Hello, I am new here. I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have a Hermann tortoise, who is about 5 years old I think. I’ve had her for about 3 years now. I was told I have a female, but yesterday, I was surprised to see her mounting my other female tortoise. Would anyone be able to tell me if she is actually a he? Also I noticed she had some red - maybe blood on her tail. I hadn’t noticed it before this.
Tortoise Gender
- Thread starter nyx
- Start date
Alex and the Redfoot
Well-Known Member
At this point, I would say it's a female. But maybe it's too early to tell. However, if you keep two tortoises together - consider separating them. Even two females don't really get along.
The red spot could be a rub from stones in the substrate or from endless mounting attempts. Or a bite from the second tortoise.
Also, if you don't mind - could you share enclosure details? Size, substrate, UVB sources, temperatures - from the photos it looks like there are some points for improvement.
The red spot could be a rub from stones in the substrate or from endless mounting attempts. Or a bite from the second tortoise.
Also, if you don't mind - could you share enclosure details? Size, substrate, UVB sources, temperatures - from the photos it looks like there are some points for improvement.
@nyx ... PAIRS of Tortoise don't work, and are making one of the two suffer bullying. 1 of your torts is going to be dominant and bully the other ... YOU WILL NOT NOTICE. Everyone says "I don't see any aggression." But one of them will be smaller, will be stressed, will be bullied by the other. No one here wants your torts to suffer a slow agonizing death so you are most likely going to hear this from others. Please understand all of us are only trying to help.
Understood. Thank you for your reply.
Thats great, you will be so much more help to your torts with that attitude. This is a wonderful one of a kind place and you will learn so much here with that mind set. Right on !
Alex and the Redfoot
Well-Known Member
> Pictured is the top level, but the whole enclosure is 190cm by 50cm, and it is 60cm deep. I use mostly coconut fibre and a bit of beechwood chips, for substrate. I use a 100w basking lamp on the top level for a basking area, and a heat pad on one side of the floor beneath the top level. The temperature is set for 32 degrees - monitored but a thermostat, (as is the heat pad). Please do let me know if I can improve anything
I guess I've confused beech chips with stones.. Photos are a bit blurry, so it really looked like a soil with rocks
32C is a bit too much for grown up Hermanns. Ambient temperature of 20-21C is fine and can drop to 17-18C at nights. However, the basking spot should reach 35-38C under the lamp.
Heat mats (if it's buried under substrate) can be a confusing heating source for tortoises - they often dig deeper to escape from heat and can get burns from it. But your tortoise's plastron looks fine.
If the heat lamp you use is the "all-in-one" lamp - the source of heat, visible light and UVB, then it's unfortunately, not the best option. It could be tricky to get correct UVB level and basking zone size/temperatures at the same time. Also UVB output often degrades pretty quickly (in less than 6 months). Using a flood incandescent lamp (like Arcadia Solar Basking Floodlight) in combination with T5 HO fluorescent tube for UVB is easier to achieve correct parameters. And lamps last longer (especially, if UVB lamp is set for 4 hours a day).
Can you post some overview photos of the enclosure? Because two-level enclosures are often custom built and so-o-o different
I guess I've confused beech chips with stones.. Photos are a bit blurry, so it really looked like a soil with rocks
32C is a bit too much for grown up Hermanns. Ambient temperature of 20-21C is fine and can drop to 17-18C at nights. However, the basking spot should reach 35-38C under the lamp.
Heat mats (if it's buried under substrate) can be a confusing heating source for tortoises - they often dig deeper to escape from heat and can get burns from it. But your tortoise's plastron looks fine.
If the heat lamp you use is the "all-in-one" lamp - the source of heat, visible light and UVB, then it's unfortunately, not the best option. It could be tricky to get correct UVB level and basking zone size/temperatures at the same time. Also UVB output often degrades pretty quickly (in less than 6 months). Using a flood incandescent lamp (like Arcadia Solar Basking Floodlight) in combination with T5 HO fluorescent tube for UVB is easier to achieve correct parameters. And lamps last longer (especially, if UVB lamp is set for 4 hours a day).
Can you post some overview photos of the enclosure? Because two-level enclosures are often custom built and so-o-o different
Hopefully these are okay quality photos. The heat mat in under the wood hut thing. The basking lamp is the Arcadia D3 basking lamp. It is what was recommended to me, however I’ll look into the ones you’ve recommended to me. Thank you.> Pictured is the top level, but the whole enclosure is 190cm by 50cm, and it is 60cm deep. I use mostly coconut fibre and a bit of beechwood chips, for substrate. I use a 100w basking lamp on the top level for a basking area, and a heat pad on one side of the floor beneath the top level. The temperature is set for 32 degrees - monitored but a thermostat, (as is the heat pad). Please do let me know if I can improve anything
I guess I've confused beech chips with stones.. Photos are a bit blurry, so it really looked like a soil with rocks
32C is a bit too much for grown up Hermanns. Ambient temperature of 20-21C is fine and can drop to 17-18C at nights. However, the basking spot should reach 35-38C under the lamp.
Heat mats (if it's buried under substrate) can be a confusing heating source for tortoises - they often dig deeper to escape from heat and can get burns from it. But your tortoise's plastron looks fine.
If the heat lamp you use is the "all-in-one" lamp - the source of heat, visible light and UVB, then it's unfortunately, not the best option. It could be tricky to get correct UVB level and basking zone size/temperatures at the same time. Also UVB output often degrades pretty quickly (in less than 6 months). Using a flood incandescent lamp (like Arcadia Solar Basking Floodlight) in combination with T5 HO fluorescent tube for UVB is easier to achieve correct parameters. And lamps last longer (especially, if UVB lamp is set for 4 hours a day).
Can you post some overview photos of the enclosure? Because two-level enclosures are often custom built and so-o-o different
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The tortoise in the pictures is a female. Males have MUCH larger tails than this tortoise.
This one mounting the other tortoise is most likely a sign of bullying/aggression. The spot of blood under the tail was most likely caused by the area being scraped on the substrate during the mounting attempts.
Alex and the Redfoot
Well-Known Member
Yes, photos are fine. Do you know nighttime temperatures on the first level where there is no heat mat? (I guess it should not be too cold, as it's beneath the basking zone).
Arcadia D3 lamp and mercury vapour bulbs in general were widely recommended and used some (5-7) years ago. But recently these recommendations have changed.
Substrate looks dry on the photos and I don't see a thermometer/hygrometer. Hermanns would benefit from moderate humidity, so you may pour some water in substrate to keep humidity higher.
I would recommend to take some time and read this post:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/info-for-new-people-please-read-this-first.202363/
It covers all important aspects of tortoise care. At the end you will find Heating/Lightning breakdown and link to the temperate species care sheet (more specific care for Hermann's).
This could be an overwhelming amount of information, but definitely worth reading. Of course, don't hesitate to ask any questions!
Just like that... there is already bullying without you recognizing it. Trying to use human emotions as a judge of what torts are doing doesn't work, they act in totally different ways.
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