[For Sale] 13 Inch FEMALE LEOPARD TORTOISE - Egg Layer Size

It has the flattest plastron, like board. I will work on better close-up pics and try to get a shot of its tail out :-)

Jason

OK, I just took some new pictures detailing this animals ultra flat plastron and tail section. Like I said above, we do not work with Leopard tortoises, but this looks female to me :-)

It has a short stubby tail and almost laser flat plastron and is 13.5 inches so it is mature enough to show sexually dimorphic differences? Anyhow, that being said, I am attaching better pics for your review. I hope they help.

Jason

Yup definitely female. She has some goofy anal scutes though lol

Her "A" scutes look good to me :-)

I am 99.9% going to try to attend the big National Reptile Show at Dayton in August this year. The only thing that will keep me from going is some unforeseen animal reality/emergency here at our facility that I can not predict. If desired, to save money on shipping, I can bring this female to the show for pick-up if you plan on attending also? Just an option.

Jason

You worried about her being unlevel ?

Not one bit :-) I used the level just to show her plastron is ultra flat supporting my opinion that this animal is a female.

Her top shell may have a kink and be pyramided, but she is still pretty low profile so I would guess that even a smaller male would not have a problem mating her. She eats great and cruises her large habitat with no problems. She walks straight with no difficulties.

Jason

Sorry but I would have to agree with Texastravis, your tortoise is a male. The tail is long enough and the anal scutes are all together wrong for a female to be able to pass an egg even a small one. If you check you will also find the "vent" is enlongated and not round...,again a male characteristic. As for the flat plastron, I have 2 males that show little to no concavity and they are 12 and 16 pound boys that are real studs ...so you really can't rely on that as a dead giveaway The upper shell appears to have caved as a result of Vitamin deficiency probably when young...the shell gets soft and the bone underneath deforms...it can harden later but the deformity is usually permanent.
But he should do okay as a breeder if he is on a good plane of nutrition ...and there definitly seems to be a general lack of breeding age males around
Good luck

Interesting! Thanks for your feedback.

I really do not know what to think about Him/Her. To me this animal looks totally female. The tip of her tail is really tiny, but I don't work with these here.

I agree with your theory on past nutrition being a cause of its shell deformities. The original owners raised her from a hatchling and fed primarily hay from the pet store. They had ZERO clue of the species specific husbandry requirements of this species.

I have had her for a few months and have corrected her diet and she seems to be jamming now. Anyhow, he/she is what he/she is.

If anyone is interested please base your purchase on your own knowledge and the vast amounts of detailed pictures I have supplied in this thread. It sure looks female to me.

Jason

Ok, I just looked up every photo I could find on the tail structure difference of male & female leopard tortoises. While I agree that this animal's anal scutes are steeply connected, the tail looks identical to every female leopard tortoise tail I could find on the net! It is not even close to the length of a male tail buy a long shot.

The tail on this animal is only a few mm's from the anus compared to a males tail which is 1/2 inch or longer from the opening in an animal of this size. In fact, I highly doubt that if it was a male its tail would be long enough to inseminate any female.

I still hold true to my original judgement that this is 100% female. In addition, I have sent off a e-mail for the opinion of an internationally respected Leopard tortoise keeper and author. I will keep this forum in the loop if I hear back from him.

Jason