Male of Female ?
This question is sometimes not easy to answer and it can be quite difficult to sex young snake-necked turtles. Differences in sex is not so obvious as it is with other turtles, terrapins and tortoises. Differenciating snake-necked turtles in sex is mainly limited to the physical appearance of the tail as size and form.
To my experience snake-necked turtles need to be at least 2 years old or must have reached 12-14 cm (4-5 inch) of carapace lenght to destinctive the sex with some certainty.
The tail of male snake-necked turtles is longer and also thicker on the base. The opening of the cloaka at females is located closer to the plastron than it is at males.
Sometimes it is easier to determine the sex of juveniles by watching them swimming instead of taking them out of the water. Most snake-necked turtles keep their tail close to the plastron if taken out of the water.
Also the carapace length of adult male turtles is in most cases smaller than those of female snake-necked turtles. Below you will find some examples of typical adult animals:
On the left you can see the the male turtle and on the right the female turtle:
To my experience snake-necked turtles need to be at least 2 years old or must have reached 12-14 cm (4-5 inch) of carapace lenght to destinctive the sex with some certainty.
The tail of male snake-necked turtles is longer and also thicker on the base. The opening of the cloaka at females is located closer to the plastron than it is at males.
Sometimes it is easier to determine the sex of juveniles by watching them swimming instead of taking them out of the water. Most snake-necked turtles keep their tail close to the plastron if taken out of the water.
Also the carapace length of adult male turtles is in most cases smaller than those of female snake-necked turtles. Below you will find some examples of typical adult animals:
On the left you can see the the male turtle and on the right the female turtle:
Chelodina mccordi
Macrochelodina expansa
Macrochelodina rugosa
Chelodina longicollis
Juveniles
As mentioned above it is much more difficult to differntiate juvenile animals. Below you can see two pictures of C. mccordi. Both animals have reached about 10cm (4 inch) carapace lenght and the difference in the tail is already vissible. Below that size it is almost impossible to determine the sex visually.
Juvenile male C. mccordi
Juvenile female C. mccordi