Help me SEX my turtles!!! Pic's

We were told by multiple people (pet store owners, and the person who sold it to us) that the female was the larger of the two (8inches, 1st picture) and that the male was the smaller one (7inches 2nd picture)


We've done research that has pictures of male and female differences and it contradicts what all these tortoise experts say, so were fairly confused.

They also said that the male needs to be some what smaller than the female for successful breeding, Is this true?
People and books have been misleading and it's very frustrating and confusing also are they mature enough to breed? Please help us out! Thanks!

If you wish to respond by email Tortoiseme@yahoo.com

Thanks!

First looks male to me 2nd looks female but the pics arent the best by what I can see of the tails...

The first pic is male. Note how the shell around the tail forms a 'U' shape. The second is female, shell is 'V' shape. Size is not an accurate method of determining sex.

The two tortioses you have are male and female. The larger one is your male and the smaller is the female for sure.You can always tell by that V shape and U shape on the plastron and the length of the tail is a good indicator as well. Also when they start to sexually mature the males plastron will start to become concave,deveolping as such in order to assist in his mount for breeding.If you have any further questions,feel free to contact me @ georgeward7416@yahoo.com or call(772-240-3456) My mane is george and I know some of the top breeders in the country on most any kind of reptile and amphibian. I am an exotics expert here in s. florida and deal with some of the largest dealers as well in the U.S. We can Help!