How to tell a male from a female red-eared turtle. How to determine the age of the red-eared turtle? Aquatic reptile care

If you are not going to breed red-eared turtles, it may not matter to you at all which of the red-eared turtles - a boy or a girl - lives in your aquarium.

For everyone else, I will now tell you how to find out the gender red-eared turtle With a large percentage accuracy. This can be done when the male and female reach sexual maturity - as a rule, at the age of 6-8 years, with a body length of 9-10 cm. Until this time, it is very difficult to understand who is who. Guided by certain features of a particular sex, a male from a female can be distinguished by the following features.

First of all, look at the tail of the animal. It is longer in males than in females. Turn the turtle upside down. The cloaca of the male is located further from the base of the tail, and the cloaca of the female is at its very base, right under the shell. Now pay attention to the shell. Its abdominal part, called the plastron, has in the female red-eared turtle almost flat surface. The male has a concave shape, which allows him to stay on the female during mating.

Photo from Turtles.ru

Another sign that will tell you how to find out the sex of a red-eared turtle is that that the muzzle of the male has a more pointed shape, and its claws are much longer than those of the female, which again is associated with mating. However, this fact should not be considered indisputable, since the male can grind off his claws on pebbles or stones of the terrarium.

You can accurately determine the sex of the red-eared turtle during mating games. The male actively flirts with the female, “looms” in front of her muzzle, stretches his paws forward and up and often shakes his head from side to side.

The red-eared turtle is not just a heat-loving amphibian that lives in the waters of Central and South America, Africa and Europe. For many, she became a pet, replacing ponds and lakes with an aquarium. Caring for this animal is not very difficult (it is unpretentious in nutrition and rarely gets sick), but still there are certain nuances associated with keeping turtles in captivity. They must certainly be known to a person who has decided to acquire one or more individuals, and even more so to people who have settled in their house for a long time.

Animal care, nutrition and behavior change significantly with age. Especially carefully it is necessary to look after cubs, as well as elderly individuals. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to determine the age of the red-eared turtle, despite the fact that it is very important to know this.

The fact is that the size of the animal largely depends on the conditions of its maintenance and diet, so it will not help much in this matter. Moreover, there are many subspecies of red-eared turtles. Belonging to a particular one can also affect the size.

So, if a particular red-eared slider came to your liking in a pet store, you can ask the seller how to determine the age and sex of this individual. However, the future owner himself will not hurt to have at least basic information about this.

First, the red-eared turtle was named after the characteristic red spots behind the animal's eyes, which have absolutely nothing to do with the ears, but change with age from bright scarlet to maroon. Secondly, younger individuals have a green coloration with stripes and stains, which becomes duller and darker with age. Thirdly, with good care, young animals grow up very quickly.

When purchasing a small pet, you need to be prepared for the fact that it can increase several times in size in the first year of being in a new home. So how to determine the age of the red-eared turtle yourself? If we are not talking about special accuracy, then you can try to do this by carefully examining the animal's shell. For each year of life, 2-3 rings form on it. Counting them up total, we can come to the appropriate conclusion.

As a rule, red-eared turtles live in captivity for about 30 years. If create ideal conditions content, they can please their owners even 35-40 years old. However, you need to understand that, like all pets, in young age they are mobile and funny, and in old age they become more infantile and capricious. It is for this reason that it is so important to know how to determine the age of red-eared turtles. When purchasing a large individual, for example, for a child, it will be a shame to find out that she has no more than 1-2 years left to live. It is especially important if the animal is bought not in a specialized store, but from a private person.

Usually cubs are more mobile, curious, playful and clumsy than adults. When buying a small fidget in a shell, you don’t have to think too much about how to determine the age of a red-eared turtle. More attention should be paid appearance shell (it should not be damaged) and the behavior of the baby (if it is cold in the room where the animals are kept, lethargy and inactivity are allowed, but it is better to choose the one who is quicker).

Red-eared turtles are oviparous. Cubs hatch usually about 3 cm long, starting to grow intensively literally from the first days of life. Gender can be unequivocally determined only by 5-6 years. Previously, this can only be assumed with a certain degree of probability (which the seller of the pet store must certainly report).

