Can you train your tortoise not to bite??

[ladystarlarose]

And if so, how does one go about doing this?

I have a 5 year old Hermans tortoise that I love to death. I've had him since he was about 3 months old & I raised him to be very comfortable around people. He loves to be pet (or at least he used to) and hand fed.

I've often warned people when they would hold him, etc. that he sometimes bites but not out of malice but because he thinks your finger (or other body parts; neck, arm you name it) is food. However, for the past few months it's gotten to be that anytime I hold him, or try to pet him (he used to love being pet on his head!) he takes snaps at me. And one might even conclude that he's going through an aggressive phase of sorts? Even when I take him out of his daily soaking he will often try to bite the towel that I lightly wrap him in.

I know it's crazy, but I would like to try to teach him not to bite but exactly how one goes about it is something I have no idea where I would even start...

Im aware that tortoises are smart animals and that many people have trained there animals to do all sorts of things. However, I've searched high & low and have yet to find a book or article to help get me started.

Any suggestions?

 

[egyptiandan]

Not a single clue as to how to train a tortoise , but it might be time to let him be a tortoise.
He's growing up and seeing people as other tortoises. He's gotten to be adult or almost adult and doing what all male tortoises do, try to reproduce and pass on his genes. Male Hermanns tortoises do a small bit of ramming of a female, but mostly they bite legs and head to keep a female still long enough for the male to mount her.
You might want to read the caresheet in the Hermanns section and make a few changes to his accommodations.

Danny

 

[Madkins007]

Unfortunately, by hand-feeding it, you trained it to bite people. Now you have to break that association, which is going to be really slow-going.

First, start feeding it correctly, but keep your hands out of the pen- use tongs, etc. if needed to place the food.

Next, cut back on handling it. Tortoises generally do not like to be picked up and can react out of the stress.

Then, we need to work on its association with fingers and food. I am not a training expert, but my thoughts would be that it should associate human fingers with something nasty. I might either go with a quick squirt of water in the face, and/or using a nasty-tasting pepper oil (like for thumb-suckers) on my fingers.

Once it has gotten used to the new feeding and care arrangements (as suggested in the other post as well), coat your fingers and get the squirter ready. Gently reach towards it, wiggling your fingers a little, and squirt it if it bites you. Withdraw fingers for a while, and repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Wait a day, repeat, repeat, wait, repeat, etc.

The goal is to teach it that something unpleasant happens every time it bites a person. (Hopefully, the wiggling fingers helps it ID a person so it does think that ALL food is risky to eat!)

Just my thoughts on this.

 

[Laura]

Great advice. And I like the 'time to let him be a tortoise'. You can still love and respect something without cuddling and holding. In fact, sometimes we can do more harm then good with all 'our love and doting'.
Hand feed by using tongs is good to. Still interacting, he sees you as a positive food source, but keeps fingers safe.
I'd be a little concerend about the 'negative reinforcement' in training him. He might start to dislike you. So I would start with using the tongs and go from there.
good luck. let us know how it goes!
ps.. How good is a tortoises eyesight?

 

[egyptiandan]

A tortoise's eye sight is pretty good, especially for colors.

Danny

 

[Crazy1]

I believe that the Living Desert in CA has trained torts. Give them a call or write them to find out if they will give you infor or hints on this.
The Living Desert
47-900 Portola Avenue
Palm Desert, CA 92260
Phone: 760-346-5694
Fax: 760-568-9685
the site is http://www.livingdesert.org/default.asp

 

[ladystarlarose]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the great suggestions!
I'm definitely going to see if I can get some hints from the Living Desert too. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

 

[richyrich777]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the great suggestions!
I'm definitely going to see if I can get some hints from the Living Desert too. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Hmm I'm liking the idea of not hand feeding. I only hand feed occasionally due to my dislike for being bitten. But for future times, I will remember never to do this!