Hand-feeding and Finger Biting

Nephelle

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So our baby bit my partner's finger, and it was....hilarious. :D But! This has given rise to a few other questions, so I thought I would ask for opinions and experiences! As funny as that was today (for me at least), I bet it won't be so funny down the road!

Basics - Our baby RT, Millie, is 3 months old and arrived Wednesday

The first day, she ate well on her own from the pile of greens in her feeding area. The following days she ignored it for most of the day, only took basically what we finally put in front of her and held out of concern (and cuteness).

When Millie bit, it was incredibly deliberate--meaning, it wasn't a missed bite at food. There was no food being held for her, rather my partner had her hand down hoping Millie would walk up instead of being picked up. Instead, Millie walked up and chomped down!

My questions are on hand-feeding experiences in general and the long-term outcomes:

:tort: From your experience, has hand-feeding changed your tortoise's behavior toward free-feeding?

:tort: Has it changed their behavior toward your fingers/hands?

:tort: If you are the owner of an adult raised from a baby, would you go back and change how you offered food, if you could?

I know these questions are incredibly subjective and no two tortoises are alike! Just wondering about personal experiences :)

Cheers!

Millie Rawrrrr.jpg
 
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dmmj

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the way you describe it it sounds like she was curious about the hand and decided to take a test. my desert tortoise does this to my toes all the time I have to be quick out there
 

Nephelle

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the way you describe it it sounds like she was curious about the hand and decided to take a test. my desert tortoise does this to my toes all the time I have to be quick out there

So I take it this is a life-long curiosity that will never be satisfied? Ah well...excuses to hang Beware of Tortoise signs!
 

dmmj

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about 10 years and counting of curiosity for my desert tortoise
 

leigti

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My adult Russian has bitten me twice when I was hand feeding. I can't see very well so I didn't realize how close she was getting to my fingers. It wasn't aggression, my fingers were just in the way.
One time she had some dried skin on the side of her head and I was sort of poking at it with my finger and she tried to bite me. Again, my fault, I was bothering her :)
I have not raised a tortoise from a baby, I do think that if you hand feed them all the time they will become dependent on it. However, I don't think there's a problem with it once in a while. A Russian tortoise bite does hurt and it may bleed a little but you will live. They have to explore the world somehow, and their little hands just don't work very well so they bite things sometimes.
 

leigti

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I actually find a tortoise being willing to be hand fed helpful if you have to give medication. For example if you have to give dewormer and do you want to make sure they get it all you can spread the medication on a leaf of Romain, roll it up like a little Barito, and hand feed it. That way you know your tortoise ate it all and got the full dose.
 

Nephelle

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... I do think that if you hand feed them all the time they will become dependent on it. However, I don't think there's a problem with it once in a while.

That is pretty much what I am concerned about. I know it is WAY too early to even try to guess at her patterns yet, so this is more of a general direction sorta thing. I have looked at many pictures on here of babies swarming their food piles, so hopefully once she's settled in she might be more interested. Hand feeding is super cute, but mommy cannot hold the dandelion every day for the next 40+ years LOL.

Your point about giving medication was a great one, though. That could actually be a really important factor down the road!

So we have one accidental biter and one that thinks dmmj's toes are delicious! hahahaha
 

Yvonne G

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My two Aldabran tortoises were suffering from MBD and I had to give them calcium to be sure they were getting enough...not just a pinch on their food, but human calcium tablets so I knew the actual amount they were getting. So I punch out holes in strawberries with a sipping straw, and insert a pill into each strawberry. Then I feed the tortoise from a skewer. That's actually a slice of peach with a calcium tablet in it in my avatar.

The bad part of this in now whenever I'm in their yard, or whenever anyone comes to visit, they follow us around and we have to keep moving away from them, because they will try to take a bite out of anything on us they can reach...legs, feet, anything.

The good part is when I give "the tour" folks, especially kids, really get a lot of enjoyment feeding bits of food from a skewer to the giant tortoises.
 

Nephelle

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Make sure she's warm enough, if they're not warm enough they won't eat.

I have actually been wondering if I needed to up my temps. Basking is running around 95 on one end, CHE in the middle sitting around 80 with a cool end in the mid 70's. Should I aim for closer to 100?
 

Nephelle

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My two Aldabran tortoises were suffering from MBD and I had to give them calcium to be sure they were getting enough...not just a pinch on their food, but human calcium tablets so I knew the actual amount they were getting. So I punch out holes in strawberries with a sipping straw, and insert a pill into each strawberry. Then I feed the tortoise from a skewer. That's actually a slice of peach with a calcium tablet in it in my avatar.

The bad part of this in now whenever I'm in their yard, or whenever anyone comes to visit, they follow us around and we have to keep moving away from them, because they will try to take a bite out of anything on us they can reach...legs, feet, anything.

The good part is when I give "the tour" folks, especially kids, really get a lot of enjoyment feeding bits of food from a skewer to the giant tortoises.

OMG Yvonne I had to google what kind of tortoise that was, I had no idea but AAHHH OMG!! SO COOL. I want to feed one on a skewer! I would not, however, want one of those chasing me around the yard looking for a slice of peach LOL.
 

Jodie

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For a baby, I would go 100 for basking. For the cool side and night low, I would keep it close to 80F
 

dmmj

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in 15 years or so of russian tortoise ownership they've never bitten me but also I don't hand feed
 

Jess84

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LOL It was me she bit. It didn't hurt. I was hoping this would happen.
Alas, it did not. But I love her anyway :)
 

dmmj

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more then likely curiosity bites.
 

Alaskamike

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My young ( 3 yo ) Sulcata was on my lanai eating when I got distracted and didn't notice he hard walked to my bare feet.

A nip on my big toe woke me up. :)

I'm sure we smell like possible food. So they give it a try :)

My girl friend likes to sit and watch them eat. But keeps her feet up because red painted toenails are a major temptation !

I do believe hand feeding regularly can increase the odds of a nip. So I keep that to a minimum.
 

Tom

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Its a TORTOISE, not a King Cobra or German Shepard. Just keep your fingers and body parts out from in front of its mouth.

I don't understand how so many people are bitten by tortoises. Just move, slowly even, out of the way...
 

AnimalLady

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NO BRIGHT NAIL POLISH! I learned the hard way and it hurt like bloody hell!!!! In Mac's defense, I was totally eating crap and not paying attention. He munched the lettuce from my hand, I didn't realize because I was looking at my kids and then BAM! He chomped on me, lol.
 

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Anyone that has ever observed a tortoise eating would have noticed that their depth perception doesn't seem very good.
Or that hand fed individuals don't look twice at an offering. They just bite.
 
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