All things Herman's Tortoise

Eastern Herman's Tortoise

Outline

As of the creation of this document, there are two scientifically recognized subspecies of Herman's tortoises, although I will actually be talking about three different groups observed.

Testudo hermanni boettgeri, commonly known as the Eastern Herman's Tortoise, are just one of those two. These wonderful little tortoises were first brought into the US back in the 1970'S. Most Hermans Tortoises found in the market and in pet shops is this subspecies due to how widely available they are. They are extremely hardy tortoises and make great first-time pets.

Coloration & Characteristics

Eastern Hermans tortoises come in a variety of colorations. All Herman's Tortoises have a high contrast shell pattern. One of the character traits of Herman's is the shell pattern of the plastron. This pattern can usually help differentiate the Greek Tortoise species and Marginated tortoise species from Herman's. Additionally, the shell will also have harsh contrast, ranging from black, light tan, yellows or olive colors.

The Eastern Hermans tortoise also have a high domed shell with minimal rear flairs to the margin of the shell. The flair will mainly be observable in males, where they reach a near saddle shaped shell as they sexually mature.

The Eastern Hermans Tortoise is one of the larger species of Hermans Tortoises available. Males will usually reach 6 inches while females can be between 8 inches and 9 inches long. There is not much difference in the scheme of things between the Eastern size versus the other Herman's we have available.

An average pet owner, who is looking for a single-family pet tortoise, should not worry about the different sizes of these animals in the Subspecies of Hermans.

Get the animals you like.

One of the more beautiful color variations of the Eastern Hermans Tortoises is the Blonde Herman's Tortoises, which is a patternless (or near patternless) variation of the Hermans. The Blonde Hermans is categorized by having no shell pattern and no plastron pattern. Dark coloration may appear on the margin of the individual scute, but the interior of the scute is patternless. These Blonde Herman's also have bright yellow legs, skin, arms, neck and faces. Even when these animals are observed with some shell dark coloration along the margins, it will fade as they age and diminish over time.

These Blonde Herman's Tortoises are NOT albino, and usually the only dark coloration would be the nose area and ear area most commonly seen on all Herman's Tortoises.

Left is a normal color variation for a female Herman's Tortoise, right is one of our Blonde female Herman's tortoises of our.

Breeding

The Easten Hermans Tortoise are larger on the Hermans Tortoise spectrum. A healthy and good-sized female usually lays approximately 6 eggs consistently. Although, some of our females on record have laid 10 eggs in one go.

An Eastern Hermans Tortoise is another of those species which has been known to lay more than once a year, often referred to as double-clutching. Usually, when any of our females lay less than 6 eggs at a time, within the next month or two afterwards, we always expect a second clutch of eggs of relatively the same amount.

The vermiculite to water ratio is the same you find with most other testudo species. You can usually tell when an egg will be viable due to it developing a chalky white color as it sets. We keep our egg room relatively dark, and candle eggs minimally or only under concern.

Light is not a normal occurrence for eggs which are buried in darkness for the duration of their incubation period. We have also found most of the time, the tortoises which hatch inside of the nest will sit in the nest for a day or two, soaking up as much nutrition from the egg as possible prior to climbing out.

In our incubator, the time frame is 55-65 days (average is 57 days exactly) at a pretty consistent 86 F. Naturally ground hatched babies take longer. Eggs will diapause in the ground, so, although they are more likely to still develop during those 55-65 days, there is a period of no growth or slow growth which can be unpredictable. This time frame can move all the way up to 100-150 days in comparison. Our Hermans Tortoises are one of the first species to lay for us, dropping their eggs at the beginning of April. Natural ground hatched baby Hermans Tortoises will usually start to appear mid-August.

Where there is one baby, we usually find the entire clutch of 5 or 6 if we search hard enough.

Herman Tortoises can be very bold and aggressive during breeding season. The males will bite and nip at the front legs of the female during courtship. This is commonly seen so the female will pull their face and legs into their shell for protection, thus exposing their hind quarters. The males quickly dance around to try and successfully mount the females and if they can't, they will run back to the front legs. The male will continue this dance until a successful latch occurs, and the female is accepting. Overall, the male during breeding season can mate with more than one female at a time on the daily.

We always recommend giving females breaks from this behavior through separation or rotation. We never recommend breeding 1.1 for the Herman Tortoise. Advisably, a group is a much healthier option for breeding, with a minimum of 1.6 in the group.

Habitat

Eastern Herman’s Tortoises have a wide range and are found in the following areas: Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Macedonia, and Montenegro.

