Spring Onion

[dawny690]

Its not iceburg lettuce i have been gining her its like a big leaf type green lettuce. Also is it hard to tell the sex of a tortoise as would like to be 100% certain she is a girl lol Thanks Dawn

hi dawn


no body can really sex a tort until it reaches adulthood

this may take 6 to 10 years

however lots of the experienced keepers may be able to make an educated guess earlier than this

sometimes breeders feel that they have incubated eggs at a temp and humidity to produce female or male torts but this is not fool proof


for most it is a case of time waiting and fingers crossed

may i ask do you need to know now ????


with regards to lettuce i think most people use it as a last minute stand by if weeds cannot be found

[Henry-flash]

If you were to put a picture up of your torts plastron (underside) around the tail area we may be able to tell the sex, or have an educated guess. There is no guarentee though.

Lettuce such as romaine and little gem can be used when weeds are in short supply. I also think that red lettuce shouldn't be fed (sorry Nina) as far as I know it is quite high in oxalic acid, which as we know isn't good for the absorbtion of calcium.

[nina]

Originally Posted by Henry-flash

If you were to put a picture up of your torts plastron (underside) around the tail area we may be able to tell the sex, or have an educated guess. There is no guarentee though.

Lettuce such as romaine and little gem can be used when weeds are in short supply. I also think that red lettuce shouldn't be fed (sorry Nina) as far as I know it is quite high in oxalic acid, which as we know isn't good for the absorbtion of calcium.

Thanks, Pete. I didn't know that. There is some of that red lettuce in the Floretti Crispy bags, and I was told that everything in there was OK. If I ever have to use it again I'll take the red stuff out.

[nina]

Re red lettuce. I was just reading the TT article on safer hibernation, and it says:

Suitable dietary items for Mediterranean and Desert tortoises can include:
Romaine or red leaf lettuce, in very limited quantities. Never use head lettuces such as iceberg, head lettuces contain very little in the way of adequate vitamins or minerals.

[dawny690]

Have sorted some pics of her out just have to work out how to post them on here hopefully there will be some included as i have tried lol Dawn

[Becks]

hi pics not very clear but i would say young male at a guess going by anal scutes ..
but dont hold me to that ..
even tho the tail is small the anal scutes surgest male ..
a bit hard to tell really from pics if u could get some close up ones
would help more luv becks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[dawny690]

Hi I have some more pics hope this helps. Dawn

[Eire_Ade]

Hi Dawn they are a little clearer but I still think its much too early to distinguish the sex of you horsefield tortoise. But like Becks has said the wideness of the anul scuts is indicative of male when you look at the male and female side by side as in the link below.

http://www.chelonia.org/sexing/sexin...horsfieldi.htm

Things could always change yet though, tortoises have a habit of doing that!

Sorry I couldn't be of any more help than this.

Ade

[egyptiandan64]

It looks like you have a young female . How long is she?

Dan