Tent tortoises can be distinguished from males and females by their tails. The female tortoise has a smaller opening angle at the tail end of the plastron, because the female tortoise has a smaller tail. Male tortoises have longer and larger tails. When grabbing it flat, the male tortoises sometimes roll up the tail from the bottom to the front, a bit like mating.

Secondly, it can be distinguished from the plastron, and it needs to be a certain size to be seen . The plastron of males is markedly concave, while that of females is flat. Adult male turtles will actively smell each other's cloaca to confirm each other's gender, but female turtles will not.