Hand feeding

[Marcus Harrison]

Hello,

Today, as I was putting my tort's food dish down, I dropped some of her leaves. I picked it up and she ran over and ate it out of my fingers. I decided to pick another piece up and try it again and she just kept eating it off my hands. Just wondering, it's not a problem if I do this every so often is it? I think it will make her like me more for sure haha.

Thanks a lot.

 

[wellington]

Some see a problem with it others don't. I don't see a problem with it and do it all the time. Not on a daily basis that could get them to only eat that way but I say go for it once in a while.

 

[Marcus Harrison]

Alright, thanks. It's hilarious watching her eat and to be honest it will only improve her opinion of me. I won't do it daily. Thanks a lot

 

[Neal]

We do lots of hand feeding at our house.

Personally, I think it is a good practice. It makes physical examinations much easier and it gets the kids excited and involved with tortoise care.

Please excuse the blurry photos.

 

[Marcus Harrison]

I LOVE YOUR TORTOISE!! Omg! It's amazing, imagine walking her/him down the road haha I love the big ones. How do you house it?

 

[Marcus Harrison]

Mines only a little horsefield haha

 

[Neal]

She's definitely impressive and a family favorite, but we do have a couple bigger ones than her. They stay outside 24/7 and I have a heated shed-type structure for them during the winter nights.

 

[Marcus Harrison]

Here we are

 

[Yvonne G]

As long as you're careful about your fingers, it's probably ok. My sister's sulcata caused her to have to have stitches in a finger because the sulcata chomped down on her finger and wouldn't let go. I offer treats to my 200lb aldabran tortoises off of a skewer just for that reason. Tortoises don't know the difference between the food in your hand and your hand, so just be careful.

 

[Marcus Harrison]

Yeah, found that out the hard way she got me a couple of times, no blood so it's fine, just got to be careful as you say

 

[Gillian M]

Mines only a little horsefield haha View attachment 188826

Oh, he's adorable.

 

[Marcus Harrison]

She haha glad you like her

 

[Gillian M]

I hand feed Oli, and I enjoy it. But at the same time I'd like to point out that if a tort gets used to being hand-fed, it could become a "life-sentence" for the owner. So take care here.

 

[MPRC]

I hand feed treats, but not all of the time. Also you need to be really careful because they will keep chomping right down to your fingers. I got an impressive blood blister when Vern caught me once.

 

[Marcus Harrison]

Yep got caught a couple of times. Ouch haha she didn't let go she kept nomming

 

[Speedy-1]

I was giving Speedy a grape leaf yesterday and he almost got me !

Woo Hoo !! I aughta know better !

 

[HI Tortoise Rescue]

Marcus, we have four Aldabras that will eventually weigh in the 400-500 pound range, & we definittely want them to be friendly enough to eat out of our hands! Two of them will eat Mazuri from a spoon, which is pretty funny to watch, & all of them are getting used to our hands.

Ken

 

[Marcus Harrison]

Yeah I'll definitely do it every so often. Not all the time because I don't want her to become too dependant on me but sounds like fun

 

[Moozillion]

Yeah, found that out the hard way she got me a couple of times, no blood so it's fine, just got to be careful as you say

My tort accidentally nipped me when I was hand feeding her and it bled. Now every time there's a full moon I turn into a weretortoise. I always wake up normal the next morning except for the weeds stuck between my teeth.