Hermanni Hermanni breeding size

[Ozric Jonathan]

I will measure the largest lady tomorrow and post!

[HermanniChris23]

Male T. hermanni hermanni are capable of successful copulation (and surprisingly quite potent) at alarmingly small sizes. One would think this is normally attributed to typical size associated with a particular locality (for example, Mount Etna population on Sicily being the tiniest) but this is not always the case. On Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily (Madonie & Nebrodie only) and even southern Menorca, females of up to 22-24cm and males with a record of 19cm (Sardinia) are encountered. However, many of these "beasts" can and will begin reproduction at as small as 9.52cm (males) and 11.4cm (females). Of course this pertains to the individual animal and some may start later than others. On another note, notably small-ish sized tortoises from populations such as Calabria, Apulia and Mallorca do not seem to breed successfully at sizes any smaller than those listed above. In other words, if a male T. h. hermanni from Calabria typically only grows to 12cm, he does not appear to successfully mate at the size of say only 6.9cm. This can all have a lot to do with the tortoises' ages of course!

For me here, the smallest males have successfully bred with females to produce viable eggs at sizes of 9.52cm (Apulia), 8.89cm (Mallorca) and 10.5" (Calabria). Sicily was close at 10.79cm.

The smallest females that have laid fertile eggs were 11.04cm (Apulia) and 10.82cm (Mallorca).

In the cases of these females, the Apulian tortoise is a young, captive bred animal not more than 6 years old and the Mallorcan specimen is an old, wild caught tortoise. Both these localities along with every single other one kept here feature much larger males and females within the colonies. So you can see that once again, variation shows its true colors.

[Ozric Jonathan]

Here is a not very dignified photo of my largest female who I have just woken up for the purposes of taking it.

The male whose photo I posted yesterday is very much younger than the female here, but he has grown very quickly compared to her.

I think this female might not be large enough for breeding yet but I'd welcome any opinions.

[Ozric Jonathan]

And thanks to Chris for those insights into the breeding capabilities of these tortoises from different places. There is such a great deal of variety about almost everything to do with them.

I've been working towards a goal of having some fertile eggs from my hermannis for about 7 years. I think we are gradually getting nearer to that but we're not in any great hurry!

The female in the photo about was 30g when I got her in 2007.

[HermanniChris23]

Glad to help!

For the record, that female can certainly breed but it comes down to the individual. Fingers crossed that you're not too far off!

[Ozric Jonathan]

Thanks again Chris, I'll have to see what happens when they get outside in the summer.

[egyptiandan64]

Seeing as she is Corsican Chris wouldn't she have to be closer to 15cm before she'd be adult.

Danny

[HermanniChris23]

Dan, it certainly is possible that she may have to grow closer to 15cm, but seeing as Corsica is home to both monsters (up to 24cm) and also more normal sized ones (15-17cm) she could be ready to go soon. A friend in France has female Corse tortoises laying eggs at only 12.06cm. Only a few are producing this small and others seem to have a ways to go, but some of these have even started before his young Varoise females of the same age.