Biting?

[erinlyndon]

Hello, Pebble has got into a bad habit of biting me. She never used to but now whenever my hand is close to her face she tries to bite. Is there a way of stopping this?

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Yes ! Don't put your hand in her face !

 

[erinlyndon]

Yes ! Don't put your hand in her face !

Oh, i don't put my hand really close to her. I would be picking up waste or something in her enclosure but she will walk up to me and try to bite. Sometimes she does sniff me and ignore me

 

[JoesMum]

I have to agree. Keep your hand away from her beak.

Do you hand feed her? Don't do it. When it comes to brainpower, torts are at the lower end of the scale. We have seen it before where torts stop thinking hands bring food and start thinking that hands are actually part of the food. Put Pebble's food on a flat rock or slate on the floor of the enclosure.

If it's not that then Pebble is either being defensive or territorial and telling she doesn't want your hand there. It's best to oblige as beaks are sharp

 

[erinlyndon]

I wrote the first comment i little too quickly, i didn't mean i put my finger in her face i just meant if my hand is somewhere in her enclosure she will come over, sniff, and usually bites.

I used to hand feed her when she was younger and she seemed fine, i don't now though.

I'm wondering if its just because sometimes i smell of food, because sometimes she does stop and ignore me.

 

[JoesMum]

The smell can be enough. I got a nasty nip from Joe once after picking some strawberries. Stupid thing to go near him smelling of strawberries.

It could still be a territorial nip though.

 

[erinlyndon]

Yeah, thanks you. Ive been nipped a few times, you wouldnt think such a small animal could give you a bite as strong as that

 

[WithLisa]

I'm wondering if its just because sometimes i smell of food

You always smell of food, torts just love animal protein and there's not that much difference between a finger and an earthworm or slug.

 

[JoesMum]

You always smell of food, torts just love animal protein and there's not that much difference between a finger and an earthworm or slug.

The Testudo aren't so protein motivated - they're veggies. I could pet Joe with no problem front end. It was the smell of fruit that got me bitten

 

[erinlyndon]

A bit off topic, but is it normal for her to try and eat insects, i never let her eat them, but ive noticed shes tried to a few times

 

[JoesMum]

A bit off topic, but is it normal for her to try and eat insects, i never let her eat them, but ive noticed shes tried to a few times

Not part of the regular diet, but Russians are probably opportunists given where they come from. The occasional bug will do no harm.

They're not supposed to have a high protein diet so don't go out of your way to feed bugs

 

[RosemaryDW]

Interesting. The only thing that's ever gotten me nipped is red nail polish!

 

[wellington]

Here's the thing. Tortoises are slow. So, when he gets too close move your hand, foot or tort out of the way.

 

[erinlyndon]

Yeah, i usually do, but sometimes she can be quite quick

 

[GingerLove]

Yeah, i usually do, but sometimes she can be quite quick

I'm really bad about getting my hand in her face. I hand feed her sometimes. I think my first reaction to her biting me taught her a valuable lesson and maybe traumatized her slightly. When she bit me super hard, I screamed in surprise, jerked my hand out of her mouth and yelped "NO!" as if she were a dog. Well, it worked anyways. I think she's too scared to bite Mommy now, poor thing.

Anyways, I do believe that a tortoise can be trained to a certain point if you give it time. But I'm stubborn in that I want my tortoise to be accustomed to my hand. Now I can hold out my hand to her, she will poke at it, decide that the finger belongs to me, and walk away uninterested. This resulted from me practicing several times by extending my hand to her and shaking my finger at her when she acted like she was going to bite. She learned that the finger is alive, and the veggies are not.

 

[erinlyndon]

Ive seen some other posts they said they trained them by very lightly tapping their beak, i dont know whether i should try it. Im not sure if it will scare her or if it is bad. Thanks for all the replies

 

[erinlyndon]

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/11479/

 

[erinlyndon]

There's the link to the posts

 

[GingerLove]

Ive seen some other posts they said they trained them by very lightly tapping their beak, i dont know whether i should try it. Im not sure if it will scare her or if it is bad. Thanks for all the replies

That's what I did sometimes, but honestly just shaking my finger at her worked. Yes, it does startle her a bit but it doesn't hurt her and she quickly pops her head back out. I prefer that method rather than tapping the beak because I feel too mean.

 

[erinlyndon]

I just tried it out when she walked up to me and tried to bite me, i very very lightly tapped her on the beak, she stopped straight away and even let me give her a little neck scratch. Normally she will keep trying until she has bit me or if i move my hand away