[shazman]

ok my herman 3 year old is very active i thought there supose to slow down...

its had no food for 2 weeks now loads of warm baths

i am now worried that its had no food and its walking all over the place from its home made table box that its losing its fat build up because of its walking about all over

please help shall i put it away not for hibernation ?

hopefully next year i wud have lernt alot from u guys

 

[beestingbutterfly]

theres a sequence of sums called the Jacksons ratio, this will allow you to asses your torts weight and see if hes a good candidate for hibernation or not.. gimmie a minute and i'l have a look for it... *waddles off to find folder!* :wink:

 

[shazman]

thanx for any info driving us nuts

its eyes r very clear its very well in its self

just bloody hyperactive he he

 

[beestingbutterfly]

Calculating the Jacksons Ratio
1) Measure the weight in grams
2)measure the carapace length in cm- (to do this you should put the front of his shell to the wall with his head inand measure a straight line.
3)Calculate the weight (g) divided by the length (cm) *cubed*
-i.e weight (g) divided by (length x length x length).

your results to the calculation should lie between 0.16 and 0.23 and this is what each number should mean...

0.16= Underweight, tortoise needs special care.
0.17= a little light for hibernation (unless an active male/ has unusually flared scutes)
0.19= Normal and safe to hibernate
0.21= a VERY good weight ideal for hibernation
0.23=possibly too heavy check for puffiness/water retention.

It should however be noted that:

a tort that has emptied 50mls of water from its bladder will be 50 gs lighter.

an egg baring female will be deceptively heavy.

an overweight tort may be full of fat or fluid not nec healthy.

its always a good idea tro keep records of the ratio of hibernation every year, always weigh the tort during hibernation to ensure the weight doesn't fluctuate. :wink:

hope this helps x

 

[beestingbutterfly]

ah bless him!!

 

[shazman]

thanx for that i'll get sum scales 2moro and check the tort out

hopefully it'll b sound and if its not wot do i do not hibernate it ?

hope this help other peeps to thanks to beestingbutterfly

 

[beestingbutterfly]

if hes normal, you could hibernate for a short time, i guess just keep weighing if u ever found his weight dropping, there would be nothing to stop you from waking him up again :wink:

 

[kerrypudge]

Do you not have scales anyway?you really should be monitering your tortoises weight all the time especially during wind down and hibernation so you can tell how much weight they gain/lose

 

[wizzasmum]

It's not quite as simple s not feeding it for a few weeks and then hibernating it. Temps and light hours need to be monitored and reduced, otherwise your tortoise WILL still be as active as normal and be starving itself into the bargain. Go to www.tortoisetrust.org and put hibernation into their search index before this becomes another unsuccsful hibernation. Sorry to be blunt but years ago 98% of torts died due to this sort of thing.

 

[beestingbutterfly]

we weren't talking about putting them into hiberantion, we were merely talking about body condition and whether or not the tort was a suitable candidate... i'm sure that when the time to hibernate is due they will have done all that is necessary

 

[wizzasmum]

Oops - sorry. That will teach me not to scan read