Re: New owner of Horsfield tortoise
Posted: 27 Jan 2024, 15:10
Hi Emma,
Thanks for the photo, but I do think it's too soon to sex him/her. The cloaca is slightly more in the shape of a dash (females have round cloacas, shaped like asterisks and the cloaca of males is more of a slit shape and is a bit further towards the tip of the tail, whereas Kimchi's seems to be a bit higher up, like a female's. However, many if not most Horsfields tend to look like females for a long time, until they mature and the tail grows much longer and thicker and is held to the side when they walk. The shape of the anal scute is wide and flat, like a male, but that isn't a foolproof method of sexing either. Here's a little article with some diagrams, so you can see what I mean (it calls them Russians (rather than Horsfield) tortoises, but that is what they are called in the USA:
http://tortaddiction.blogspot.com/2013/ ... ex-of.html
I'll ask Lin to come on and have a look too.
Have just popped out to the garden, and a lot of the Carex that has seeded itself are fairly good sized, but I could send you one largish plant and you can easily divide it up into smaller segments -- or I also have some growing out of cracks between paving stones, which are smaller, but I might not be able to get the roots out when I pull the plants up. Will have a go tomorrow, after I do the Big Garden Bird Watch.
Nina
Thanks for the photo, but I do think it's too soon to sex him/her. The cloaca is slightly more in the shape of a dash (females have round cloacas, shaped like asterisks and the cloaca of males is more of a slit shape and is a bit further towards the tip of the tail, whereas Kimchi's seems to be a bit higher up, like a female's. However, many if not most Horsfields tend to look like females for a long time, until they mature and the tail grows much longer and thicker and is held to the side when they walk. The shape of the anal scute is wide and flat, like a male, but that isn't a foolproof method of sexing either. Here's a little article with some diagrams, so you can see what I mean (it calls them Russians (rather than Horsfield) tortoises, but that is what they are called in the USA:
http://tortaddiction.blogspot.com/2013/ ... ex-of.html
I'll ask Lin to come on and have a look too.
Have just popped out to the garden, and a lot of the Carex that has seeded itself are fairly good sized, but I could send you one largish plant and you can easily divide it up into smaller segments -- or I also have some growing out of cracks between paving stones, which are smaller, but I might not be able to get the roots out when I pull the plants up. Will have a go tomorrow, after I do the Big Garden Bird Watch.
Nina