All baby sulcata tortoises and young tortoises look female. It can take years before you can accurately identify the gender of your sulcata. In order to accurately determine if your sulcata is male or female, the tortoise should be about 15 pounds and about 12 inches long.
Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination During Incubation
When the breeder incubates the sulcata tortoise eggs, s/he can adjust the temperature of the incubator in attempts to hatch a specific gender.
Temp-sexing tortoise eggs is NOT a confirmed method of guaranteeing gender of baby sulcatas. However, it is thought that when incubating sulcata tortoise eggs at a lower temperature below 77° F, the clutch will produce more male baby sulcata tortoises. If the eggs are incubated at warmer temperstures above 86° F, the clutch will yield more females.
When asking a breeder if s/he incubated for male or female baby sulcatas, take the answer with a grain of salt. This is not a guaranteed method to ensure one gender or the other.
Plastron
The plastron of a male sulcata is concave, whereas the plastron of a female sulcata is flat.
Anal Scutes
The anal scutes are on the plastron by the tail. These two scutes form a ‘V’ shape. The anal scutes of a male sulcata have a wide flare, whereas the anal scutes of a female are more narrow.
Gular Scutes
The gular scutes are on the plastron by the head. The two scutes are often called the gular horn. The gular scutes of a male sulcata are large and long. Male sulcatas use the gulars for dominating other males. They will use them to ram and attempt to flip other tortoises. Female sulcatas have short gulars.
Flash
This is often the first sign that you have a male sulcata… Male tortoises will “flash” you with their private parts.
Mounting
Male sulcatas are more likely to mount other tortoises. Mounting is not always a sign that the tortoise is male and trying to breed. Mounting can be a sign of one tortoise trying to force dominance on another.
They will try to mate females and assert dominance on other males. This does not mean that females will not mount other tortoises, but males are more likely to exhibit this behavior.
Aggression
Although, both sulcata male and females can be prone to aggressive behaviors, males are traditionally more aggressive, especially toward other males.
