confused male or female?

[STEWIE]

Is it possible to have a 4yr old horsfield that is larger than my other males at 4 and looks like a female underneath but is male?
Im totally baffled because one of my torts physically looks like a female but is biting and mounting and acting like a male.
I could sex my males at half the size of billie so all looks female but the behaviour is definetly male.
Confused lol

[TillyTortoise]

Probably best if you put some plastron (bottom shell) photos in the sexing/ID section.

[STEWIE]

Thanks but you'll say female hahaha and hes buried out the heat right now.
Im quite good normally at sexing torts and the little menace definetly looks female and hes bigger than my other males and looks exactly like his sister who i know is female. Its more the behaviour as i havent heard of any females that act like a male so wondering if its possible for him to be a very very late developer lol

[sandy]

Originally Posted by STEWIE

Is it possible to have a 4yr old horsfield that is larger than my other males at 4 and looks like a female underneath but is male?
Im totally baffled because one of my torts physically looks like a female but is biting and mounting and acting like a male.
I could sex my males at half the size of billie so all looks female but the behaviour is definetly male.
Confused lol

Gravid females can act this way.

[STEWIE]

Thanks sandy.
Hes only 4 1/2 so bit too ypung. When my oldest female had eggs and was gravid she was ramming alot but not mounting.
Billie is definetly behaving like my other males. Its got so bad i had to seperate him from his sister. I normally seperate the boys once theyve passed the 4yr mark for the same behabiour. Its just billie looks female underneath.
Is it possible for billie to be male but to develop the male bits at a much later stage?

[Merlin M]

4 years but how big?

[burnt toast]

Originally Posted by sandy

Gravid females can act this way.

My thoughts exactly. How big is this tort? As its size that dictates breeding & not age.

[Catwoman63]

my 5ish year old female, bites and mounts a slightly larger female every morning upon waking, i had to recheck her "bits" to make she was still female, and yep she is still a female, the slightly larger female has never done this tho x

[STEWIE]

Thanks guys. Catwoman thats exactly whats happened with billie. He/shes been mounting, chasing, nodding, biting non stop for a few months now.
Rgds billies size must admit i havent measured my torts this year.
My males i could sex at around 4yrs possibly 4inches. Ive kept records of the older torts. Got a bit lazy with the younger ones rgds measurements and weight. The older boys are 10 now and around 5 or so inches as ive always grown my torts very slow. My females including billie are noticebly larger. Billie at 4 is twice the size of my males now. Smooth shell etc.

[Merlin M]

Seems most likely he is a she... only pics and measurements would confirm it though...