Weight

[Wezzer]

I have just weighed Speckles for the first time. She weighs 101 grams and is just short of 3". Me and my mum have looked at the Jackson ratio and it says she is overweight, but the Jackson ratio is specifically for Med. torts which hibernate, so i'm not sure if this is correct for Speckles. Can anyone give me any idea on whether this is a good weight for her?

She has eaten a little bit more today, I offered her some melon and some Frisee lettuce. She hasn't touched the melon, but she has eaten the lettuce. I think i'm going to have a bit of trouble getting her to try new stuff, as the lettuce i gave her today she ate yesterday. Is there anything i can do to try and get her to try new food? I know that it is early days and she will probably try it in her own time. I am not too concerned as she is eating little bits. She is exploring and gets in and out of her water. I have put a spider plant in the viv today and she is currently checking that out.

 

[LindaF]

I can't answer your question if he is over weight or not. But isn't it fun to watch them explore and check things out. Just keep on offering the healthy food choices.

 

[Wezzer]

Speckles has just eaten lots (Hooray!) My mum remembered some threads that got posted a while ago about RF's not eating out in the open so we have moved her food bowl close to the fake plants. We then moved Speckles into the plants and she sat there for a few minutes and then eventually decided to eat. She still hasn't tried any melon, but she has just eaten a good amount of the lettuce we gave her

 

[pdrobber]

that's good! I wish my new redfoot would eat some more. not really interested in anything, and when she does bite she gets the air or doesn't break pieces off the whole way.

 

[Wezzer]

Try what we did. We have got some fake plants right at the back of her viv where she likes to hide when she is not in her hide, so we put her food near the fake plants and she started eating. My mum had read that RF's don't like to eat in the open because in the wild they will eat under cover where they are more protected from predators.

 

[LindaF]

I found this growth/weight formula in The Redfoot Manual by Mike Pingleton.
The book said it was useful in identifying underweight redfoots.
Dr. Donohue's Morphometric Assessment Formula
straight-line carapace length (in cm) cubed x .191=expected weight, in grams
For example using the formula, a redfoot with a four inch carapace length = 10.16 cm;
the length cubed = 1048.77; multiplied by .191 = 200.31 grams.

So let’s all get the calculator out and check our torts
The author did note his torts, especially the older ones, were usually heavier then what the formula would indicate and he used it more to determine if a tort was underweight and to track recovery if an underweight tort was treated for parasites etc.....