I have 2 hermanns, one is about 5 yrs old the other is about 3 yrs old, I thought they were both males, but they look very different at the tail ends. The oldest has frequently tried to mate with the smaller and something came out of he/she's tail (I assume a penis) last week the smaller tried to mate with the older one, really, am quite confused, I don't want to breed anyway, can tortoises be sterilised?

Kerry

Hi Kerry,

Have you got a photo of your Hermanns that you could post please? It sounds like you may have a male and female if you say the tails look very different and yes it sounds like a penis that you saw, these are quite big and look very much like a mushroom at the end   Females often mount the males too, it isnt advisable to sterilise the male, if you dont want to breed then i suggest if you get any eggs you just dont incubate them.

Ali

Thank you, will post pics in morning :)

Had a bit of trouble uploading, so uploaded them seperate, the torties seriously objected to being upended and looked at me as if to say "jus what the hell do you think you are doing?" lol :)

Thanks for the pics. It looks like the one on the right could be a male but to be sure would you be able to upload some pics of the tortoise from the back end? you dont have to turn it upside down just a photo of the tail hanging naturally :-)

Ali

Hi, thanks, yes the one on the right of the top pics, is the one with the penis, will upload back end pics as well, thanks :)