Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Its shell is 12" long.. Any input is greatly appreciated

i think a male the females have something like this (_) at the end of their shell
-----
1.5 Common Mud Turtles
0.0.2 R.E.S.
0.0.1 Y.B.S.
1.2 Russian Tortoises
0.1.1 Gulfcost/Three Toed Boxturtles
0.1 Eastern Box Turtle
1.0 Hamsters
3.0 Dogs
2.3 Family

here is a site with what im talking about, female (_) male V
http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/sexingsulcata.htm
-----
1.5 Common Mud Turtles
0.0.2 R.E.S.
0.0.1 Y.B.S.
1.2 Russian Tortoises
0.1.1 Gulfcost/Three Toed Boxturtles
0.1 Eastern Box Turtle
1.0 Hamsters
3.0 Dogs
2.3 Family

Just for size reference

Even at that size sulcatas can be tough to sex but my vote swings toward male on this tort.
-----
Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

When our sulcata first got here she was 12 inches long, 9 lbs. Her plastron was as flat as flat can be.
Today she's much larger at 17 inches long, 50 lbs & that plastron is still as flat as flat can be.
Your photos look like the plastron is flat but I can't tell for certain by the photo if it is or not.
I can't say for sure but yours looks female to me, however I know that it can be difficult at this size to tell one way or the other for certain. I could be wrong.
Last year I visited a road side animal exhibit, horrible place but that's another story.
I did notice though on the large male sulcatas who were 65 lbs plus that the gulars were very pronounced as compared to the females.
My female does not have pronounced gulars, that may be a clue.
-----
PHRatz

How large must the male be to begin to show concavity in his plastron? My two, both two years old, about 14" straight line, have flat plastrons. I figure they are females because of the REALLY fast growth. Would I begin to see the indentation at this size?