These areas are categorized as an even-tempered Mediterranean climate characterized by mild and wet winters, and dry and hot summers. Winter temperatures rage from 46 F to 59 F, with summer temperatures reaching an average of 86 F. Most of these locations experience an extended mild and even temperature summer due to the influence of the Mediterranean Sea.

Western Herman's Tortoises

Outline

As of the creation of this document, there are two scientifically recognized subspecies of Herman's tortoise, although I will actually be talking about three different groups observed and why I include the third.

Testudo hermanni hermanni, commonly known as the Western Herma's Tortoise, is one of those two. These spunky little tortoises are one of the least common tortoises available on the market due to a variety of reasons. Mainly, it is due to minimal importation of the groups. Western Hermans, in comparison to almost every other species of tortoise out there, has never legally imported Wild Caught groups. All of the groups in the US are either from F&W confiscations from smuggled animals or established and well documented captive bred groups available through Europe. Although they are not recognized as a full subspecies, certain locals have been recognized. This is all thanks to well documented and meticulous records from breeding programs.

Our group of Westerns are the Calabrian Western Herman Tortoise.

Coloration & Characteristics

Western Herman's Tortoises are recognized as the smallest Herman's Tortoises available on the market. Males will usually be between 4 inches and 5 inches, while females reach 5 inches and 6 inches max.

For the average keeper, this size different is not noticeable, so I do not want to encourage anyone to purchase the Western Herman's Tortoise specifically because they are small. Western Herman's Tortoises are not widely available on the market due to how few breeders there are in the US.

Western Herman's Tortoises are noticeably darker in overall coloration, with high contrast as seen in most Herman subspecies. The face of the Calabrian Western Herman's Tortoise is highly contrasted, with a dark yellow to olive jaw line, and black coloration to the top of the face.

Comparatively, the Western Hermans are a more petite version of the Herman's Tortoise. Additionally with the smaller stature, these animals will have a more gradual domed shell, with minimal flaring on male specimen.

These animals have also been characterized as having a key-hole shape to the pygal scute (the last of their spinal scutes). This key-hole is observable on both Eastern Herman's and Dalmatian Herman's, which make it only a factor when looking at your animal.

The Plastron coloration is another way to see if you have a Western Herman's Tortoise. Westerns have the deepest and darkest plastron coloration comparatively, often having connected black or solid black across the entire plastron.

As a reminder though, all coloration alone is not a valid scientific way of differentiating tortoises (or any reptile).

We can differentiate locals and color patterns to begin producing highly desirable characteristics, but it will not make an animal suddenly its own recognized subspecies.

This is how you provide transparency.

Breeding

Along with their petite size, the Western Hermans tortoises will lay smaller clutches of eggs yearly. On average, most of our females will always lay three eggs at a time. The Western Herman's tortoises is also known to lay more than one clutch of eggs per year, often referred to as double-clutching. Due to their size, if your animal double-clutches on their own, make sure you are providing additional supplementation. Most of our Westerns produce about 6-8 eggs total yearly, which is a lot for these animals.

We personally use and offer cuttle bone for our tortoises. The females are observed eating the cuttlebone. Most of the time during breeding season, we will leave cuttlebone in the enclosure the entire time. Then, we also provide a mix of other supplementation which is added to their food.

The vermiculite to water ratio is the same you find with most

other testudo species. You can usually tell when an egg will be

viable due to it developing a chalky white color as it sets. We

keep our egg room relatively dark, and candle eggs minimally

or only under concern.

Light is not a normal occurrence for eggs which are buried in

darkness for the duration of their incubation period. We do not

rotate or move the eggs so as not to shift any natural queues

they may have during development. We have also found most of

the time, the tortoises which hatch inside of the nest will sit in

the nest for a day or two, soaking up as much nutrition from the

egg as possible prior to climbing out.

In our incubator, the time frame is 56-64 days at a pretty consistent 86 F. Naturally, ground hatched babies take longer.

Eggs will diapause in the ground, so, although they are more likely to still develop during those 55-65 days, there is a period of no growth or slow growth which can be unpredictable. This time frame can move all the way up to 100-150 days in comparison. Our Western Herman's Tortoises are one of the last to lay for us, dropping eggs in June. This is mainly due to their cage set up on the farm, they get first sunlight in the morning, with plenty of shade from the overbearing California sunlight. So, although their enclosure does warm up first on the property, they miss the harsh afternoon sunlight, which creates a more ambient and even temperature throughout the day.

