GENDER DETERMINATION OF TURTLES 2020
Non-Invasive gender determination of turtles
Are you tired of waiting year after year to finally know the gender of your turtles? We offer a revolutionary, scientifically proven and uncomplicated solution! We are far advanced in the development of the first molecular gender-determination test for turtles for the four families: testudinids, geoemydids, emydids and cheloniids. These turtle families comprise more than 50% of all living turtle species and further families will follow soon. As you certainly know, incubating at specific temperatures to obtain a certain gender with certainty is in most cases insufficiently reliable. But in all cases, an early gender determination is definitely crucial for every successful commercial and non-commercial breeder. In contrast to other available gender-determining procedures, our test is not invasive: all we need is a swab-test taken from the turtles’ mouth cavity.
Pre-Ordering for 2020/21
After validating the test with our own populations in August and September this year, we anticipate offering commercial tests at moderate throughput by October 2020.
We will launch testing with an ability to process approximately five thousand specimens (species listed in the pre-ordering-form) per month in 2020. We are developing tests for further species already and anticipate the number of species to gradually increase over the next 18-24 months. Meanwhile, we are preparing for ramping up capacities for a throughput to tens of thousands per months, as well as developing a cheaper version of the test for turtles in the category A (see below) by the end of 2021.
Knowing the urgent global demand for economic gender testing of reptiles, we already know that our initial capacity will not suffice to satisfy demand. We therefore kindly ask breeders who have hatchlings and juvenile turtles to be sexed – or know that they will do so towards the fall of this and spring of next year – to use the web-form for registration (alternatively the button below) to pre-order testing and to specify the species and number of individuals to be tested. We need these numbers to custom-build our future capacity to your needs as best as possible, as well as to be able to make certain that you will obtain your results on a first-come-first-serve basis. You will obtain the result of the tests within four weeks upon receipt of your samples.
Gender determination of turtles is carried out by the experienced team of Ark-Biodiversity’s Laboratory with the utmost care and professionalism.
