Adult Sulcata bite

[Maggie3fan]

Chefs knife and it was the whole tip of my left middle finger and 1/4” from the end. Pressure people Pressure it is your best friend for bleeding wounds. Cleaning every wound is very important since heck what was living on your skin when it happened! ?

I first use hydr

Why would you do that??? Just move your hand out of the way...

I wasn't paying attention to Sam, he came up on my right side, and he bit my hand as I was throwing food on the ground. I honestly think that Sulcata and other tortoises who were fed by hand think that your actual hand is food. I've always said how smart they are, but really? They are pre-historic, and we anthropomorphize them. Especially I do.You don't get bit because I imagine that you treat your chelonia like wild animals, my sister does as well. I only have 3, and unless somebody throws one over the fence, I don't do rescues anymore. So mine are pets and I spend a lot of time with them.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Yikes, I would be throwing the F bomb too.
I assume the nurse cleaned it out really good. Heal fast.
Now onto you not feeling good to begin with. Hows that going? Do you poosibly have covid? Don't mess around with the illness. A trip to the ER might be best.
Take care.

Thank you for caring. The nurse did her job and my finger is alright. I was sick because I have chronic kidney failure, and some days are worse than others. I most probably should not have included in this thread, because it sounds so bad, but most of the time I feel good, don't know anything is wrong. So please don't feel sorry for me. I am fine f*cked up Insecure neurotic and emotional...fine lol however, I really feel ok. may feel ok for weeks, then for no reason spending the next week in bed. but I'm good right here right now

 

[Maggie3fan]

Chefs knife and it was the whole tip of my left middle finger and 1/4” from the end. Pressure people Pressure it is your best friend for bleeding wounds. Cleaning every wound is very important since heck what was living on your skin when it happened! ?

So far I'm not as bad as most of the rest of you...how fun! I clean with Nolvasan, then

Jeez!!! Horse bites hurt like a mother....

Human??? I thought that would not happen but, I too have been bit and have bit. But I'm sorry, there won't be any details on that one.
bet Y has gotten bit.

 

[Gijoux]

Just for Maggie. A friend just sent me this:View attachment 304584

That's why they it "Wildlife"!!!

 

[Maggie3fan]

Chefs knife and it was the whole tip of my left middle finger and 1/4” from the end. Pressure people Pressure it is your best friend for bleeding wounds. Cleaning every wound is very important since heck what was living on your skin when it happened! ?

So far I'm not as bad as most of the rest of you...how fun! I clean with Nolvasan, then Neosporin

Jeez!!! Horse bites hurt like a mother....

Human??? I thought that would not happen but, I too have been bit and have bit. But I'm sorry, there won't be any details on that one.
bet @Yvonne G has gotten bit. Because when she was doing rescues, she rescued RES, they bite anything, she has raised a snapping turtle from a hatchling, there again those suckers are very scary, she has an over 100 lbs Dudley, a Sulcata, he breaks down fences why wouldn't he bite? All those Manouria (sp), yeah she had to have gotten bit from something? One time when I lived with her she hollered at me, snake, snake, I was in Vet Tech school at the time, and thought I was Little Suzy Badass so I run to the rescue. Picked it up correctly, and we walked down her all the sudden longer driveway, to the dirt road when this what I thought was a pretty mellow gopher snake, all the sudden wrapped his body around my arm, and his head just turned and I flung him away from me, and screamed like a girl. Oh man, Little Suzy Snowflake. The part that nobody see's is that when I started this comment I was gonna tell how he bit me. But as I search my memory banks I just see myself flinging my arm away. I'm think the snake bit was a different snake. Not a gopher snake at all.

 

[Blackdog1714]

Thank you for caring. The nurse did her job and my finger is alright. I was sick because I have chronic kidney failure, and some days are worse than others. I most probably should not have included in this thread, because it sounds so bad, but most of the time I feel good, don't know anything is wrong. So please don't feel sorry for me. I am fine f*cked up Insecure neurotic and emotional...fine lol however, I really feel ok. may feel ok for weeks, then for no reason spending the next week in bed. but I'm good right here right now

Oh I am a SNAFU kinda guy- Situation Normal- All F@cked Up!

 

[Maggie3fan]

Oh I am a SNAFU kinda guy- Situation Normal- All F@cked Up!

That's exactly why I love you so

 

[Maggie3fan]

That's why they it "Wildlife"!!!

That just hurts me, oh man.
What was that long time member I forget his name, might start with a "D", he had a big Sulcata named Monstro I'm thinkin. Bet he got bit, or maybe I'm wrong. I'm real sorry if I put the wrong Sulcata

 

[Srmcclure]

My worst bite actually came from a cat. I couldn't use my hand for a week and a half. Not fun.

 

[Sue Ann]

Just for Maggie. A friend just sent me this:View attachment 304584

No flabby arms around your tort

 

[wellington]

So far I'm not as bad as most of the rest of you...how fun! I clean with Nolvasan, then

Human??? I thought that would not happen but, I too have been bit and have bit. But I'm sorry, there won't be any details on that one.
bet Y has gotten bit.

