Reptile & Amphibian Forums

any images on what their tails looks like? i mean, the difference between males and females? trying to base the sex on the plastron (concave or flat) and on the tail (long/narrow and short/stout) but i have no basis on differentiating them... clear pictures on this would be much appreciated.

anybody tried breeding this? if so, any recommendation on the type of substrate? m:f ratio when breeding (in one pen)?

what can i do to avoid catching up water in the pen, i mean, tried putting holes on the ground of a cement pen, placed soil/sand substrate on top - but when it rains, it floods inside the pen. but if i didn't cover the floor with cement, burrowing turtles/tortoises would have the possibility of digging very deep holes...

i live in a tropical/hummid country in asia...

thanks

try this: www.tortoise.org. (Sean McKeon is the man you should pray for)

I have one of these beauties in San Franicsco and if you put the habitat on the ground simply put a layer of chicken wire down before the substrait and they cannot dig out.
Terry

Sexing them at any size is apparently difficult. Here is a general info link: http://www.chelonia.org/manouriagallery.htm

You may be able to extrapolate from the M. impressa sexing article...

Here is a discussion I initiated on yahoo Manouria group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Manouria/message/530

This is a quote from a reputable source in an e-mail to me subsequent to the above discussion (name withheld in the event he wants to respond personally):

"Be very careful in sexing them - of the 80 or so that came in during the big Hong Kong confiscation, Mike Forstner, Vic Morgan, and myself could not agree on the sex of at least a third of the animals. "

HTH,

Art