Weight for a Horsfields

[Zoe Win]

Hi all, I thought I'd say hi as I'm new to this forum.
I have two Hosefield, I've had Crush since March this year and Candy since July. Crush is about 5 year but no idea how old Candy is, but she a little bit bigger then Crush. I've used the Jackson chart to judge their weight, but I was wondering it there a better way. candy is a really good eater and will happily munch on weeds all day if I let her ( which I don't lol) but Crush was fed on T Rex pellets all his life. He won't eat any weeds and will only eat selected salad leaves. His 120 cm and weights 396g so he could do with putting on a little weight. I have cut his pellets down to twice a week but he has stopped eating that now. But I'm worried as he very rarely eats.
It would be great to get some advices. Thanks
Oh I would have added a phot but don't no how:S

[HorsfieldPaul]

Yes there is. There is another chart, the McIntyre ratio available in publications exclusively for horsfields. My pet expert tortoise book (isbn 1-907337-14-8) has one printed in it amongst other useful information. Only trouble is my two torts are 56mm long and the chart starts at a length of 90mm. And it is a guide and not written in stone. The book recommends weighing and measuring tortoises every month and keeping records of growth rate which need to be kept slow and even at a few grams per month.
Hope this helps

[Nina]

Hi Zoe,

Please don't use the Jackson Ratio to judge the weight of a Horsfield. It is only meant to be a guide for Testudo Graeca and Hermanni, and if you use it for Horsfields you will get a very wrong idea of the weight they should be. Have a read of this article http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/jackson.html

Actually the best thing to do with Horsfields is to monitor their growth and aim for an average weight gain of between 1g - 3g per month (that is an average -- some months might be a bit more and some a bit less). I have a Horsfield who is 120mm long (I think you meant your tort was 120mm not 120cm!), and she wieghs 345g, and she looks fine to me. Actually it is not very common for Horsfields to be underweight, as they tend to be greedy feeders and are more likely to be overweight.

Just weigh them regularly, preferably under similar circumstances (like just before or after a bath, as it's quite amazing how much weight they can lose with a wee and a pee), and average it over a period of time and adjust your feeding accordingly, and you should be fine.

Nina