Hello

[akp022]

Hi everyone, my name is Amanda and I've had my Greek Tortoise Agamemnon "Aggie" for almost a month now. I've been using this forum a lot to find answers to all of my questions since I'm new to this. I look forward to getting to know people on here and look forward to the advice of experienced tortoise owners. Aggie loves being around people and crawling outside of his cage around the house (I let him out for 30-40 mins at a time a few times a day) and as soon as it gets warm out I will be taking him outside- I live in PA so that won't be until closer to May. I have read that Tortoises are pretty good regulators and know when to stop eating, but Aggie seems to eat more than I've read that a tortoise needs; should I feed him when he's hungry or just feed him the recommended once a day? Also, when he crawls up to me he almost always tries to bite my fingers or toes but he will not do this to any one else, does anyone have any thoughts on why he does this only to me and does it hurt when a tortoise bites you? Once again, nice to meet you all and I look forward to learning all I can to better take care of Aggie. Here's a picture of him .

 

[mainey34]

Hello and welcome

 

[sibi]

Hello Amanda. Your Greek is beautiful. You say u have him for about a month, so, how old is he/she? Torts have tiny ridges as teeth and they use it to grab food and tear their food apart often using their limbs. As a tort grows and becomes stronger, their bite can hurt and tear at soft, sensitive skin. I suggest that as he goes for your toes, you pick him up and put him in a different direction. If he continues to come at you, you need to teach him a lesson. It may require that you place him on his back for a minute or two. He won't like it, but more importantly, it will show him who's boss. He won't want to be placed on his back too often, I guarantee it.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. seeing how torts are slow movers and aren't dogs, I do not suggest putting him/her on its back for any reason. It stresses them. Just move your feet or hand. He might just recognize your hands as the food offerer and your toes may look like worms or it may have to do with the color of sock you are wearing. Just move or place him away from you. As for the food, feed him a pile about the size of him. If he eats all of it, then the next day give a bigger pile, and so on, until a little is left over. Then that's the amount you should feed until he gets bigger.

 

[kytuan]

hi akp welcome to the forum

 

[Yellow Turtle]

Hello and welcome. I would give my torts all food that he can eat in 1 cycle. They will just stop eating when they are full.

 

[Jacqui]

Welcome! What drew you to the Greek tortoise?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Amanda, and welcome to the Forum!

 

[akp022]

Welcome! What drew you to the Greek tortoise?

My boyfriend and I were going back and forth between an aquatic turtle or a land tortoise and once I saw Aggie for sale it helped us make the choice. I also really like the size of Greek tortoises and the ease of caring for them, he's a really great pet, even when he tries to bite me, it's kind of really cute when he does!

 

[akp022]

Hello Amanda. Your Greek is beautiful. You say u have him for about a month, so, how old is he/she? Torts have tiny ridges as teeth and they use it to grab food and tear their food apart often using their limbs. As a tort grows and becomes stronger, their bite can hurt and tear at soft, sensitive skin. I suggest that as he goes for your toes, you pick him up and put him in a different direction. If he continues to come at you, you need to teach him a lesson. It may require that you place him on his back for a minute or two. He won't like it, but more importantly, it will show him who's boss. He won't want to be placed on his back too often, I guarantee it.

I'm not actually sure how old he is, the person I bought him from no longer had the time to take care of him, he had only had him for 6 months and as far as he knew he wasn't very old; however, Aggie has almost reached the size he's going to reach so I'm not sure if that means he's older or not, I don't know how to tell how old he is

 

[akp022]

Thanks everyone for the advice about the food, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't over-feeding him or anything!

 

[akp022]

Here are a few pictures of my little guy...and this is what he does when he tries to bite me (I don't usually put my finger in front of him, this is just for the pictures)

 

[pam]

Welcome he is so cute even when he is naughty trying to bite you

 

[coreyc]

Welcome to the forum