Nippy tortie

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Aretino

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I was surprised recently when Dinette, my female Greek, started nipping at fingers. A little experimenting convinced me that it is the desire to defend her food bowl that is causing her to try to literally bite the hand that feeds her. She likes being hand fed well enough, but sometimes she is clearly going for the finger. Maybe she likes finger food. She is quite unperturbed at being handled and picked up, say to be taken outdoors or photographed, and does no nipping under these circumstances.

So I don't really find the aggression a problem. As long as the intrusive finger completes its business of feeding or adding food to the bowl promptly, she doesn't get too worked up. She eats like a horse. Should I be limiting her food? She's pretty lively, generally.
 

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dmmj

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You don't limit the food because of biting, you limit the hand feeding , the problem will more than likely only get worse, as she gets bigger.
 

Aretino

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dmmj said:
You don't limit the food because of biting, you limit the hand feeding , the problem will more than likely only get worse, as she gets bigger.

No, I don't mind the nippiness; it's not really a problem and is easy to avoid. I read in a thread elsewhere, however, that some Greek tortie owners feed every other day. I've been giving her as much grub as she wants.
 

bholmes88

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I would continue feeding the same, no use making her go hungry for no benefit. I have a leopard that will go for my fingers, I just keep my hands away from his mouth.
 

Baoh

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Women with open-toed shoes are sometimes in the yard and I prefer to avoid encouraging the tortoises to try and taste-test toes.
 

Jessamy

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My little RF nibbles fingers- poky things with food and look like worms. I also got a nasty chomp hand feeding a 600lb. Aladabra tort at a zoo- I don't think they control their bite much when eating.
My tort also bit in anger/fear for the 1st time this Tuesday after an unpleasant mite cleaning and it does hurt your feelings a little- but their appeal is they are very self-directed :)
I think overfeeding is only a problem if it's rich food or a lazy tort- but skipping occasionally with an adult is ok
 

Aretino

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Thanks to you all for your comments and suggestions.

I try to offer a mix of foods, with ones from the preferable category making up the bulk at any given time.
 
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