Looking for some help or insight. I have a hermanns tortoise we got in november of 2012 as a hatchling. Hes been with us and very well cared for & fed. Recently its started showing aggressive behavior. Whenever we reach in his enclosure he literally runs over as fast as it can & tries to bite us. Why or what is causing this?? He is well fed & cared for & never been mishandled. When all of sudden would it do this? Is it hormonal?? We only have one and dont know the sex of it either. Thanks for all help
Aggressive Hermanns
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tortoisaur
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My mums male Hermann is a nightmare! Can't walk on the floor if he's on The loose as he does a mega stomp to your feet and bites away! He's always had a fairly territorial temp since he his sexual maturity!
Did you handfeed him in the past?
Waiting here also for the answer....
fcpfjenn said:
OK, the reason I asked is that when you hand feed a tort, they sometimes start nipping at fingers. What you probably have is a very territorial solitary male who's going through puberty. If he had a few females in his enclosure he'd be much calmer, but the odds are that he'll mellow out, in time.
When you have a male with a few females to hold his attention, they rarely get that aggressive.
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My jung dalmatians are doing this too. Thisn is a behavior that says: I'm hungry!!!!!. Feed more mazuri.
Annette
Annette
I've seen little "super male" herrmanni many times. I think its pretty cool when they are that bold.
Its not like its hard to dodge the bites.
Its not like its hard to dodge the bites.
Yes I sent pics to the breeder I got him from and it is in fact a male!! LOL Great, I have a lonely horney male tortoise!!! Just my luck. Were gonna give him some time, im hoping this passes. We've had him since he was a hatchling so we dont really want to part with him.
fcpfjenn said:
He'll calm down eventually.
zackfraser
New Member
hahaha My Hermanns does the same thing. It bites everything. I've had it for a couple years now and it still does this, both inside and outside of its enclosure. I imagine it is testing its surroundings. I remember reading somewhere that someone compared this behavior to human babies who learn about their environment by putting things in their mouth; I think it is just the turtles way of learning about their environment.
It's good that you know this about your hermanns because you can expect this behavior and can therefore avoid putting any hazardous things around it within biting range.
It's good that you know this about your hermanns because you can expect this behavior and can therefore avoid putting any hazardous things around it within biting range.
surfergirl
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my Hermann male is also outgoing, territorial to an extent. He comes charging over like he is king kong but he is just an itty bitty 5" tort. lol! I don't have to walk in his enclosure much so he has never nipped at my feet. When my sully gets territorial or thinks my painted toe nails are strawberries it is a lot more intimidating. good luck hope he settles down for ya but like Tom said as slow as they are it is pretty easy to avoid their aggression.
good luck hope he settles down for ya but like Tom said as slow as they are it is pretty easy to avoid their aggression.
Smartie123
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My 5 1/2 year old Donny started biting our feet when he hit puberty last year, we have joked about him needing a girlfriend but perhaps it's not such a silly idea. We have been worried about introducing another tort to him as he's always been on his own and I've read a lot about bullying.
Getting a female will not improve things; indeed it may make things worse.
Get your aggressive males into the biggest enclosure possible, preferably outdoors, and hope that having more territory to patrol will satisfy him.
The usual rules applies: Groups of 3 or more torts of a similar size - 1 male male & multiple females - in a very large outdoor enclosure may succeed, but there are no guarantees.
My Greek got so hyped on testosterone that he stopped eating and drinking in his obsession with patrolling and defending his territory. He made himself very sick and he lost around one third of his body weight. That is exceptional and it required veterinary intervention with a hormone implant to get him back to normal.
He still butts and defends now, but he is also eating and drinking.
Get your aggressive males into the biggest enclosure possible, preferably outdoors, and hope that having more territory to patrol will satisfy him.
The usual rules applies: Groups of 3 or more torts of a similar size - 1 male male & multiple females - in a very large outdoor enclosure may succeed, but there are no guarantees.
My Greek got so hyped on testosterone that he stopped eating and drinking in his obsession with patrolling and defending his territory. He made himself very sick and he lost around one third of his body weight. That is exceptional and it required veterinary intervention with a hormone implant to get him back to normal.
He still butts and defends now, but he is also eating and drinking.
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