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Thank you for visiting this page. At this time, I am no longer breeding Hermann's tortoises, so I have none available for purchase. I continue to breed marginated and Ibera Greek tortoises, so please click on the links below for those animals. Thank you!
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Hermann's Tortoise
(Testudo hermanni)
Hermann's Tortoises are easy to care for, hardy tortoises that generally stay smaller in size than other Testudo species like Greek or marginated tortoises. They come from the Mediterranean region and there are two recognized subspecies, the smaller Western and the larger Eastern.
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This is a photo of a two week old hatchling (center) and two hatchlings that are only one day old.
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General Care Instructions
Hermann's tortoises are very hardy and require the same care as that provided to Greek, marginated and Russian tortoises. During the warm months of the year, hatchlings should be kept outdoors in spacious, well planted enclosures that are covered with wire or plastic mesh. In the winter, they should either be hibernated or brought indoors and kept in "summertime conditions." It's important not to keep these tortoises too warm indoors and a good rule of thumb is if the room is comfortable for you, it's comfortable for your tortoises. If it's too warm for you, it's too warm for them. Aquariums are not suitable for housing hermann's tortoises indoors because they are generally too small and they hold too much heat. Large, shallow, open tubs are best for indoor housing for these tortoises. The tub should be fitted with an incandescent bulb to provide a warm basking area and a U/V producing fluorescent light for additional lighting. These tortoises come from temperate (not tropical) regions, so provided your house does not get colder than 50 degrees at night, they will need no additional night heat - they do beautifully at nighttime temperatures that are comfortable for you in your home.
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Diet and Feeding
Hermann's tortoises should be fed daily a mixed diet of greens (escarole, endive, dandelion, kale, mustard, turnip) with a little fruit (tomato, apple, berries) and/or veggies (squashes, broccoli, okra, corn) added. I add liberal amounts of calcium supplement (Repcal with vitamin D3) and vitamin supplement (Reptivite) at each feeding. Outdoors, they will supplement their diet with the grass, clover and weeds that grow in their pen. They should be provided with a shallow dish of water each day.
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How Big Will They Get?
This is probably the question I get asked more than any other. Hermann's tortoises are the smallest European tortoise species, dramatically smaller than many of the other tortoises commonly kept as pets, such as redfoot, yellowfoot, sulcata and leopard tortoises. The females can start laying eggs when when they weigh around 2 pounds Hermann's tortoises grow fairly quickly and can reach breeding size in as little as 4 years. The pictures below will give you an idea of what adult Hermann's tortoises look like.
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Male Hermann's tortoise. This animal was 6 years old when this photo was taken. The red dot is nail polish, which I use for identification purposes.
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Female Hermann's tortoise. This animal was about 12 years old when this photo was taken. She came to me as a captive hatched 4 year old animal with a great deal of shell deformity. Captive raised Hermann's tortoises often show varying degrees of shell deformity.
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CARE SHEETS AVAILABLE
Please email me for detailed care sheets for European tortoises. Also, please follow the links below to see the other tortoise species I have available. My email address is:
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Other Tortoise Species Currently Available For Purchase
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