How to Tell If your Box Turtle Is Male or Female (+Pictures)

If you own a pet box turtle, at some point, you will want to know if it’s a boy or a girl. But in most cases, this is easier said than done, unless you have a well-structured guide with pictures that will tell you what is the best way to find out the gender of your box turtle, like this guide right here.

The best way to determine the gender of a box turtle is by looking at the length of its claws, the shape of the shell, the color of the eyes, the length of the tail, the position of the cloaca, and the shape of the snout. All of those characteristics are different in male and female box turtles.

Those differences are usually quite subtle, but if you look closely at your turtle, and compare it with the pictures in the article you will definitely notice them. So let’s start with one of the easiest-to-spot differences, the color of the eyes.

The Color of the Eyes

Looking at what color are the eyes of a box turtle is the best way to tell if it’s a male or a female.

Male box turtles have red eyes, while females have yellow, yellow-brown eyes or orange eyes. Here are two pictures that you can use as a reference.

Male Box Turtle  Photo by c w on Flickr

Female Box Turtle  Photo by Karen on Flickr

This is probably the best method to tell apart male and female box turtles apart, but there is one small problem. There are some males that have a toned-down eye color, which is somewhat orange, and there are some females that have orange eyes. So while this is a great method, you shouldn’t rely on it alone, as there are cases when it might fail you.

As for why males have red eyes, there is no clear known benefit at the moment, but most biologists assume that it can be an advantage during the mating season and that females could be attracted to male turtles that have brighter shades of red.

Overall turtles and tortoises can have a lot of different eye colors, ranging from simple brown to red, to orange to blue, and to black. And their pupils can have a lot of different shapes, from dots to stripes, and even stars. If you would like to know more about this, and see some pictures as well you should check out my article: What Color Are Turtles Eyes? (With Pictures)

The Length of the Claws

The next thing that you should look at in order to figure out if your turtle is male or female is the claws. And this is because males have visibly longer laws than females.

Here are two pictures, the first one showing the claws of a male turtle, and the second the claws of a female turtle.

There are two main reasons why male turtles have longer claws than females.

The first one is to help the male turtles have a better grip on the female’s shell when they are mating. And the second one is to help attract females in the first place, as during the mating ritual box turtles use their claws to make some specific sounds to attract females.

The Shape of the Shell

The next thing that you should check is the shape of the shell, more exactly the shape of the plastron, as males have a concave (curved in) plastron, while the females have a flat plastron.

Photos by braindamaged217 on Flickr

The reason for this difference is also related to mating behavior, as the male needs to get on top of the female, and they need to maintain some balance.

In this picture, you can see that the rightmost plastron and the second one from the left have a concave shape, while the rest are flat. While it can be a little hard to tell from a picture, in reality, you can immediately tell the difference.

The Length of the Tail

Females have shorter and thicker tails, while males have longer and skinnier tails. 

This is usually a very good way to tell if a turtle is male or female, but there is one thing that can easily mislead you, and that thing is a nipped tail, which is very common among pet turtles, more than in wild turtles.

Small pet turtles are usually kept together in very tight spaces, and some of them will occasionally mistake the tail of another turtle for something that they can eat, so they will bite it. And as a result that turtle will grow up having a smaller tail than it would have otherwise.

This can also happen in the wild, but it happens rarely since turtles don’t spend that much time near other turtles, and they have a lot more space.

So make sure to take a closer look at that tail and see if it looks whole, otherwise, you could mix up the gender of your box turtle.

The Position of the Cloaca

The cloaca is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive and urinary tract, and it can be really helpful in figuring out if a box turtle is male or female, even if all cloacas look the same.

Females have their cloaca positioned near the base of their tail, while males have it closer to the end of the tail.

Turtles use their cloaca, for a lot more interesting things than urinating, they also use it for breading underwater. If you want to know more about the cloaca and what turtles and tortoises use it for you should check out this article: Do Turtles Have Gills?

The Shape of the Snout

Males have slightly longer and pointier snouts than females.

The difference is very subtle but if you look closely you can notice it. So, here are two up-close pictures of a male box turtle snout, and a female box turtle snout.

As you can see the difference is very subtle, but it’s definitely there. 

As much as I’ve researched I haven’t been able to find a reason or use for this slight difference in shape, so at the moment there is probably no information about this, or maybe it doesn’t have any benefit at all. The only interesting thing I found about this is that during the courtship phase some male turtles will shoot a jet of water through their noses at the faces of the females, to attract them. This is not necessarily correlated to the difference in shape but it’s definitely funny.

The Size of the Box Turtle

In general female box turtles are bigger than male box turtles. So if you have two box turtles that are about the same age and one of them is clearly bigger than the other, then the smaller one is female and the bigger one is male.

This is a great method that you can use if you are comparing two box turtles that have been born at around the same time, have been raised in similar conditions and eating similar amounts of food (food plays a crucial role in how fast a turtle grows), but in other conditions, it’s not the most reliable method.

The Best Way to Tell if a Box Turtle Is Male or Female

Those are the main ways in which you can tell apart a male from a female box turtle, but which one is the best?

When it comes to turtles, there is no best way to tell them apart. The best thing that you can do is to look at all of the differences that we discussed and try to make your best guess. In most cases, if you pay close attention to those differences you will get the gender of the turtle right. Even biologists use the same differences that we discussed when they try to determine the gender of a box turtle, as there is no other way.

Now that we covered the differences, there are two small things that we need to discuss, and those are when is the best time to tell the gender of your box turtle and what are the big differences between a male and a female box turtle. 

The Best Time to Tell the Gender of a Box Turtle

As you might have noticed most differences between male and female turtles have something to do with reproduction, so the best time to try and determine the gender of a turtle is when it reaches maturity. If you try to do that before, there is a good chance that you will fail.

As for when turtles reach maturity, it depends on their size, not on their age. On average a female box turtle will reach a size around 5 inches (13 centimeters), while a male will reach a size closer to 7 inches (18 centimeters).

If you try to determine the gender of a box turtle before it reaches maturity you will most likely fail since most of the differentiating characteristics have not fully developed.

The Main Difference Between a Male and a Female Box Turtle

The main difference between a male and a female box turtle is that the female will lay eggs every year, while the males won’t.

Female turtles will lay eggs every year, even if there is no male around. While the eggs won’t be fertilized and no baby turtles will come out of them, the process is the same.

Taking care of a female box turtle that is about to lay eggs is not very hard, you barely have to do anything, so don’t worry about this part. But if you are curious about what you have to do when your box turtle is pregnant you can read this article: How to Tell if Your Tortoise Is Pregnant (with Pictures). (Despite being called a turtle, box turtles are more closely related to tortoises, than aquatic turtles)

Another small difference is that males will probably eat a little more since they are bigger, but the difference is not noticeable, so I wouldn’t count this as a disadvantage.

Final Thoughts

So this is how you can tell if a box turtle is male or female, all you have to do is to look at a couple of things, like the color of the eyes, the size of the claws, and the position of the cloaca, etc.

Since most of the differences between male and female turtles are relatively small, the most useful thing that you could have is another box turtle of a different gender, this way you can have what to compare your turtle, but this is something that most people don’t have access to. So the next best thing that you can have are pictures, like the ones in this article.

And if you need help identifying the gender of your turtle don’t hesitate to leave a comment, or send a mail with some pictures of your turtle attached.

Hello,

If you enjoy the content that we create, please consider saying a "Thank You!" by leaving a tip.

Every little bit can help us tremendously in continuing to create quality content that helps turtle and tortoise owners around the world.

We really appreciate the kindness and support that you show us!