How to determine the age of the red-eared turtle is generally clear, but to do this accurately, you need to know the date of its birth.

As a rule, pet owners want to know everything about them. Age, character traits, and other important little things. All this helps you figure out how to properly care for the creature that has settled in your house (find out all the details of keeping turtles at home). Well, today we decided to tell you our readers about how to learn to determine the age of turtles, and why it is so important.

How turtles grow

All creatures are born defenseless, however, as they grow, some have teeth, others have claws, and others have shells. As you guessed, the latter refers to turtles, in which, as they grow, the size of the shell increases, its color metamorphoses, and the shape of the body also changes. So, for example,

the shell darkens and stretches in length, and when the male turtle reaches puberty (an important aspect if you want to practice), then a depression appears on its plastron, claws become longer, thicker and long tail, the color of the nose and eyes changes.

In the case when the growth processes of turtles occur intensively enough, the new horny layers on the periphery of their scutes become light in color, and then processes of pigmented cells grow there, along which the pigment is transferred - usually in the form of dark spots or thin rays. But, over time, these growth rings age, and the pigmented zones cease to differ from the earlier ones - this often happens with turtles that are kept at home in captivity.

Exactly body size can tell us a lot about the age of a turtle. Therefore, below we will give you information regarding what parameters turtles have depending on their age.

The ratio of the body size of the turtle and its age

If the length of a newborn male is 2.5-3 centimeters, then by 1 year the length of his body reaches 5-7 centimeters, by 2 years - 7-9 centimeters, by 3 years - 8-12 centimeters, by 4- m years - 10-14 centimeters, by 5 years - 13 centimeters.

If the body length of a newborn female is 2.5 - 3 centimeters, then by 1 year it reaches 5-7 centimeters, by 2 years - 7-9 centimeters, by 3 years - 9-15 centimeters, by 4 years - 13-18 centimeters, by 5 years - 17 centimeters.

The size of the body can be influenced by the conditions of the turtles, their diet (find out), as well as the characteristics of the species to which it belongs, however, based on these average parameters, you can calculate the approximate age of your turtle from the length of its body.

How to determine the age of a turtle by the number of rings on its shell

Another fairly informative way to determine the age of a turtle is to determine it by the number of rings on your pet's shell. Considering that 2-3 rings form on the shell within 1 year, you can calculate the total number of rings and calculate the average number of years. However, if you calculate the age of a turtle using this method, you should take into account the fact that the size and number of rings may depend on the conditions in which the turtle is kept, and also whether it has hibernated. As a rule, the first rings on the shell of a turtle appear when it is not yet 1 year old. From this moment, you can start an approximate time count. But, we would also like to draw your attention to the fact that in old turtles the shell becomes smooth and the rings become pale, and it can be quite difficult to count them ... Also, if you calculate the age of a turtle, based on the number of rings on its shell, we would recommend that you do not forget about periods of active growth: the first period - from a newborn to 2 years old - furrows determine the development period from 4 months to 6 months, and in the future it is customary to rely on a circa-year cycle.

there are specialists who, by the number of rings on the shell of turtles, can tell not only everything about her age, but also about the conditions of detention and even past diseases. So, take a closer look at your pet's shell - it hides a whole biography ...

The question of how to determine the sex of a red-eared turtle is asked by many breeders of this popular domestic reptile. It is not so easy to answer it, because for exact definition The sex of the turtle must reach a certain age and size. The gender of the red-eared turtles is indicated by a number of signs.

You can determine the sex of the red-eared turtle based on comparative analysis aggregates external signs. The most accurate conclusions can be drawn if the turtle has already reached puberty. Reptiles 6-8 years old are considered ready for breeding, the average length of the shell of which is 11 cm. However, in one and a half or 2-year-old individuals, you can already try to determine the sex. So, if you want to get offspring from your pets or are just wondering what names to give them, it's time to learn how to determine the sex of the red-eared turtle.

claw length

Nature has endowed the males of the red-eared turtle with longer claws on the front paws compared to the females. Turtle boys need long and strong claws to perform enticing mating dance during the mating period and for a stronger fixation on the female's shell during the process of her fertilization. The claws of females are shorter and blunt.

