Determining the Sex of a Painted Turtle
It’s pretty difficult to determine the sex of a Painted Turtle unless you’re extremely close to it, and they are so wary when basking that it takes some maneuvering to get a bird’s eye view of one. If you should be so lucky as to approach a Painted Turtle without having it slip into the water long before you get near it, take a look at the nails, or claws, on its front feet. Males have long claws, female short. The male uses his long claws to stroke the female’s head and neck during courtship, as well as to hold on to the female’s shell when they mate. When trying to determine the gender of a Painted Turtle, it helps when you find the two sexes together, as you can easily compare the relative length of their claws. In the photograph, the male Painted Turtle is on the left, female on the right.
What a beautiful image.
August 7, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Synchronized basking . . .
August 7, 2012 at 5:59 pm
wow…it has been sooo long since I’ve seen a painted turtle never mind two…awesome picture!
August 7, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Great photo and blogpost. Hope I’m lucky enough to get close enough to tell next time I’m out in painted turtle territory.
August 7, 2012 at 9:17 pm
What a terrific photo, showing so clearly the difference between the male and female. The reflection is wonderful! I wonder how long you waited to get that perfect moment.
August 7, 2012 at 11:15 pm
What an amazing factoid! I am spreading the word with glee – thanks for sharing!
August 8, 2012 at 2:25 am
A great picture. What about sexing other turtle species?
August 8, 2012 at 6:24 pm
With most turtles, the males have longer tails than females and their bottom shell, or plastron, is concave, which is helpful during mating. Individual species have additional gender differences, i.e. male box turtles have red eyes, and females have brown.
August 9, 2012 at 2:07 pm