Western Herman Tortoises can be very bold and aggressive during breeding season. The males will bite and nip at the front legs of the female during courtship. This is commonly seen so the female will pull their face and legs into their shell for protection, thus exposing their hind quarters. The males quickly dance around to try and successfully mount the females and if they can't, hey will run back to the front legs. The male usually will continue this dance until a successful latch occurs, and the female is accepting. Overall, the male during breeding season can mate with more than one female at a time on the daily.

Male breeding season does overlap with our females laying season. It is always important to provide your female Western Hermans tortoises with secluded and quiet areas to lay their eggs. When females get interrupted mid-lay, there are a number of issues which may arise. Stress, holding onto the eggs, and becoming egg bound are always possible.

Habitat

Western Herman’s Tortoises are found in Western Europe like Spain, France, Italy and the Balearic Islands. Western Herman’s are very well documented.

Usually upon purchasing any of these animals, you should know the specific local or island these wonderful tortoises are from. For example, our animals are from Calabria, the Southern part of Italy.

Western Herman’s Tortoises are found in locations generally categorized as a Mediterranean climate. They are from areas which have mild and wet winters, with dry and hot summers. They can expect winters of an average temperature of 45 F, with a high of 90 F and average of 86 F.

Most of the locations these animals are found in have an average of 11 hours of sunshine in the summer months.

Dalmatian Herman's Tortoises

Outline

The Dalmation Herman's Tortoises is an honorable mention. Testudo hermanni hercegovinensis is no longer recognized as a subspecies of Herman's Tortoises, but it is both relevant, and characteristically different from both Eastern and Western Herman's Tortoise. Our group of testudo graeca hercegovinensis came in as the Dalmatian Tortoises. Although it may not be recognized, we want transparency with the people who are purchasing our animals due to the distinct difference in size, coloration and personality of the animals we produce.

This is a female Dalmatian Tortoise, noticeably small, about 5.5 inches full size.

This is a male Dalmation Herman's tortoises (left) and female Eastern Herman's tortoise (right).

Coloration & Characteristics

The Dalmatian Herman's Tortoise is most easily explained as a natural mix of the Western and Eastern Hermans Tortoise. There is a very wide coloration range of these tortoises which show a good mix of both extremes of the Eastern and Western Herman's Tortoises.

Dalmatian Herman's Tortoises are characteristically small. Male Dalmatian Hermans and Western Hermans are relatively the same size, reaching a max length between 4-inches and 5.5-inches. The Female Dalmatian Herman's can reach 5-inches to 7-inches in length. Again, this is almost a 2-inch difference between the Eastern and Dalmatian Herman's.

Western Hermans (which are rare and hard to find, are not the only small Herman's Tortoises.

Again, here are three males this time in the picture to the right. The left most male is an Eastern Herman's Tortoise.

You can really see the size difference when you add him to the mix. This Eastern Herman's Tortoise is closer to about 20 years old now. He is a very average size for the Eastern Herman's Tortoise group.

Pictured to the left is two male Herman's.

Here you can really see the size similarities with the Western Herman's Tortoises (which is pictured on the right) and the Dalmatian Herman's Tortoise (which is pictured on the left.

You may think the male on the left is not full grown, but he approximately 30 - 40 years old. The Western Herman on the other hand, is approximately 7 - 10 years old.

Dalmatian Herman's Tortoises have a very wide range of coloration. They tend to have an in-between color pattern between the Eastern and the Western. This means they can be dark or light in coloration, similar to both extremes of the spectrum.

Noticeably, they have a very deep tan-yellow shell coloration. The carapace will be black and will tend to be more blotchy. It is a heavy contrast and resembles more of the Eastern Herman’s coloration on the carapace. The plastron, on the other hand, will resemble more of the Western Herman’s coloration but will not connect.

Specific Differentiation:

The head will tend to have a more rounded and short snout area, usually discolored in black.

The inguinal scute will be absent on one or both sides.

This is the biggest differentiation between the Eastern and Dalmatians.

Habitat

Dalmatian Herman Tortoises are found in more of a middle ground; Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is overlap in these areas, mostly with Eastern Herman’s Tortoises and the Dalmatian Herman’s Tortoises.

Dalmatian Herman’s are generally found in paces categorized as a Mediterranean climate, closer to coastal regions of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. These areas tend to have very mild and wet winters, with very hot and dry summers. They expect a low of 41 F in the winter, and a high of 104 F mid-summer. Statistically, the median temperature for these areas are around 54 F. Rainfall used to be consistent in the area, but recent climate disruptions have led to unexpected droughts and flooding.

This is a very well documented climate and topography overview of the Dalmatian Herman’s Tortoise local.

Climate change - Bosnia and Herzegovina