Determining the sex is quite simple, but this feature may become less obvious when keeping reptiles in captivity. The fact is that the turtles that spend most of their time on land simply grind their claws, especially if the structure of the flooring in the terrarium contributes to this.

Shell features

You can determine the sex of a red-eared turtle by carefully examining the features of its shell. In order to again facilitate the mating process for turtles, nature rewarded males with a shell with a concave ventral side. In females, this abdominal concavity is absent.

The shape of the carapace can also help determine the sex of the red-eared turtle - in males, it is more elongated and elongated. From the side of the tail, the shell of males is slightly pointed and forms the Latin letter V, in females, the ventral side of the shell has a rounded shape and forms a larger hole than in males (this feature is provided by nature to facilitate the laying of eggs).

Tail and cloaca

Concealed sexual organ the tail of the male red-eared turtle is wider at the base and has a longer length compared to the tail of the female. In females, the tail is much smaller and thinner.

You can determine the sex of a red-eared turtle by carefully considering the location and shape of the cloaca. In females, the cloaca is shaped like an asterisk. and is located at the edge of the shell. In males, the cloaca is located at some distance from the edge of the shell and has the shape of a straight line.

Other external signs

Determining the sex of red-eared turtles of the same age, compare their sizes. Females, who are assigned the role of carrying and laying eggs by nature, are somewhat larger than males.

Experts claim that the muzzle of the male red-eared slider is sharper compared to females.

The spurs on the paws of males are much more pronounced.

Behavioral features

IN mating season male red-eared sliders are very active: they arrange demonstration performances in front of the females, waving their clawed front paws, chasing their chosen ones, nodding their heads.

So, now you are armed with the information necessary to determine the sex of the red-eared turtle - you can begin to form turtle pairs and further breed these cute pets. Good luck!

Usually the question of how to determine age and gender arises when you want to get a pair for an existing individual and try to get offspring, because you need to pick up a turtle that is not only already capable of reproduction, but also of the opposite sex.

How to find out the age of a red-eared turtle?

It is much easier with an external examination than to resolve the issue of her gender. Sex determination usually occurs by the shell. There are two main ways to determine the age of a red-eared turtle by its shell. The first is based on counting the concentric rings that form as the animal grows (this is similar to determining the age of a tree from the cut of the trunk). Usually 1-2 concentric rings correspond to one year of a turtle's life. In addition, as the color of the shell becomes less bright as it grows, the red spots on the head also turn pale.

The second way to determine the age of the carapace is related to the analysis of its size. There are average indicators of turtle growth and at 1 year the shell length is approximately 6 cm, at 2 years - 9 cm for the female and 8 cm for the male, at 3 years - 14 and 10 cm, respectively, at 4 years - 16 and 12 cm, in 5 years old - 18 and 14 cm, at 6 years old - 20 and 17 cm (age 5–6 years is optimal for breeding). On average, red-eared turtles live 30-35 years, and their maximum size reaches 30 cm.

How to determine the sex of a red-eared turtle?

There are three main ways to determine the sex of a red-eared turtle: by the shell, by the tail, and by the claws. How to determine the sex of a red-eared turtle from its shell depends on the analysis of the shape of the rear lower part of it. In the male, it has a concave appearance, since it is this shape that facilitates mating, while the female has a more rounded and flatter end of the shell cover.

Determination of sex by the tail is one of the most accurate. It is believed that in males the tail is thicker at the base, and sharply narrows towards the tip and ends with a pointed corner. The tail of the female is more uniform in thickness and has a flatter and more rounded tip.

You can also judge the field of the red-eared turtle based on the shape of the claws. The male usually has very long and pointed at the ends, as well as curved claws, while the female is content with shorter, rounded nails. However, this last sign can fail inexperienced breeders, since in the conditions of life in an aquarium, the claws of both the male and the female can easily be ground on stones and it will not be so easy to recognize the sex of the animal.