Testudo hermanni boettgeri Adoption

[Anthony P]

Just adopted this little guy, Taco, from a source that obviously took great care of him. I have never been part of such a beautiful and healthy animal being adopted before. He has wonderful coloration and a great personality.

One photo shows him in his temporary winter enclosure, which is 2' by 3'. It will be upgraded to a large outdoor area when Spring is here.

Now I have to work on finding him a few girlfriends so he can pass on those beautiful genes of his.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hermann's are awfully pretty tortoises. I don't have any, but I really like them.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

Very nice! Beautiful markings!

 

[cherylim]

He's gorgeous!

 

[Anthony P]

Thanks guys!

I really love him. I love all my animals, but I really didn't know what I was missing with these guys.

 

[Tom]

Wow. He's a looker for sure. Lucky you. I hope you are able to breed him.

 

[Benjamin]

A friend of mine hatches a few sporadicaly. I don't know which subspecies they are. They are cool, I hibernated them here for him in 2009.

 

[sibi]

Really nice...his shell is just beautiful.

 

[african cake queen]

what a cute little one.

 

[CLMoss]

Beautiful little tortoise!

 

[Anthony P]

Thank you guys.

 

[GBtortoises]

Do you know what subspecies you have? That would help in finding potential mates later on.

 

[Anthony P]

It's an Eastern, boettgeri.

Really easy to tell on him by the fourth vertebral scute and the humoral and femoral seams on the plastron. He's all Eastern!

 

[GBtortoises]

The reason I ask is because the coloration and pattern looks like a Dalmatian, Testudo hermanni hercegovinensis. But it's sometimes hard to tell on a young tortoise just by that alone because Easterns too can be very colorful when young. The 4th vertebral? Maybe the 5th vertebral? Are you referring to a "keyhole" pattern or lack of. It can also be present in both subspecies and almost always present in the nominate species. The humoral and femoral seams on the the plastron of both T. h. boettgeri and T. h. hercegovinensis are typically the same.

 

[Anthony P]

Yeah, I meant to say 5th vertebral, whoopsie!

I appreciate your thoughts on this. He was originally sold to the person from whom I adopted him as a CB Eastern, and that's what he looked like most to me.

However, I must admit, I am no expert in anything Testudo. I have just began to research deeper into them in the last 6 months or so, after having spoken to Chris Leone's success with them up in the cool climate of the Northeast.

Really interesting to hear your thoughts on it though. I'd love to share more photos with you now or in the future if you'd be interested.

Thank you!

 

[GBtortoises]

Actually mine and your climate is much more similar to each others than either is to Chris'. He is a friend of mine and I've been to his place quite a few times. He lives in southern NJ where it is about 10+ degrees warmer overall year round than here where I live in New York State in the Catskill Mountains. Elevation plays a large role too, I am at about 2,400' above sea level. He is nearly at sea level. So my temperatures are mild in the summer, often with cool, damp nights. Winters are long and often below freezing temperatures. Despite that Testudo species have fluorished here for nearly 30 years. Some even brumate outdoors. In the past I've kept many species of tortoises from other climates and several different turtle species with very good sucess too. As long as they have the right accomodations they'll all do well in our climate.
Feel free to pm or email me anytime!

 

[theTurtleRoom]

The reason I ask is because the coloration and pattern looks like a Dalmatian, Testudo hermanni hercegovinensis. But it's sometimes hard to tell on a young tortoise just by that alone because Easterns too can be very colorful when young. The 4th vertebral? Maybe the 5th vertebral? Are you referring to a "keyhole" pattern or lack of. It can also be present in both subspecies and almost always present in the nominate species. The humoral and femoral seams on the the plastron of both T. h. boettgeri and T. h. hercegovinensis are typically the same.

For what its worth, hercegovinensis was synonimized with boettgeri a number of years ago.

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The reason I ask is because the coloration and pattern looks like a Dalmatian, Testudo hermanni hercegovinensis. But it's sometimes hard to tell on a young tortoise just by that alone because Easterns too can be very colorful when young. The 4th vertebral? Maybe the 5th vertebral? Are you referring to a "keyhole" pattern or lack of. It can also be present in both subspecies and almost always present in the nominate species. The humoral and femoral seams on the the plastron of both T. h. boettgeri and T. h. hercegovinensis are typically the same.

For what its worth, hercegovinensis was synonimized with boettgeri a number of years ago.

 

[GBtortoises]

Actually they're considered two different subspecies by most people today. Especially here in America and Germany, two of the leading "tortoise" countries. There are two very detailed and extensive books which point out the distinct differences between the two subspecies as well as many articles and posts on each. I have several adults and young of both subspecies here and there are very distinct differences.

 

[theTurtleRoom]

How recent are the papers? I know there was one in 2006 the strongly refuted hercegovinensis as a separate subspecies...Fritz, et. al. (I can provide the full citation if necessary)

 

[pam]

He is handsome