Hermann's pricing & importing

[Raymo2477]

I've heard that pricing on Hermann's torts will be going up due to a ban on imports.

Is there going to be a ban? If so I hope it's on wild caughts. There should be enough in captivity to produce enough offspring supply the pet demand.

I'm not opposed to farm raised...as long as they're truly farm raised.

Btw what are the going rates for torts in Canada and the UK?

 

[Eweezyfosheezy]

Eastern hermanns are one of the most commonly bred tortoises in the US. If they aren't imported here anymore it wont affect the market at all in my opinion.

 

[Alan RF]

RE: Hermann's pricing & importing

I've heard that pricing on Hermann's torts will be going up due to a ban on imports.

Is there going to be a ban? If so I hope it's on wild caughts. There should be enough in captivity to produce enough offspring supply the pet demand.

I'm not opposed to farm raised...as long as they're truly farm raised.

Btw what are the going rates for torts in Canada and the UK?

When we were looking in the north of england (where i live) they ranged from £80 to £100. Hermanns and horsfields are the most common tortoise in the uk. My red foot was £130 and that was a good price as they are normally £150+ . These prices were for year old tortoises.

 

[pemry3]

RE: Hermann's pricing & importing

In Canada, we recently got an eastern, and he was $350 for a juvenile. This was at a reptile show, but in pet stores I have seen them be as high as $700.

 

[HermanniChris]

Banning imports will not only be a good thing but it will also most likely not change the availability of them because they are so common. However, a TRUE Eastern Hermann's is not so "common" anymore. Many of the Hermann's tortoises in the USA (if not most) today are crosses between T. h. boettgeri and T. h. hercegovinensis. Many simply do not know what they have and some don't care.

As far as importation goes, I really don't know. I can tell you though that there's almost no shot at bringing any T. hermanni hermanni in. They're too rare and critically endangered in every locale except parts of the Balearic islands. The last ones imported were through myself and Jim Pether. It was absolute hell and apparently won't happen again from what I hear. Some of the other T. hermanni hermanni I have were brought in from Italy over 2 decades ago and there's no chance of that again.

Any T. hermanni hermanni are very uncommon. A true T. h. boettgeri of 8 inches and up to even 10 inches is NOT something you see often.

These 4-5" imports of mixed Hermann's are everywhere.

This girl right here is true Eastern and she's huge.

 

[Raymo2477]

RE: Hermann's pricing & importing

So how do you tell if you gave a hybrid?

---

That's have not gave...damn auto correct!!!!!

 

[mchong9606]

RE: Hermann's pricing & importing

Prices are rather high and availability is low in Canada. An eastern hatchling is 350 in Toronto and a tortoises of various kinds hover around 450 to 500 for babies.

 

[HermanniChris]

It can be tough, very tough at times.
Telling if a T. hermanni hermanni is a "bastard" is somewhat easy to the trained eye but identifying T. h. boettgeri X T. h. hercegovinensis bastards is extremely difficult. Knowing the origin of the tortoises is of course a telltale way to know what you have but that is rare in most cases. Washed out colors, irregular markings, various traits belonging to both subspecies are some indicators of an impure tortoise.

 

[Englishrose]

Banning imports will not only be a good thing but it will also most likely not change the availability of them because they are so common. However, a TRUE Eastern Hermann's is not so "common" anymore. Many of the Hermann's tortoises in the USA (if not most) today are crosses between T. h. boettgeri and T. h. hercegovinensis. Many simply do not know what they have and some don't care.

As far as importation goes, I really don't know. I can tell you though that there's almost no shot at bringing any T. hermanni hermanni in. They're too rare and critically endangered in every locale except parts of the Balearic islands. The last ones imported were through myself and Jim Pether. It was absolute hell and apparently won't happen again from what I hear. Some of the other T. hermanni hermanni I have were brought in from Italy over 2 decades ago and there's no chance of that again.

Any T. hermanni hermanni are very uncommon. A true T. h. boettgeri of 8 inches and up to even 10 inches is NOT something you see often.

These 4-5" imports of mixed Hermann's are everywhere.

This girl right here is true Eastern and she's huge.

I totally agree with your comments about the absolute nightmare to import the little fella's, I alsmost had to give blood to get my male and female from the UK to BC, it was a total stress, I understand why and for a few months i considered re-homing them, little did i know how precious they are, will do a happy dance when my first batch of eggs arrive...whenever that may be

E.R

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

My source has had a lot of trouble getting in any 4-5" "ranched" Hermann's, so I've not added any females to my "herd" this year...he keeps telling me to check back, that he may be able to get some soon...still hoping to get 3 more.