Shellby is a biter.

[xxflowersxx]

So, I've noticed that I've turned Shellby into a biter and I'm not happy about it. She was my first redfoot and I would always hand feed her to make sure she was eating....MISTAKE. Now every time I walk up to her enclosure she sees me and walks over to where ever I'm standing. She then either attempts to bite my hand or climb up the side of the enclosure so that she can get whatever is in my hand. Even if I'm just checking on them or misting them. Its not just at feeding time. I rarely if ever hand feed her anymore. I only hand feed the torts when I'm feeding them mealworms so that I can make sure they bite the heads off and so they don't get loose in the soil. Neither one of my other redfoots bite.

So my question is, is this normal and how do I make it stop?

Oh, and she only does it to me. She doesn't try to bite my boyfriend. He thinks its funny...I don't.

 

[dmmj]

It is normal for hand fed torts sometimes, not all torts do it though, time will eventually make her stop, she just associates your hand with food.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I don't keep Redfoots, but I do have a Sulcata who I hand fed and is now a biter. Only now he's over 100 pounds and a couple of weeks ago I fed him some squash by laying it on the ground in front of him, I was wearing a long sleeved red shirt and I wiped some squash onto my right arm and he bit me so hard my son wanted to take me to the ER. It seriously hurt and there's not much to do to stop them but discipline and time. Don't hand feed at all. I had to pound on his face and nose hard to get him to let go of my forearm. He thought he had a mouthful of something good and didn't want to let go and I was pounding on his face and hollering...it was bad. Then it wouldn't stop bleeding. A big tortoise can bite really hard so the advice for newbies is no hand feeding. Put it on the ground in front of them, but hand feeding is a big mistake...

 

[ascott]

Are you all right Maggie? Ouch is an understatement I am sure....I have only been nipped once...and that was from my old man Humphry when he was impacted years back, luckily he did not have his normal strength that day...but that is NOTHING like the chomp and hold of a big powerful guy like yours....

I too do not think it is a good idea to get them use to eating from your hand, especially if you have these big powerful species...

 

[Zouave]

Blood Thirsty Tortoises? Well thats new! Glad you two are ok.

 

[Missy]

Maggie, I hope your ok. When I first got Lana the only way I could get her to eat was to hand feed her. She still sometimes thinks I am going to feed her and has opened her mouth at my hand. I pop her on the nose, not hard but just to startle her. She has not done it in a while and I hope I never feel the pain of her seriated jaws. This is a good lesson learning thread.

 

[xxflowersxx]

Oh yeah I've totally stopped hand feeding her now. I bought a dish meant for bearded dragons to put the mealworms in so its not as easy for them to escape. Right now shes 5" so i can only imagine how bad it would be from a full grown sulcatta.

I hope you're okay after that bite. How long did it take for him to let go? We have a tokay gecko and that thing has chomped down on more than one occasion. I try my best not to go near it anymore. It draws blood every time and takes forever for them to let go.

 

[wrmitchell22]

Wow am I glad I read this thread before trying to get Boulder to hand feed! I thought it would be really neat to get him to eat out of my hand, but not anymore. We will definatley not be hand feeding our little Boulder, because when he gets to be a big Boulder it will not be so cute Good luck Debbie, hopefully it won't take too long to break that habit

 

[CJSTorts]

I have 3 redfoots and one of them always tries to bite. It does not matter whether it is me or my husband in the enclosure and he will go for hands or feet, whichever is in reach. I have only hand feed him once. The other two will come over to you looking for food but neither try to bite at you, just this one.