If you keep a land turtle at home and love to watch your pet, then sooner or later you should have a question: "A girl or a boy?" The exact sex of a turtle is only possible when your pet is six to eight years old, and the length of the shell exceeds 10 cm. In most species of land turtles, sex determination is not difficult.
Instructions
Step 1
Look at the tail of an adult turtle. In the male, it is longer and larger than in the female.
Step 2
Look your pet in the eye. Male marsh turtles tend to have brown eyes, while females have yellow eyes.
Step 3
Take a good look at the belly side of the carapace - the plastron. Males have a more concave plastron shape and pronounced femoral spurs. With the help of this form, the males of the land tortoise, when mating, it is easier to keep on the body of the female. In females, the plastron has a flatter shape. That is, if your turtle has a concave tummy, this is a male, if the belly is flat or convex, it is a female.
Step 4
Take a close look at the animal's cloaca. In males, it looks like a longitudinal stripe, while in females it has the shape of an asterisk.
Step 5
Pay attention to the shape of the shell itself. In males, it is strongly bent towards the ground from the side of the tail, and the tail itself is long and completely hidden by a shell. In females, the tail is short and is located outside the shell.
Step 6
Take a close look at your turtle's shell. In Trionyx females, pronounced tubercles are often noticeable on the shell, while in males they gradually smooth out with age, and their shell becomes smooth.
Step 7
Pick up the animal and examine the legs. Male turtles have significantly longer claws than females.
Step 8
Observe the turtle's behavior. This can also help you in determining the sex of your pet. Males usually have an aggressive and active character of behavior, they often bite rivals by the legs, try to climb onto females, and attack relatives. Very often you can see how a sexually mature male tries to turn another male upside down. For adult males, head up and down movements are also characteristic. This behavior is not observed in females.
Step 9
If you are keeping several land turtles at the same time, visually compare their sizes. Typically, in most land tortoise species, the adult females are much larger than the adult males.
