To handfeed, or not to handfeed...

[CtTortoiseMom]

Well, I am not sure if you will take from my experience...but I have Bob who is a 100 pound Sulcata and I have had him since he was about 5 pounds. I have always hand fed him and now he bites, and he bites hard and draws blood. A few months ago I was wearing a long sleeved red shirt and sitting down in his shed when he walked up to me and bit my arm. Because he thought it was red food he didn't let go even tho I was beating him in his face and his mouth was full of my blood. Stop hand feeding your tortoise right now. I think Tom is very lucky that he has never been bitten because my Bob who is very social and has a great personality has bitten me more times then I can remember. When I finally got my arm out of his mouth I had a nasty wound that really needed sticthes. But I am tough so I don't go to the hospital. He has bitten my fingers, my leg, my thigh, my toes, my hand and almost got my face. He's a love and he's a wonderful tortoise, but I used to hand feed him to socialize him and now I'm paying for it. I promise, a 100 pound Sulcata can do some serious damage. Actually, a 50 pound can do bad damage too. So stop hand feeding now before your tortoise imprints your fingers with food. Once they have that in their minds there's no going back. They are tough and stubborn as hell and they don't forget. If Bob bit a kid the way he bites me I'd be in some serious s**t. So take my advice and experience and stop now while you still can...

I am going to stop hand feeding Sid. I really, really love it but i cannot risk being bitten or having someone else be bitten because of what I do. Thank's Maggie and sorry you had to go through that!!

 

[dmarcus]

The last time I was bitten was enough for me, I almost cried because it hurt so bad. I blame myself and not him because he was going after his food and my finger just happened to be there when he went to take a bite... I am done with the hand feeding