Re: Is my Russian a he or a she?

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Posted by LauraO on March 02, 2001 at 12:11:13:

In Reply to: Re: Is my Russian a he or a she? posted by EJ on March 01, 2001 at 08:56:56:

I almost bought a Russian tort thinking it was female because of its comparably short tail size. But then its "big winky" came right out! Tail size is not always a guarantee. My Russians are fairly large; I would guess around 8" carapace length, but I know two vets who have told me that this is not necessarily the full size of sexual maturity, even though overall these are not huge tortoises.

Once I came on here asking the same question, and some brilliant person showed me a sketch of what the most posterior plastron scales looked like on each sex. I cannot draw it here, but the female's scales were longer from anterior to posterior, and narrower from the left to right, than the male's. It's hard to describe. Problem is, based on that, I decided I do have a pair. But just recently, I caught the "female" trying to mount the so-called male, or so I think. Has anyone ever caught their females mounting any of their roomies?

Follow Ups:

Re: Is my Russian a he or a she? chiro 03/02/01 (1)
- Re: So if female russians mount males.. LauraO 03/05/01 (0)

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: I almost bought a Russian tort thinking it was female because of its comparably short tail size. But then its "big winky" came right out! Tail size is not always a guarantee. My Russians are fairly large; I would guess around 8" carapace length, but I know two vets who have told me that this is not necessarily the full size of sexual maturity, even though overall these are not huge tortoises. : Once I came on here asking the same question, and some brilliant person showed me a sketch of what the most posterior plastron scales looked like on each sex. I cannot draw it here, but the female's scales were longer from anterior to posterior, and narrower from the left to right, than the male's. It's hard to describe. Problem is, based on that, I decided I do have a pair. But just recently, I caught the "female" trying to mount the so-called male, or so I think. Has anyone ever caught their females mounting any of their roomies?

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