The Tortoise Table

Hi All!

Had the pleasure of Sergeant Bash for 12 months now. We believe he/she is around 2-2.5 years old and wondering if we’re in a position identify the gender? Could well be too young yet but thought I’d ask

Please see attached photos..


Many Thanks
Oli

Hi Oli,

So sorry to be late in gettng back to you! Sergeant Bash is a handsome little Horsfield, and you're right that it is too early to sex him/her. Horsfields tend to look like females until they are about 5 or 6 years old and then the males suddenly grow their tails and become obviously male. You can sometimes get a hint by the shape of the anal scute and also the shape of the cloaca. Seargeant's anal scute is looking neither one way or the other to me, although I'm leaning towards female, and I can't see the cloaca well enough in that photo. In female tortoises the cloaca (the hole that the wee and poo comes out of) tends to look like asterisk in shape, and in males it is more of a dash or slit shaped, but again, in Horsfields they do tend to mainly look female until they are a bit bigger. Could you post a photo of the underside of the tail, clearly showing the cloaca?

Nina