General Care Discussion :: Are female turtle not as bright in colour?

[Cade]

I noticed looking at the gallery here on this site that some of the RES are very bright in colour and thier shells are beautiful. Does the same thing stand in turtles like other animals in the animal world. Females are not as "pretty" as males? I'm pretty sure Carlos is a girl I guess we will have to change her name to something a little more lady like

[Kurtni]

Color is not an accurate way to determine gender. Boys and girls can be equally colorful. =]

[Chrisbarnett]

Yes, hues and shades can vary drastically from male to female.

How big is Carlos? You won't be able to tell gender until his/her shell reaches 4".

[Cade]

Looking at his front feet, his nails are not as long as a males should be and he has a long tail which makes me think he might be a she, lol.
So I though maybe the whole colour theme plays into it. I'll try to post a picture to show everyone.

Cade

[SpotsMama]

Color isn't a function of gender. Color varies by age and diet and light. Baby turtles are bright green with bright yellow stripes and red ears. Grown turtles are dark, showing shades of olive, caramel and black with yellow on the plastron. Turtles that spend a lot of time in the sun get very dark, sometimes almost completely black. The yellow parts of turtles that get beta carotene in their diets (carrots, sweet potatoes, etc) turn bright yellow orange.

Oh, and turtles also simply have their individual color differences - some lighter, some darker, with a range of shades.