ABOUT US

Here at Arizona Tortoise Compound, we are always being asked the question…  “What exactly is ATC all about? 

Arizona Tortoise Compound was created by, Andrew Hermes and Juline Hermes, for many reasons, but the main goal is to help all tortoise species through captive breeding. This is accomplished through a lot of different means, and we try our best, to do our part. As private tortoise keepers, we have slowly learned through self-education, hands on experience, many failures, and many successes. Starting from the “now common” Sulcata Tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata) over a decade ago, to currently maintaining 40 different species/sub species, with many of them being listed as Critically Endangered, CITES Appendix 1. We truly believe that maintaining legal species of tortoises and captive breeding will help slow the wild exportation of these animals. Many chelonian species are approaching extinction or are almost extinct in their native regions. With the surplus of offspring being produced by our adult breeding groups, we created ATC to showcase our tortoises and offer them to a wider audience. Over the course of a few years, by offering the highest quality and healthiest tortoises, networking and establishing relationships, Arizona Tortoise Compound has become one of the leaders in the industry for captive produced tortoises. Being a leader, ATC has a responsibility to the industry. We feel we need to do our part and help educate the public with correct information, work alongside other breeders, zoos, private foundations and tortoise keepers to preserve these exotic animals. We’ve made sure to have Arizona Tortoise Compound interact with the reptile community by sharing our information on forums such as www.tortoiseforum.org, and many different social media sites. We are personally answering emails and following up with customers daily to ensure the livelihood of the tortoises offered through Arizona Tortoise Compound. Social media such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Tumblr and Instagram help us with being able to connect with other tortoise keepers and share different husbandry technics, ideas and share photos.

We wanted to work with a wide variety or tortoises and not focus on just one species or group. The goal of Arizona Tortoise Compound is to offer only the species that we personally work with and breed. Hands on knowledge of the species is the only true way one can truly offer the best information and care to others. Arizona Tortoise Compound does offer a limited number of supplies to help keepers maintain their tortoise. The supplies that are offered through the site are supplies that we personally use to maintain our groups. By maintaining such a wide variety of tortoises, this has opened many doors. Arizona Tortoise Compound is a member of the Turtle & Tortoise Preservation Group, Kinixys Working Group and theTurtleRoom.  Public donations are what keeps these organizations going to help save wild populations and educate keepers of captive bred specimens. Taking part in tortoise conferences, we are always trying further to educate ourselves and better Arizona Tortoise Compound. A.T.C. was honored when Reptile Magazine approached us and asked if we would be willing to write a captive care article on Russian Tortoises (Testudo horsfieldii). The article “Captive Care on Russian Tortoises” was published in September of 2013. A few other articles can be found in the Radiata Magazine. We have tried to provide a good base of information for the first-time tortoise owner and experienced keeper alike through Arizona Tortoise Compound. Located on the A.T.C site there is multiple species-specific care sheets and informational articles. Listed is exactly what we feed our tortoises, how we house them indoors and out and many other useful topics. There is also a page dedicated to “Links”, this is a direct line to other great informational sites, breeders and reads. 

Being located near Arizona’s native Sonoran Desert Tortoise population, Arizona Tortoise Compound felt a sense of responsibility for this native species. We do work with both sub species of Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii and Gopherus morafkai). From time to time, we will take in these species as per legal means and quickly find them good homes or turn them over to Arizona Game and Fish.

I would like to mention that we work with different schools and schoolteachers by offering discounts on classroom pets and donating tortoises for exhibits. This is a great way to get kids involved and hopefully they will grow up to share in the same ideals of preserving our tortoises for future generations. As board member of theTurtleRoom, we are always looking for ways to help through education!

Thank you,

Andrew Hermes / Juline Hermes – Owners/Operators

Arizona Tortoise Compound