Posted by:
batrachos
at Thu Jan 24 17:38:07 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by batrachos ]
The major differences between box turtle sexes are:
PLASTRON- Male's plastron is concave (dished in), female's is flat.
HIND CLAWS- Male's are long and curved, female's are small and fairly straight.
EYE COLOR- Males often have red eyes, females usually have brown. This is not true 100% of the time, and I think male triunguis often have brown eyes. Adult males of triunguis often have a red cast to the entire head, though.
TAIL- The male's tail will be longer and thicker, and the extra size will be mainly in the pre-anal portion. So, a female turtle will have her vent right next to the body, and a small tail protruding behind that; a male will have a thick portion of tail protruding from the body, then the vent, then some more tail- this means that the male's vent will be about on a line with the rear edge of the carapace, or even out beyond it, while a female's vent will be well within the edge of the carapace.
(The tail characteristic is true for most turtle species, not just box turtles).
Now, all of these things take time to develop. I'm not sure how old or how big your turtle will have to become before these characteristics are evident. Generally hatchlings and small juveniles would group as "females" judging by the characteristics used above, regardless of their true gender.
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RE: determining sex in a young three-toed - batrachos, Thu Jan 24 17:38:07 2008