Weighing Reptiles

So my husband and I own approximately, seven animals now with the two that are coming in the mail when temps warm up enough.

Anyway, at the beginning we only had my cornsnakes and the female boa (sadly, the male cornsnake got out, and we believed was eaten by our dog =/).

So, at that time, we didnt consider having a scale or anything to weigh the animals a really big priority.

Fast forward to now.

We have a gecko, a monitor, two RTBs, a cornsnake, and several turtles/cornsnake in the mail, and a red eared slider.

I would like to monitor everyones weight, and have begun the arduous process of trying to find a scale.
We went to walmart and the local grocery stores, and omg.. none of them I think are big enough... since ive seen a lot of reptiles (specifically ball pythons), over 1000grams.


So here is my question.

How high does the scale need to go (in lbs or grams), for it to be proper enough for the various reptiles that we house?

Note, our RTBs are over 2 yrs, the gecko is probably two years now, the cornsnake is three years old (even though she was small when we got her, she was a difficult feeder), and the turtles are under a year (hatchlings), and the cornsnake im getting is approximately the same age as my current cornsnake.

Anyway, any tips tricks or suggestions (including HOW to weigh snakes so they dont decide to run off the scale itself), would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

PS Sorry its so long lol.

I have this one. Goes up to 11 pounds.
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-KML-...291153&sr=8-45

I think all the digital food scales go up to several pounds.

I use My Weigh scales. The one I have is no longer in production. It was replaced by this model, which has more features than mine. It goes up to 7000 grams, or almost 15.5 pounds in 1g or 0.1oz increments.

http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/my...1dx-black.html

I also like this one, it goes up to 35 pounds, but the trade off is a lower resolution, 5g increments for anything over 900g.

http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/my...traship35.html

The problem you'll have is trying to have one scale that will accommodate everything, including the boas. You'll probably be better off with something like the first one that will work for everything else, and weigh the boas on the bathroom scale by deducting your weight while holding them.

If you do a search for postal or kitchen scales, you should find one to your liking. I've seen up to 75 lb scales that way in grams at good prices on amazon. You could also try officemax/staples or the like. We have bought postal scales there as well.

I bought the new My Weigh model at a reptile show a couple months back and I've been pretty happy with it. It's accurate enough for my tiny hognose hatchlings when every lil' gram counts. I don't keep anything that could go over the 15 pound limit, my biggest are probably around 4lb, so I can't help you there.
However Clay's idea of using a bathroom scale is a good one. You just weigh yourself, then do it again holding the animal. We have a good personal scale and we've always used that method for weighing our cats or dog. (For example it tells me that my dog is at 22.4lbs today. She could stand to lose a pound or two...) I would imagine that once you're dealing with animals that size, a few grams plus or minus wouldn't make or break anything.

As for tricks to make them stay put - I use the little weighing bucket that it comes with for my animals, but you can always use a larger box and then just zero it out. Usually my bigger ones can ball up to fit inside there though. I kinda just place my hand on top of the container where their coils are sticking out and just give them a soft tap, they'll often curl up away from my touch and in on themselves to fit inside the bucket.
Sometimes though if they are just too active and won't remain inside, I stick them in a cloth shipping bag and just set that in there. They're usually easier to manipulate that way and you can subtract a couple grams from the weight of the bag if it's important.

Hope that helps some~

Thanks for this thread. I've been on the fence with which one to go with myself. The My Weigh models seem to have very poor CS and some people have said theirs died on them or the digital display broke after a short time (a few months in some cases), but others have had great experiences and have posted excellent reviews. They aren't too pricey and appears to be one of the more popular brands in herpetoculture from what I've seen so far on forums.

I don't know if it helps anyone or if this is even exactly the same scale, but shipping from Old Will was almost $13 for me when I estimated the cost, but through Amazon it looks to be covered under the Super Saver shipping thing:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Weigh-7001-.../dp/B000MCZNHG

Here is another My Weigh model (My Weigh KD-7000) with pretty good reviews. Maybe it's the older one?:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Weigh-KD-70.../dp/B000EVHHJC

Best of luck!

Lauren

I've never checked any reviews on the My Weigh scales, I can only post from my own experience with my two units.
I bought both of mine about 10 years ago and they are still in use and working perfectly.
Small scales seem to be more common nowdays, or else I just didn't know where to look back then. They were quite a bit more expensive when I got mine too, my large one, a 6001 model was $60. I also have a 250g model that weighs in .01g increments I got just for tiny stuff like hatchling hognose that weigh in the single digits when born. That scale hasn't gotten nearly as much use over the years but the big one is used all the time.

i went to harbor frights the scale i got from them works very well and was cheap with shipping and everything i think it goes up to 10 pounds i only use it for grams for my dragons the most ive ever had on the scale was about 5pounds 2300 grams (not a dragon lol)

Great info! I am probably going to order one of the My Weigh scales today, but I found this one that might work for the OP since there is such a wide range of weights involved:

http://www.amazon.com/UltraShip-55-D...9577188&sr=1-1

It says the accuracy is +/- 0.1oz | 0.005lb | 0.002kg | 2g on the manufacturer's website. Not sure if that is enough for a gecko since I am a snake lady, but I figured I'd throw it out there if it was helpful.

I agree with the idea about putting a box or lightweight bin (with or without a lid) on the scale and zeroing it out for most critters.

Best of luck!

Lauren

I've got a scale too and it's great but I don't do it often enough and charting would be cool but it has to be regularly done I think.