It isn't easy to tell whether hermit crabs are male or female. The only real distinguishing outward feature, the gonopores found on female hermit crabs, are usually hidden by the shell a hermit crab is wearing. If your hermit crab stretches very far out of its shell, though, they may be visible.

First it is nearly impossible to tell the sex of fry. Some maturity is necessary to see the signs of gender indication, in species that have gender indication. For instance you know you have a boy and girl angelfish only when you see hatched fry. Other than that, angels can be very difficult to tell. In general the following can be used as markers in helping determine gender. However, as with the English language, for every rule, there are exceptions.

There is no difference in appearance, between males and females. About the only sure way to tell the sex of a squirrel is to turn it over and look. Index

Male and female penguins look identical to the untrained eye. Males tend to be heavier then females. The male's beak tends to be thicker and longer then the females. In order to be certain many zoos and aquariums use a blood sample to perform a DNA test which will determine sex.

The males are usually larger and may be more aggressive. Females, being of a smaller stature, may be more ideally suited as a house companion. Males tend to be more outgoing, and more forgiving of mistakes in training. Females tend to be less dominant and work well with children - however, many females may actually be more protective of their households than males. Nevertheless, generalities do not always apply, and it is best to ask the breeder for their advice.

You should adopt at least two hermit crabs, but three or more is much better. In the wild, hermit crabs live and travel in groups of about 100 crabs, and if you only keep one hermit crab, it will be very lonely.

In the wild, hermit crabs are scavengers. They'll whatever they can get their claws on or starve. They love eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Never feed your hermit crabs commercial food only. It's like eating plain bread everyday and for every meal. Hermit crab food alone is not enough for a hermit crab's diet. Never give them any canned food. Tin is a metal and there could be signs of rust which will cause your little crustaceans painful problems.

There is no easy way to answer that question. It depends on several factors, which will be different for each situation, unless a standard tank developed with the same items, the same dimensions. Because this is not the case for the majority of land hermit crab owners, perhaps we need to revisit the rule of thumb and bring it into line with the 21st century.

Chickens: There are several "theories" but one I have found to be the most accurate....is using a nail, needle or ring, fastened to a 6-8 inch piece of sewing thread. Hold the string with the nail swinging freely above the chick. The string will swing in a circle if it is a female and back and forth if it is a male. You can try this over people's wrists. It is fun and makes for very interesting conversation. I do not know why it works but we have found it to be very accurate.

To tell if your kitten is male or female, you will need to lift the tail and look at the back end. Both sexes will have two holes but on a female the holes will be fairly close together, whereas on a male there will be a space where the testicles will develop.

There's no practical way. Not unless you can do some bloodwork, or observe the bird during mating season.

It's difficult to tell the difference. Generally, female frogs are slightly larger and their skin color is a little lighter than males.

It is very difficult to tell the difference between male and female dinosaurs just by looking at their bones. However we think that the crests on some of the duck-billed dinosaurs may have belonged to the male dinosaurs.

The easiest way to tell is that the male hamster has a kind of extra bulge around the tail. But you can also turn them onto their back to check. You can see the difference between a male and female at

It's difficult with small Koi. With adult fish, females are usually a more full cigar-shape, compared to leaner males.

Sulcata Station's response: It is very difficult to determine the sex of a sulcata that is less than 10 to 15 pounds, or less than 12 inches in shell length. In fact, most sulcata owners *don't* know what sex their tortoise is until they witness it laying eggs, or everting its penis, or attempting to mount other tortoises.

For the most part, this is very simple. When they are young, or not completely mature, it is more difficult. The majority of the time, females will be short finned. They will also have an ovipositor between their ventral & anal fins. This looks like a small, white bump. They develop this when they are mature enough to breed. Males will normally have long, flowing fins. They are the typical picture that comes to mind when someone mentions a betta.