THH?

[Sulcata_Sandy]

I've finally taken time to sit down with my newest buddy and take some photos.
After doing alot of research on Hermanni, I think he's a THH, but would like the experts to clarify and confirm or point me in the right direction.

He's a male, DEFINITELY a male, and at least 4 years old.


















Sandy
Oregon Tortoise Rescue

 

[Moozillion]

WOW!! He's a beauty!!!

 

[wellington]

He really is a beauty

 

[Tom]

I think the plastron color is too broken up to be pure Thh. He does have the color on the check on one side, but not as pronounced on the other. I do see a "keyhole" on the carapace though.

This is a job for (escalating announcer voice here...) SUPER CHRIS!!!!!!

PM HermanniChris with this thread. He'll have a good explanation.

Where are you? And where did you get this tortoise?

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

Tom, I'm exactly with you. He is "almost" but "not quite". So I could use the help.

I have no plans to breed him, I'm just a consummate student and need to know for my own curiosity sake. I'm in western Oregon and adopted him futon a fellow TFO member who quickly needed to rehome a few (overnight from NY).

I suppose I could ask the previous owner, but for numerous reasons I opted to start a thread and get more diversity in opinions and more opportunity to learn. [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

I think he's quite spectacular and he's outgoing to boot! I'm in love.



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"Futon" ????
Seriously autocorrect?


FROM!!!


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[HermanniChris]

Definitely an Eastern Hermann's (T. h. boettgeri) and a beauty.

 

[ben32hayt]

If that's an eastern it's a great looking one!
-Ben

 

[luvpetz27]

He is gorgeous !!

 

[Jabuticaba]

Handsome little guy! [TURTLE]


May[CHERRY BLOSSOM], Hermann's [TURTLE][TURTLE], & Aussies (@YWG)

 

[HermanniChris]

I was in a rush before when I commented. Yes he is an Eastern.

Reasons are:

The ground color of the carapace is a straw, or lighter tan-yellow and not bright, distinct golden yellow.

The bands on the plastron are way too broken up and patchy and are not the deep, contrasting black they should be.

The Seam on the plastron where the gunmetal scutes meet the pectoral scutes is too much of a zig zag and not a U or a V shape.

The gular scutes are a darker color almost shadowed instead of being free of any markings or having a spot or patch of black on them.

The markings on the carapace are not clearly defined and look more like bars instead of stripes or blotches or borders.

The shape overall is off too, he's too flared and trapezoidal.

The "keyhole" symbol on the fifth vertebral is reminiscent yes but not what you'd see on a western. Again a lot has to do with the ground color. Real westerns are "in your face yellow" when it comes to ground color.

The skin of this tortoise is way too dark.

The head is too robust and yes all Hermanns tortoise subspecies can have the yellow cheek patch, it just looks different in real westerns .

You can see plenty of pure westerns on my site www.hermannihaven.com

Again, beautiful tortoise.

---

On the 3rd point I make above its supposed to say "humeral scutes" not gunmetal scutes!!

Autocorrect is terrible.

These iPhones are not worth what we pay for them....you should be ashamed apple!!! Lol

 

[Tom]

Chris,
Thank you yet again for another educational post!

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

Thank you Chris!
I have spent a stupid amount of time (and when I say stupid, I mean I should be doing about a million other things, but hey...tortoises are more fun than chores)...on your website and watched all your videos at least 3x each.

My novice eye put him right down the middle of what he might be. I figured he'd be an Eastern, but he demonstrates many Western traits. Hence my post.

He is more of a canary yellow than dull. Poor lighting...maybe if it is sunny today (Oregon weather....doubtful), I can take better photos. But I agree with the dark skin, and other points.

Bottom line, it doesn't matter to me. I'm just curious and I'm a vet tech and it's important to my nerd brain that I know exact details. I have been around too long to like to "guess".




Lastly, Chris, the temperament on this guy is FABULOUS!!! He is not at all shy, RUNS up to me and begs for food. He is a blast, my Greek is rather outgoing, but not like this. Is this typical behavior for a Hermanni? He's more like a dog! I LOVE it.



BTW: (giggle) I can't blame Apple for the autocorrect. We as a society have gotten spoiled by this awesome technology...I am 40 something and I clearly remember rotary dial phones. I need to remind myself often to proof read before I hit "send". HAHAHAHAAH


Sandy
Oregon Tortoise Rescue

 

[Tom]

Sandy, do you remember having to ge off the couch to change the channel on the TV? Of course there were only 7 channels to choose from, so we didn't have to do it very often...

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

Well DUH! That was my main childhood chore! HAHAHAHA
I'm an only child, so I was tortured. LOL

I remember we had the first VCR in the area (rural) and it was $800 and weighed 100 lbs
Dad was proud of it. Prob still has it somewhere.


Sandy
Oregon Tortoise Rescue

 

[HermanniChris]

I blame electronics for everything lol

Personality is another trait I see more in easterns than westerns. They're usually much more outgoing.

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

He's a blast. I'm in love.
Thank you again for all the assistance


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