Sexing Skinks

[TXTorres]

I am having trouble sexing my new skink. If I posted some pictures of him/her on here, is there any way ya'll could give me some input?

[Cenetri]

Many of the forum's more experienced members could help you out in guessing, though young skinks are very hard to guess, so if it's young, probably should wait a while. But if it's an adult, taking a bird's-eye-view picture (directly from above looking down), then we'd be able to help you out!

[TXTorres]

Thanks! He's definitely full grown (around 23", I think?), so will take some pics today!

[TXTorres]

Ok, I just realized I have no idea how to post pictures and can't figure it out. If someone could point me in the right direction of how to do this, that would be great. Or if someone wants to email me and I can email them the pictures for them to sex it? Whichever

[Cenetri]

To upload a picture, you need to convert it into a url. I just go onto tinypic.com and upload whichever photo I'd like, and when that's done, the website actually gives you the forum code (should basically say [ IMG ]*urlphotoname*[ /IMG ] without spaces and with an actual url code). It should work once you copy and paste onto this website.

There's also other websites you can use for uploading, I just use tinypic.

[TXTorres]

Thanks Cenetri!

Sorry it's not a very good picture. I only have my old iphone to take pictures.

[Jeff]

If I was forced to guess, I would say male, but I wouldn't make any guarantees.

[TXTorres]

Thanks Jeff Could you tell me what prompted you to make that guess? I tried looking for the bulge that meant hemipenes and thought I saw it, but didn't know if it could just be fat deposits.

The guy I got him from said he thought he was male, but that was only because the person HE got him from said it was a male, so I wasn't 100% sure.

[Cenetri]

To my understanding, people tend to guess based on the size ratio between the head and body of a skink. Usually female skinks have smaller heads and larger, bulkier bodies, while it's the opposite for males which have more slender bodies and bigger heads. I would agree with Jeff on this one and say male.

Also, try to watch him when he defecates. Males sometimes avert their hemipenes when going to the bathroom. Also, depending on your substrate, you can watch out for seminal plugs when breeding season comes around. If you find any, that guarantees that you have a male. But make sure that they truly are seminal plugs and not just urate - plugs usually come in pairs, are opaque when fresh and are long/stringy.

[TXTorres]

Ok, makes perfect sense now. I can see him being a male now. I will be on the look out for hemipenes and sperm plugs just for another affirmative. Thanks guys, ya'll were really helpful!

[Jeff]

Thanks Jeff Could you tell me what prompted you to make that guess? I tried looking for the bulge that meant hemipenes and thought I saw it, but didn't know if it could just be fat deposits.

The guy I got him from said he thought he was male, but that was only because the person HE got him from said it was a male, so I wasn't 100% sure.

There are a number of things about that skink that look male to me. It is mostly about the overall proportions of everything together, but to break it down, The body size and shape (especially right in front of the rear legs) is more male than female, the head size compared to the body is more male (head shape too), and the tail does look like there could be a slight hemipenile bulge. None of these things alone would cause me to say it is a male, but when taken all together AND the fact that there is nothing that suggests female to me, I am willing to say my guess is male.

Of course none of those characteristics are fool proof though. Seminal plugs, successfully impregnating a female, or medical tests done by a qualified person are the only ways to know for sure.

[Richard.C]

Im leaning towards a male to,pics can be decieving,but over all it looks to have a male look about it,body proportions,head,tail ect

Agree with jeffs comments

[TXTorres]

Thank you everyone for your input! I feel like I can give him a proper name now

[Richard.C]

Uni sex names are good for just in cases

I have a northern girl named rocky,was presumed male by previous owner,also had neices name a supposed female darwin carpet princess,as i had a young male named charles and they went with the royals,princess ended up being male,lol