Identifying a turtles gender is often a problem that a lot of turtle owners have. It can be very difficult to make a clear judgement on what sex your pet turtle is, as not everyone nows the signs to look for in adult turtles to figure out if they are male or female. Figuring out what sex your turtle is can help you also improve the kind of pet turtle care you give your turtle as you will know how to care for say a female turtle who is pregnant and how to cater to their needs.
So here are a few tips to help you spot the differences:
1) Look for differences in tail length and size
Males will have a much longer and fatter tail than females and if you have two turtles its worth aligning them together to see the difference. If one is male and another is female you will notice that one has a shorter more triangular looking tail which would indicate that it's a female. The other should have a longer more pointy tail which would indicate that it's a male.
2) Does your turtle have long claws?
Another clear indicator of your turtles gender being male is that their claws will be much longer than a female. A female will have noticeably shorter claws than a male. One of the main reasons for this difference is to allow the male to climb onto the females back when mating.
3) Is there a dip or an indent in the shell underneath the turtle?
An indent in the shell underneath a turtle would suggest that your turtles gender is a male; this is another attribute of a male turtle which is designed to give them an advantage when they mate. If you gently run your fingers down this area of a turtles shell you may feel a dip, sometimes it is very clear to see and this would signal that you are holding a male turtle. Females will have a flatter look and feel on the shell underneath them.
