Other Turtle Discussion :: Male feature question

[slider_keeper]

I saw the post about early signs of a male and got to thinking. Do males show the concaved plastron even as hatchlings? Or do you know when they start showing a concaved plastron? I never paid any attention to that when Toku was a hatchling. Honestly I didn't think to pay attention to that till he was over 4 in. I decided to make a new topic, to not hijack the other one.

[steve]

For RES, I don't think the concaved plastron is any real indicator. That's only through my experience and I haven't handled too many RES before. Does Toku have this trait?

[slider_keeper]

Yeah, I had to look for it, but could see a concaved portion towards the rear of his plastron.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

The concave isnt a way to tell, my female that i used to have had a more concave shell then my male. My male has no concave look to it at all.

[ataraxiamb]

The plastron on my little guy that we just confirmed is male is still flat.

[slider_keeper]

Interesting DB4L, thanks for the input everyone! I was just curious, its good to be able to compare and contrast our turtles. This is one of the biggest reasons I love this site! I use this site to do some research or at least help with research.

[slider_keeper]

Here is 2 pics of the concaved rear end of Toku's Plastron;

[steve]

Is it just the anal scutes with the concave shape?

[slider_keeper]

Yeah Steve, I don't see much elsewhere on the plastron. There might be a slighter concave thru the forward scutes of the plastron but it is very minuet.

[steve]

Similar to my RES... it's probably even harder to notice when they're younger.

[slider_keeper]

Yeah, that was what I was thinking but didn't remember if Toku had that or not.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Here is my male, he actually has convex shape, complete opposite of yours haha. Curves slightly up and in.

[slider_keeper]

Thanks for posting the pic! Goes to show this isn't a good way to determine sex, haha.

[ataraxiamb]

Before I came to this board, I was told that was the ONLY way to sex them. Glad I get lots of good info here. After I looked at the pics, I took Bill out, and he too has it slightly but just by his rear end. I thought concave meant curvature through the whole plastron.