Other Turtle Discussion :: What are the sex of my turtles?

[xewkija631]

Well first off I'm new to these forums and new to anything about turtles, I have had these turtles for about 6 years and never cared what sex they were untill now. I took them to a local pet store and was told that they are red eared sliders, which was cool to know. But she wasnt able to tell me the sex of them so I found this site and was hoping someone could possibley help me out.



The first three pictures are of turtle 1

and the next three sets are of turtle 2

and the last is a side by side, I didn't know what to take pictures of so that's all i did

Any information about them would be great, and are they big for their age, will they get bigger?

Thank You

[SINI5T3R]

Turtle 1 I can not really tell because I cant see its claws

Turtle 2 looks to be Male

also [!!!] is up with there shells? they look all messed up...

[xewkija631]

Thanks for the reply, and what do you mean what's wrong with their shells?how do they looked messed up?

[SINI5T3R]

They look really weird. Like all bumpy and stuff and the bigger one looks like one of the sides is more flat or pushed in then the other.

Here is what a RES shell SHOULD look like...

[SINI5T3R]

Also this is how you tell Male from Female.

[xewkija631]

Thanks a lot for that info, will it make a difference if the turtles I got were from Europe? I didn't buy them from the states and their shells had always
seem to be the same

[jozzep]

also [!!!] is up with there shells? they look all messed up...

They're not messed up. They have extra scutes that makes them look weird. it does not affect their health. Most likely these turtles where incubated at high temperatures that caused the deformity and most likely they are both females.
High incubation temps = 90% female turtle

[Moose]

Hey Jozzep!!! Those spinal scutes...with the extra scutes and that zigzag pattern pastels have those too bcuz of deformity and high incubation right?

[SINI5T3R]

I spy a band-Aid on the Index Finger!

10 Points for me!

[TheComputerGremlin]

Good information SINI5T3R!! You are catching on quickly to the forum!

We would need better photos to help you out well. You want two photos, the front claws and the underside of the tail, stretched out to see the opening.

From the photos, I tend to agree with SINI5T3R that the shells do look a bit messed up. To me, it looks like A) they need a good shed and B) they may be being fed a bit too much protein, or were fed too much as youngsters. The damage is likely permanent, so now you want to focus on keeping them healthy on the inside (i.e. feeding the correct amount of protein and veggies, giving good basking/UVB, etc.) External damage is only a problem if it is not remedied.

I would recommend upping their intake of vitamin E (like blueberries) and calcium (like cuttlebone) to get those shells to turn over, and re-examine your feeding schedule.

[SINI5T3R]

But remember when using cuttlebone you have to cut off the hard side of the cuttle bone as turtles cant digest that part. You want the soft part only. just brake it up into pieces and throw them in your tank one at a time.

they usually sell at like walmart for like 1$...there just the things that you put in bird cages for them to pick at....