O-KAY! Now THAT was COOL!

[hannah]

Both Torts just ate repeatedly right out of my hand! That was pretty wonderful!!!!! WOW!

 

[tortoisenerd]

They tend to do that when they become comfortable with you! I have quite the brave little guy as he ate out of my hand the first day I got him, although he hides a lot still.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Mine will eat out of my hand. It is really fun. Watch out though cause they caught my finger once. OUCH!

 

[tortoisenerd]

I've heard some people don't like/want to feed by hand because of the association of fingers and food; as the tort gets bigger (if it already isn't full grown), biting isn't so cute. I keep hand feeding at a minimum and do it with some distance.

 

[hannah]

Im all about a little human /russian tortoise bonding as long as i keep my eyes open and my senses alert. i used to keep snakes and i would never say the same thing about dangling a mouse in front of a snake but this is different and im so glad it is, i feel an intelligence and awareness coming out of both of them that is...well.......adorable.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have always hand fed. I had The Beakless baby and he needed help eating so I helped him daily until he unexpectedly died. I have always given treats and blossoms by hand. I have recently had small torts that needed to be encouraged to eat and I gotta use my hand...I just am not sure on this subject.Just recently Bob has started biting at me looking for treats. he seems to think if he bites at the air or my leg or my hand that he will get a treat. So now I am in a dilemma ...Do I continue giving him treats by hand and getting bit? Do I risk him biting a kid? Altho I don't know any children, but he has bitten me and drawn lots of blood. I have used hand feeding as a way to bond.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Maggie-What about using tongs of some sort? That way you can have the bonding but not the direct association with biting. Worth a shot maybe. I tend to hold a piece of greens at a distance and drop it when it starts to get smaller and my fingers are closer, but I wouldn't take chances with a big tort like Bob.

 

[Tonka-Tamer]

My family wasn't too happy with my choosing a tortoise as a pet, but they really warmed up when he would hurry over to eat a mess of dandelions out of their hands

 

[tortoisenerd]

hehe that's awesome. I have the opposite problem--I'm trying to find someone with an organic yard with weeds to feed my tort (I'm in an apartment).

 

[Jacqui]

It is kinda neat to feed them from hand. Me personally I seldom do. Most of mine I try to keep as close to natural as I can. That means limited handling, trying to not be considered the "God of food", ect.., I do have some whom I break this rule for. I love feeding earthworms to the sidenecks and the paint turtle. I also enjoy seeing the redfoots run for treats, so they do tend to get handfed, too.