Does anyone know of a weight chart for horsefield tortoises. I just wanted to know if mine are the right weight for length, ie are they over indulged greedy buggers or am I starving them. I suspect the first!

Zoe

Hi Zoe,

There isn't really an official one for Horsfields, but there is an unofficial one that someone compiled, based on people sending in the weights of their own torts. It's called the McIntyre Ratio for Horsfields, and can be found in the Files section of the TF forum:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Tortoisefriends/files/
There are two files about two-thirds of the way down the page -- one for Juveniles and one for Adults. But this is only a compilation of data from people's records of their own tortoises, and not a guide to what your tortoise should weigh.
Another guide, or formula, developed by Joe Heinen in the States is to multiply your tortoise's length (the SCL) times the width, times the height (I always find this hard to gauge though), and then multiply times .57. should give you the weight in grams (but I find that one difficult to use.
Or you could do it the way that lots of people do, which is to sit your tortoise in your hand and it should feel about as heavy as a well-filled meat pie (no heavier or lighter) {g}.

Nina