Donoghue Ratio

[Clawrrr]

Hello all!

Curious to see what the majority of members think about the Donoghue Ratio when it comes to determining healthy tortoise weights.

I saw a previous post on here about this subject, but it was from many years ago and is closed for comments. Was just wondering if anyone’s found anything new about the formula’s accuracy regarding various types of torts.

We find that it’s pretty accurate for our Western Hermanns and Redfoots— we see physical signs that tell us they’re overweight or underweight and the Donoghue Ratio confirms it. But we recently acquired elongateds and were wondering if they were included in the original study and if this ratio applies to them.

Thoughts/observations/opinions much appreciated.

I’ve included a picture of our Western Hermanns, Opal. She’s a thiccums 🤣😂🤣

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I don't have an opinion on this, just an experience to share. I always weigh my adult male Russian tortoise after a soak. His weight is usually about 500 g.

According to the donoghue ratio, my tortoise is overweight 500/(12^3x0.191)=1.51493116153
But in my opinion he doesn't look overweight.I used this thread as a guide https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/tortoise-weight-formula-tbmi.38420/

I have believed him to be of a healthy weight. When I first joined @SinLA commented that his Russian male was about the same size. And after googling about the ratio I decided that maybe my tortoise is a healthy weight after all. Also, I think @Yvonne G has said that overweight tortoises are uncommon (if I remember correctly).

Here are photos of him when I first got him. He was also about 500 grams back then (yes he has a overgrown beak in these photos).