Big social step forward!

[W Shaw]

I don't know if this is worth posting but it was pretty cute, so I thought I'd mention it. My little guy is a rescue, so he came to me severely malnourished, and with no socialization. If I was hand feeding and he caught my fingers, he'd just latch on and try as hard as he could to pull a chunk off of what he seemed to think was a little extra tough squash. He's figured it out now and is very gentle most of the time. Last night, I was feeding him a bit of radicchio, and he accidentally sank his beak into my finger tip. He immediately let go, dropped the radicchio and hung his head as if he knew biting was a bad thing. He's never been scolded or had any negative repercussions as a result of biting, so there wouldn't have been any fear involved. I picked up the radicchio, reassured him, and he went back to eating -- cautiously for the first couple of bites. Of course it's possible he just doesn't like the taste of human fingers, and was afraid I'd make him eat more, but since he's never reacted this way before, I suspect it was more of an affinitive social response

 

[wellington]

Glad to hear he is coming out of his shell, not literally lol.

 

[AnimalLady]

How does it feel? Does it hurt really bad? I've been nipped at once, but he didnt actually catch me and it was because my nails were painted red.. now i just dont hand feed lol. I dont have much time for it.

 

[leigti]

I'm glad he's getting better. That would really hurt if he chomped down and didn't let go. My Russian has bitten me a couple times because my fingers got to close during hand feeding. But I don't think she felt bad about it . One time she chomped down real good and I just reflectively jerked my hand and flung her halfway across the enclosure. She had flipped onto her back, I was mortified but she flipped right back over and ran back to the food. I was much more traumatized and she was. It was a pretty good puncture and it bled for a while. Oh well, it was my fault. And my Russian also Lowes radicchio, maybe it's the bright purple and white coloring I don't know.

 

[dmmj]

how much does it hurt? I can only answer with my experiences to red eared slider, it feels like a very painful pinch

 

[W Shaw]

Nah, he's little. It'll draw blood because his beak is sharp, but it just leaves a tiny puncture or something like a paper cut. imagine someone pinching the pad of your finger as hard as they can with the pointy edge of a nail clipper. It's kinda like that. He never bit me out of aggression, but he'd nibble the edge of something and then suddenly open wide and try to take a big bite, and catch my fingertip. He's much more careful now. He'd just never been hand fed before. I started him on it because I wanted to socialize him, so I expected some little nips in the process. I can tell you it's way less scary than learning to feed tiny little vitamins to chimps who can gently bite your fingers off without meaning to

 

[dmmj]

I heard male chimps go after genitals. No first hand experience though.

 

[W Shaw]

I'm glad he's getting better. That would really hurt if he chomped down and didn't let go. My Russian has bitten me a couple times because my fingers got to close during hand feeding. But I don't think she felt bad about it . One time she chomped down real good and I just reflectively jerked my hand and flung her halfway across the enclosure. She had flipped onto her back, I was mortified but she flipped right back over and ran back to the food. I was much more traumatized and she was. It was a pretty good puncture and it bled for a while. Oh well, it was my fault. And my Russian also Lowes radicchio, maybe it's the bright purple and white coloring I don't know.

Fortunately I've worked with enough species to not respond reflexively to a bite. With some species, the last thing you want to do is pull away from a bite. Also I do a lot of snake road rescue. They're not always grateful to be snatched up out of the path of an oncoming car, and it would be a really bad thing to save one with split-second timing and then drop him in front of the car again when he bites! That must have been scary for you when she went flying! This is the first time I've seen Ronan react that way to biting me. Can't say for sure it was remorse, but it sure looked that way. Interesting behavior anyhow.

Sounds like a lot of Russians love radicchio!

 

[W Shaw]

I heard male chimps go after genitals. No first hand experience though.

Our guys were never deliberately aggressive beyond poking at you with one finger if they were annoyed with you, and generally they apologized right afterward, especially if you made some comment like, "What was that for? I thought we were friends!" We still had to be very careful about fingers but we never had an incident.

 

[leigti]

Fortunately I've worked with enough species to not respond reflexively to a bite. With some species, the last thing you want to do is pull away from a bite. Also I do a lot of snake road rescue. They're not always grateful to be snatched up out of the path of an oncoming car, and it would be a really bad thing to save one with split-second timing and then drop him in front of the car again when he bites! That must have been scary for you when she went flying! This is the first time I've seen Ronan react that way to biting me. Can't say for sure it was remorse, but it sure looked that way. Interesting behavior anyhow.

Sounds like a lot of Russians love radicchio!

Yeah, I know it wasn't a great reaction but Like I said it was just reflex. I have not been lucky enough to be bitten by too many animals so I am not used to it. The only Time I would say my tortoise was "aggressive" was when she had some dry skin on the side of her head. I started to kind of brush at it to try to get it off and she did try to nip me. Then gave me a dirty look I'm pretty sure

 

[W Shaw]

Ronan gets a little offended too, when I try to wipe his mouth off for him. He swats at me with one hand, like, "Get out of my face, stupid human!"

 

[AnimalLady]

Nah, he's little. It'll draw blood because his beak is sharp, but it just leaves a tiny puncture or something like a paper cut. imagine someone pinching the pad of your finger as hard as they can with the pointy edge of a nail clipper. It's kinda like that. He never bit me out of aggression, but he'd nibble the edge of something and then suddenly open wide and try to take a big bite, and catch my fingertip. He's much more careful now. He'd just never been hand fed before. I started him on it because I wanted to socialize him, so I expected some little nips in the process. I can tell you it's way less scary than learning to feed tiny little vitamins to chimps who can gently bite your fingers off without meaning to

I've given Cheerios to a rabbit quite a few times and I've had blood drawn, but no fingers lost.. I wonder if a bite of an adult tort compares to a rabbit.

 

[dmmj]

I've given Cheerios to a rabbit quite a few times and I've had blood drawn, but no fingers lost.. I wonder if a bite of an adult tort compares to a rabbit.

depend on the species. snappers can take a finger off

 

[Tom]

I see this all the time and I don't understand.

Why would you allow a tortoise to bite you? I've been keeping all sorts of chelonians since 1979 and I've never once been bitten by one. Not even by the aggressive turtles who were trying to bite me.

Why not use a bigger piece of food for hand feeding and/or move your hand out of the way?

 

[leigti]

I havea good excuse!

 

[mike taylor]

It's like getting hit by a train . Why not step two feet to the left or right . It's not like it's going to turn and run you down .