My tortoise keeps biting feet and ankles

happybunny39

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Joined
Jul 28, 2018
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1
Location (City and/or State)
Winchester
Hi, I'll give you a little background first if that's okay. We've had our tortoise for 2 years, he is now 9 years old. His previous owner kept him indoors in a tortoise table with heat lamp but the younger members of the family upped and left and no-one wanted the tortoise. We now have him and hope to give him a good forever home. He lives outdoors, has full run of a large, secure garden and has a secure area of approx 25 sq ft when required and a secure hutch for overnight or colder days which also has a heat lamp. This winter, he hibernated for the first time and all went well.
However.....he has always been keen on nipping at my husbands feet and this year he's decided to be less picky and that all feet are now fair game. I used to be able to sit on the grass and he'd always try to climb on my legs but now he just seems to want to bite either me or my clothing. The poor cat also gets a nip on the back of her feet if she doesn't see him coming.
Can you give me any suggestions as to why he may be doing this and if there's anything we could do to encourage different behaviour? I would feel very sad to have to move him into his secure area. Though i could increase it's current size without difficulty, i love that he currently has free roam of the whole garden.
Any ideas greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Julie
UK
 

Maro2Bear

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5 Year Member
Joined
May 29, 2014
Messages
14,712
Location (City and/or State)
Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
Probably just sees you all as intruders & is protecting and guarding HIS territory! It’s his food, his water, his house, his garden - now skeedattle!

I seriously doubt you can “re-program” a tort....its their natural instincts in play.
 

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