I'm cracking up over you biting Yvonne.
Maybe you meant Yvonne has been bit, but not meaning by you lmao

 

[Maggie3fan]

I'm cracking up over you biting Yvonne.
Maybe you meant Yvonne has been bit, but not meaning by you lmao

No no! I never bit Y!!! But reading your comment I spit out my drink...too funny. Y would never have put up with me biting...lol

 

[Pastel Tortie]

@maggie3fan Maggie, I'm hoping you're feeling better. There's a good bit of laughter in this thread, and that's supposed to be good medicine.

I have my own entry in the "Learned the Hard Way" file... I got schooled by my three-striped mud turtles (Bold and Pinstripe) when they were around 2"-2.5" SCL. I had been picking them up overhanded when I took them out of their tank... but that left the soft fleshy fold between my thumb and forefinger exposed and right in range of that little turtle mouth. You know, it's amazing how hard a tiny little mud turtle can bite. It didn't take long after that for me to start picking them up underhanded... and wrapping the back half of the turtle in a paper towel so when they expressed their displeasure at being molested, at least I didn't have to clean the poop off my hand. (See... I'm trainable...)

The muds have grown some and settled down somewhat, but I don't let any part of me near those beaks. Some of you may get a good laugh when I say that Pinstripe finally broke 200 grams a few months ago, but her head has filled out, and that beak is formidable. I really don't want to see her do any impressions of a snapping turtle. And my muds are smaller than all but the youngest tortoises. I'm glad I didn't learn that lesson with a sulcata.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

That while "not biting the hand that feeds you" thing... has a lot to do with keeping the hand that does the feeding out of the way.

 

[1wildtiger]

Thankfully it wasn't as bad as it could've been. At least it wasn't a bite from a snapping turtle.

I still cringe whenever I think about this video:

OMG!!!! That gut is nuts!! LOL!!! I raised a hatchling snapping turtle until he was about that big (10 years). He was so good and not once did he try to bite me!!! I was LUCKY!!! I can't believe he did that on purpose!!! Crazy!!!?

 

[Skip K]

In all these years, starting with my first box turtle in 1979, I have never been bitten by a tortoise. Or turtle. And some aquatic turtles have given it a good try...

Closest I came...I was around 7 years old and a box turtle closed it’s shell on my finger. Lol

 

[wellington]

OMG!!!! That gut is nuts!! LOL!!! I raised a hatchling snapping turtle until he was about that big (10 years). He was so good and not once did he try to bite me!!! I was LUCKY!!! I can't believe he did that on purpose!!! Crazy!!!?

That guys has no brains.

 

[Chefdenoel10]

i have always fed mine by hand. When they were small, that beak could still cut me like a razor. I would always say OW! loudly, and tap them on the head with a finger. Over the years, they apparently learned to be more careful when my hand was present in the vicinity of their food. Often, they still get a grip on a finger or thumb, but it is always pretty gentle and as their mouth closes I can clearly see that they are looking at my face for a reaction before biting down the rest of the way. They are really smart guys and certainly have some understanding of what's going on. The oldest is 16 now (Popeye) and she is clearly the most careful when my hand is in the area of her food. Most of the bites in the early years were caused by me, re-positioning the food I was holding after the tortoise had already made the decision where to bite (which would probably have avoided my fingers). Certainly, once your hand is within a certain distance of their mouth the position of the eyes doesn't allow them to actually see what they are closing their jaws on. Anyway, that's how I got mine to be more careful about their food-biting when my hands are in the vicinity. That head can strike with all the speed of a rattlesnake though, so you do need to be careful if the target is something they really really like! Such wonderful and intelligent creatures!

you must be the tortoise whisperer???

 

[Chefdenoel10]

@maggie3fan Maggie, I'm hoping you're feeling better. There's a good bit of laughter in this thread, and that's supposed to be good medicine.

I have my own entry in the "Learned the Hard Way" file... I got schooled by my three-striped mud turtles (Bold and Pinstripe) when they were around 2"-2.5" SCL. I had been picking them up overhanded when I took them out of their tank... but that left the soft fleshy fold between my thumb and forefinger exposed and right in range of that little turtle mouth. You know, it's amazing how hard a tiny little mud turtle can bite. It didn't take long after that for me to start picking them up underhanded... and wrapping the back half of the turtle in a paper towel so when they expressed their displeasure at being molested, at least I didn't have to clean the poop off my hand. (See... I'm trainable...)

The muds have grown some and settled down somewhat, but I don't let any part of me near those beaks. Some of you may get a good laugh when I say that Pinstripe finally broke 200 grams a few months ago, but her head has filled out, and that beak is formidable. I really don't want to see her do any impressions of a snapping turtle. And my muds are smaller than all but the youngest tortoises. I'm glad I didn't learn that lesson with a sulcata.

I am just thinking of that soft fleshy fold on MY hand !!!!! Oooouuuuch!!!!! Yikes!!
????????

I might have slapped his butt after that one.?

 

[Pastel Tortie]

I am just thinking of that soft fleshy fold on MY hand !!!!! Oooouuuuch!!!!! Yikes!!
????????

I might have slapped his butt after that one.?

Not on a tiny 2" turtle, you couldn't. You wouldn't be able to bear it! ?