudo family. But I'm not sure about indian stars. : : kw : : : Hi! I have 5 star tortoises (abt less than a year) and it's very difficult to deterine their sexes. But I've noticed that 3 of them have their plastrons completely flat, while the 2 of them have their plastrons a bit convex (slightly going outward, like a stomach, not concave). Are the flat ones male?

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