Kent67
Retired Moderator
The topic comes up all the time so I figured it was about time to have a thread that can be linked to. Panthers can be easily sexed fresh out of the egg based on the taper of the tail base. Trying to guess sex based on color can work but is not as reliable. In my experience, some females' tails will become thicker around 2 to maybe 4 months old and this method becomes a little less easy to compare but when they're small it is very accurate.
Baby males are not sexually mature and thus do not have a hemipenal bulge. They do, however, have a space for the hemipenes to develop into. When viewed from the side, with the tail held straight back, the profile from the tail across the vent to the belly is almost a straight line in males. Here are pics of two males:
1 hour old:
1 week old:
The tail base of females has the same shape in babies as adults. It is more thin which makes the profile seem like there's an indention just before the vent.
Baby males are not sexually mature and thus do not have a hemipenal bulge. They do, however, have a space for the hemipenes to develop into. When viewed from the side, with the tail held straight back, the profile from the tail across the vent to the belly is almost a straight line in males. Here are pics of two males:
1 hour old:
1 week old:
The tail base of females has the same shape in babies as adults. It is more thin which makes the profile seem like there's an indention just before the vent.
