It is not easy to determine the sex of an exotic animal. This applies to frogs, fish, lizards and turtles. On the one hand to know what sex your pet is, if he lives alone, not necessarily. And if you have two of them and you want to get offspring? Here it will be necessary to understand.
It is usually possible to determine the sex of a red turtle only when it has reached puberty. Closer to six or eight years. Yes, and the length of the shell by the time you decided to learn the boy or girl your pet, should be about eleven centimeters. But in the process of clarifying sex, you will have to work on a comparative analysis of the data.
How to distinguish the sex of red-bellied turtles?
In principle, for all turtles, there is a single system for determining sex. Only for red-shoulders, it begins to work when they are just over a year or two, and the length of the shell is nine to ten centimeters - a version for males, and the age from three to eight years old with a length of chitinous cover to eighteen centimeters - for females. Here's a little guide, how to find out the sex of the red-bellied turtles. This list you can use at home, without torturing the pet on the road to a specialist.
The first thing you should note when studying pets, the claws on the forelegs of males are longer and stronger than in female red-bellied turtles. At first the boys arrange a "seduction dance" in front of their "girl". And then strong claws will serve well during mating, when the male will have to stick to the armor of the "girlfriend".
The second feature is the concave part of the ventral side of the shell in males and the flat one in females. This feature given by evolution makes it easier for males to mate when they are on the side of the female's back, where the shell is particularly strongly bent.
On this we did not finish talking about the bone. On examination, note that in males, it has a more elongated and elongated shape than females.
Next feature: males have a long and thick tail in order that the genital organ can hide there. But the females have a small tail, and the oviduct hidden in the cloaca does not thicken it at all.
And the cloak in males and females is not the same. In girls, it is closer to the edge of the shell and looks like an asterisk. And at the opposite sex it is slightly further and has the form of a longitudinal line.
Another way to distinguish the sex of red-bellied turtles is to consider the femoral spurs. In males, they are more pronounced.
Do not forget about the size of the turtle. Boys are slightly smaller, since they do not have to bear eggs. Even in males, the posterior end of the plastron (abdominal part of the shell) is more acute and similar to the Latin letter V, and in females it is rounded and forms an aperture whose diameter is larger than that of males. Also, the nose of males is longer and has a more acute shape.
The easiest way in the process of determining the sex of the red-bellied turtle is to observe the behavior in the mating season. Males become terribly active. They pursue the female, flirt with her, nod. Sometimes they show aggression towards her, they bite her neck. Another sign in the behavior - male individuals are turning out the genital organ during defecation or when manipulating in the back of the body.
Now you are armed with the necessary knowledge and can conduct your own "investigation" to find out the sex of your pet. Turtles are very calm and lead a measured lifestyle, so it is easy to take care of them. You will be happy with the kids they will give you.