They do bite when you bother them, but many turtles do.On another topic, do you find softshells aggressive?
Growing up in China, I've seen lots of Chinese softshell turtle (not sure about the real name). Sadly to say, people breed them or capture them for food... It was believed to have super high value nutrition under the pretense of Chinese medicine... That being said, my point is my mom told me that when she was a young girl, she was teasing a bunch of softshells at home when one of them bit her finger. The turtle wouldn't let go of it, and they have to kill it to let my mom's finger free. She then had a total swollen arm for weeks.
Since I heard the story, I've never dared to touch a softshell turtle, well, not the adult ones. I'm wondering if what I heard has some truth to it. Or maybe it is species specific? ?
I now just adopted a tiny baby 3-striped mud turtle and named it Godzilla. It's adorable as hell and super hard to find in Canada. I'm wondering if one day he/she will bite my finger off too. ?