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Old 22-09-2018, 02:54 PM   #312
Ozric Jonathan
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: West of Scotland
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Hi. There has been a move in recent years to keeping the regional forms of the hermanni hermanni so most buyers are looking to get tortoises that are described as Calabrian, Puglian, Corsican or Sardinian.

The tortoises from specific "locales" as they are known are quite distinct and there is a desire to try to keep it like this. The same could be applied to the eastern hermanns and to Horsfields too, although this is much slower catching on than it has been with the hermanni hermanni.

Whereabouts are you? Hermanni hermanni breeders exist mostly in the south east of England but there are a few others.

If you want to buy tortoises that are large enough that the seller can be confident about the sex, it's going to be more difficult and more expensive. It can take 4 years or more before the hermanni hermanni can be sexed.

If you are not bothered about the regional type then it would be easier to find a pair.

I think the hermanni hermanni are lovely tortoises and mine are Corsicans. I have produced little ones for sale but don't have any at the moment.

I live in the west of Scotland, one of the more challenging parts of the UK to keep mediterranean tortoises. I keep them outside as much as possible but at the moment I still use indoors for part of the year. Heated shed or outbuilding is ideally the way to go, or a greenhouse which is insulated and heated for early spring and late autumn.

The hermann hermanni grows quite slowly (if done right) and do not get huge. So keeping them using a combination of indoors and outdoors can work well for a number of years.

The males are aggressive to each other and can't be kept in the same enclosure unless it is seriously huge. A male will also pester a female constantly. These issues don't normally arise in the first few years. My females are very relaxed with each other. Mostly people want to buy females so we've got the situation where breeders incubate the eggs to try and get females.

The males are great characters though.
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