Tortoise weight

[Shirley the tortoise]

Hi
I'm interested in tracking how much my 2 year old hermann weighs as part of keeping an eye on her health, but my kitchen scales are nowhere near sensitive enough to use for this. Does anyone know where drug dealers buy their scales or have any recommendations of type to buy? I'm guessing they need to be accurate to +\- 2 or 3 grams.
Also, would would be a healthy weight gain rate?
Thanks
Gareth (on behalf of Shirley)

 

[ZEROPILOT]

A lot of the scales use for measuring food or items for the mail are switchable between lbs and metric. I bought one from Walmart that was really cheap. (I don't know of your location.) It weighs up to 400 lbs and is intended for humans but is also sensitive enough to pick up anything. It was less than $20.
Get a digital scale. A dial scale is too vague.
If you are overseas, go to a department store and have a look at scales meant for measuring people. See what the minimum and maximum weights are, if there are any. Mine has a flat tempered glass top. Perfect.

 

[Shirley the tortoise]

I live in the UK, and had been looking online. I would have thought that scales that are used in the kitchen would have too much margin for error to be useful, but will investigate further.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The metric scales. The two I have seem to be very sensitive.

 

[tortdad]

I live in the UK, and had been looking online. I would have thought that scales that are used in the kitchen would have too much margin for error to be useful, but will investigate further.

Let me go check with my drug dealer, lol

 

[Shirley the tortoise]

Thanks for the help. Any idea what a healthy weight gain rate is for a two year old hermann?

 

[teresaf]

Amazon.com has kitchen scale that are plenty accurate enough. Measure in grams.

 

[redfootdaddy]

Thanks for the help. Any idea what a healthy weight gain rate is for a two year old hermann?

This is something that I've really been worrying about. You can see in my albums that I keep track of my redfoot's growth, and she only gained about 90 grams and a half an inch in a year's time. But this past weekend we went to Reptilia, which is a reptile zoo that does a lot of breeding and conservation at the same time, and talked for a long time to a couple of the redfoot keepers there. They said that torts grow at wildly different rates. Their largest sulcata is their youngest, and they've had a redfoot look like a baby for six or seven years now. It all depends on how much they're eating, and as long as they are healthy and active size doesn't matter that much.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Good accurate digital kitchen scales are easily located for less than $20.00. Here's the one I've been using, it's made by Ozeri and can be toggled between grams, pounds, ounces, etc. thats our Sully during his weekly weight check.

 

[teresaf]

Find 18 nickles and hold them in your hand. That is how much 90 grams weighs. sometimes it's hard to Tell how much a tortoise has grown because you've seen them everyday. I don't have any red Foots but I think that's a good amount.

 

[Tom]

Find 18 nickles and hold them in your hand. That is how much 90 grams weighs.

That might be tough in the UK...

 

[Tom]

I can't speak for any of the world's drug dealers, but most kitchen scales are accurate within a gram or two. I get mine at Sears over here. THey are made by Ohaus. I'll bet you have something similar over there.

There are no "healthy weight gain" numbers for tortoises. They grow according to a wide array of factors including temperatures, hydration, humidity, diet quantity and quality, comfort level, exercise level, etc... Charting YOUR tortoises weight over time and watching for steady weight gain is all you need to do. Comparing your tortoises growth to someone else's, given all the variables, can be an exercise in frustration. There really is no average. Some grow exceedingly slowly, but are still very healthy, and others just seem to sprout like a bad weed. This will even happen with groups all in the same enclosures and eating the same foods. For example: I'm raising 10 stars right now. They were all 27-39 grams when I got them as hatchlings 2 years ago. My smallest one is now 300 grams and my largest is over 800. They were all raised together in the same enclosure, with the same routine, and eating the same foods.

 

[teresaf]

haha... I only knew about the nickel trick because my husband was young, wild and exceedingly stupid back in his teenage years!
what I was getting at is the weight in your hands is heavier than you think. people don't realize what tortoise looked like a year ago or how much it is grown because they saw it every day and it never seems to get bigger....

Oh, and I did miss that you are in the UK.anything that weighs 90 grams would work though.

 

[Shirley the tortoise]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I have ordered these scales which look like they should be accurate enough: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004WIOEQW/ref=pe_385721_37038051_TE_3p_dp_1
Thanks also for the different anecdotes on weight gain. Sounds like as long as it's steady growth I don't need to worry. I hope Shirley doesn't get a complex with all this discussion about her weight.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Pretty friggin' expensive!

 

[Shirley the tortoise]

I didn't think £8 was too bad, there weren't many a lot cheaper. Comes with battery, and I didn't have to pay delivery. Oh well, it's on its way.

 

[teresaf]

isn't 8 pounds only about $12 or $13? that's a good price to me. I think I spent $20 on mine.

 

[Tim84]

isn't 8 pounds only about $12 or $13? that's a good price to me. I think I spent $20 on mine.

Yep, doesn't seem OTT to me either!

 

[Shirley the tortoise]

Update: scales have arrived, Shirley weighs 120 grams.

 

[DawnH]

My drug dealer told me to check Amazon... He is pretty helpful at times and I found one quickly for around $20. It's lasted almost two years now (next is a shipping scale. I might have to check with my coke guy on that one...)