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I know that turtles are sexed at 4 inches, but my "Leo" is getting pretty close to that mark and "his" nails haven't started to grow. Do these characteristics start at 4 inches or are they more visible then? Because if they are just more apparent then I may have myself a "Lenora"

You just know what I'm going to ask..

Do you have any pictures? I had more luck telling by their tail then their claws at first. Then all of a sudden.. my guys had super long nails. They seemed to just grow over night lol

My RES was a bit less than 4 inches when it became evident he was a male. The surest way for me to tell is by looking at the tail and cloaca. To me, it seems that if the tail and nails aren't showing noticeable growth by 4 inches, the turtle will most likely be a female.

Yup, we want some pics.

I do agree with both posts... under 4", my RES just seem to sprout out nails.

Definitely look at the tail. The tail should be long & thick, relative to any female.

My Sheba's tail is only an inch long, despite her shell being 11 inches. 4" male turtles often have a tail that is almost 2 inches long already...!

Tilly's tail is long and really thick at the base. And the cloaca is much nearer the tip of the tail than the shell.

Well, Leo's tail and his nails seem to conflict . I will have to post pictures tomorrow, I'd do so tonight but unfortunately I have two finals tomorrow and I should be studying instead of perusing turtle websites haha.

megcornell wrote:Well, Leo's tail and his nails seem to conflict . I will have to post pictures tomorrow, I'd do so tonight but unfortunately I have two finals tomorrow and I should be studying instead of perusing turtle websites haha.

Good luck on your finals!!!!

megcornell wrote:Well, Leo's tail and his nails seem to conflict . I will have to post pictures tomorrow, I'd do so tonight but unfortunately I have two finals tomorrow and I should be studying instead of perusing turtle websites haha.

i know what your saying, i need to start this project.

Ok, so my Leo isn't very photogenic, but I tried to take a decent pic of his tail and claws. I also threw in one of my tank (35 gallons) it's a little plain and doesn't have a backing but it'll suffice for this year, sorry for all the water spots at one end, that's where Leo likes to splash and tell me that he's starving to death
So hopefully the pic will be decent enough, his nails probably aren't very visible because they're pretty tiny haha, but as he still has about a 1/2 inch to 4 inches maybe they'll grow. Perhaps it's just too early still to tell, I'm a little anxious to find out though
Thanks!

Early guess is a girl (Leela?)...

I go with girl too.. the tail doesn't look thick enough for a male. Although, I'm not 100% on it