Growth rate vs gender question

[justwendy]

My hermanns' (2 of them) are the same age, almost 5 months old, and 1 is considerably larger than the other. When I got them as brand new hatchlings, they were the same exact size. They both eat like swine, so I'm wondering if the bigger one is a girl?

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Not necessarily. Tortoises don't grow well in pairs. One is simply more dominant than the other and gets most of the food.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

While it is true that in most Testudo species, including Hermanns, females do get to be bigger, it is also true that if you keep two baby tortoises together, one usually ends up bullying the other one. So, the difference in size you are observing could be because the female is growing faster. However, if they live together, it's probably because one of them probably dominates the other, eats more, and is less stressed, resulting in faster growth.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Do you watch them eat? Is one getting most of the food?

 

[GBtortoises]

Generally Eastern Hermann's will co-habitat fine as they grow as long as there is not a vast difference in size of the largest one compared to the others, regardless if there are two, three or more together.
Female Hermann's rarely grow to mature size before males. In fact males typically grow more rapidly to maturity even though their mature size is smaller than a female will eventually be.
True domination is rare amongst undeveloped (not yet mature) tortoises. Sometimes young, undeveloped males will display some minor domination. But a larger individual pushing a smaller one away from food isn't really a display of domination but simply a larger tortoise hogging the food. Domination as it applies to Testudo tortoises is much more than that.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Generally Eastern Hermann's will co-habitat fine as they grow as long as there is not a vast difference in size of the largest one compared to the others, regardless if there are two, three or more together.
Female Hermann's rarely grow to mature size before males. In fact males typically grow more rapidly to maturity even though their mature size is smaller than a female will eventually be.
True domination is rare amongst undeveloped (not yet mature) tortoises. Sometimes young, undeveloped males will display some minor domination. But a larger individual pushing a smaller one away from food isn't really a display of domination but simply a larger tortoise hogging the food. Domination as it applies to Testudo tortoises is much more than that.

Indeed...I give my four enough that there'll a little left over, so everyone get fed well...and the left-overs are usually gone within a few hours.