How to correctly determine the age and gender of the turtle

Turtle - a great option for the first acquaintance of a child with a pet. The turtle needs minimal care, there are no problems with nutrition, vaccinations and maintenance. However, despite the apparent simplicity, turtles have one rather important problem - it is very difficult to determine gender and age. These indicators are important not only for the official provision of the turtle to family members, but also in order to hope for the birth of small turtles, to correctly calculate the period of intensive development and the period of transition to hibernation. How to independently find out the sex and age of the turtle you will learn from our article.

Why is it difficult to know the gender and age of the turtle

Turtle is a species of reptile that can live for more than 120 years. This is a rather long period, since one domestic turtle, with proper care, can calmly survive not only its own owners, but also their children and even grandchildren. The tortoise can be kept in captivity in the simplest conditions, while no problems with its breeding will arise. It is also interesting that until a certain age it is completely impossible to find out the sex and exact age of a pet of this species. Sexual development begins only after reaching 6-8 years, and distinctive signs appear even later than this time period.

According to scientific studies, the turtle tops the list of animals that have not completely changed their appearance in the process of evolution. What they were in the last millennium and even at the beginning of the era, they remained so at the present time. Under natural conditions, this type of reptile reproduced and lived on the basis of natural impulses - the problem of age and gender only worries the owners, the indicator itself is completely unimportant to the turtles.

People involved in breeding domestic turtles are very concerned about acquiring a pet of the exact gender that is needed. In order to be fully prepared before the purchase, it is necessary to deal with current issues.

Determine independently the age of the turtle

Circle on the shell. In the people, the most famous method for determining the age of a turtle is the number of relief circles on the shell. It’s like on a tree cut - the more circles, the greater the age. The only peculiarity is that a turtle can have about 2-3 circles in one calendar year, so you should take this factor into account when calculating the number of years lived. In young people, the special relief of the shell is very clear, in adults and the elderly - it becomes almost flat, smooth. Pay attention to this factor when buying an animal.

If you want to more accurately determine age using this method, count the number of grooves on several scales, determine the arithmetic average and divide by 2.5 (the average is indicative of the appearance of a circle for 1 year). The result will be as close as possible to the real age of your turtle.

The length of the shell. There is another method for determining age - measuring the length of the shell. However, this option may not always present a 100% result. Of course, the tortoise shell grows throughout life, but this process is also influenced by the quality of the feed, the conditions of detention, and other external signs. So, in 1 year the carapace grows up to 6 cm, in 2 - up to 8, in 3 - up to 10 and so on. As a result, it turns out that every year the turtle grows by 2 cm. This fact can be taken into account as additional, but using it as the main one is not rational.

How to determine the sex of a turtle

Before embarking on a practical experiment to determine the sex of a turtle, it is worth noting one indispensable fact: you can only know which sex your turtle belongs to when it reaches 6-8 years of age, with a shell size of 10-12 cm. This is important! Since at an earlier age you will not see any external features of the physique, and the internal organs are completely inaccessible to the eyes, as they are hidden under the strong cover of the shell.

Here are some methods for determining the sex of a turtle. All of them are based on any one of the signs. However, for the most effective diagnosis of gender, it is worth using not only one method, but using them in combination, together with other available ones. Advice! It will be easier to figure out this parameter if you begin to compare a few features with each other.

1. In males, the claws are longer and thicker than in the female (this is due to the fact that, during mating, the turtle boy should cling to the carapace of the girl).
2. In males, the plastron (the abdominal part of the shell) is concave, in females - flat - it is necessary to keep it on the shell.
3. Eye color in females is brighter than in males - it is necessary to attract a partner.
4. Male turtles have a long and narrow shell shape, and females have a short and round shape.
5. The type of cesspool - in males resembles a longitudinal line, in females - the image of an asterisk.
6. You can also determine the sex of the turtle by behavioral signs - males are more active, constantly make contact with females, flirt, bite their neck, and nod their heads.
7. The female has a short tail, and its base is thin. In the male, everything is exactly the opposite - a wide base, a thick and long tail.

If you examined your pet in all of the above ways, but did not determine the gender, with an accuracy of 100%, you can always use the help of a professional veterinarian who, thanks to special laboratory tests, will provide the most reliable result.

It is worth emphasizing once again the fact that the independent determination of the sex and age of the tortoise is too difficult an exercise that requires special knowledge, the study of anatomy. If you decide to rely solely on your own strength, do not forget to additionally seek the advice of a veterinarian - so you will avoid further trouble with breeding offspring.

Video: determining the sex and age of a land tortoise