To handfeed, or not to handfeed...

[drgnfly2265]

For the past couple of weeks I have started to handfeed Bowser her treats (yellow squash and other vegies). It's been a really fun way to bond with her. Well, twice now while I've had my hand in her area, while watching her walk around, she walks up to my hand (I'm thinking "Aw, she wants me to pet her") and I see her open her mouth wide and tries to bite my finger! I enjoy feeder her treats but then again I don't want my finger to be the treat... I'm wondering if I should stop it now while she is still young and small. I don't want to to do this when she full grown

We have other ways of bonding if this doesn't work out. I have been misting her lately everyday and we both enjoy it. So we will still do that and of course when I take her out with me when I go places.

Do you handfeed treats to your torts? How big and how old are they if you do? Will she know eventually that fingers and hands are not food and try not to bite unless I have food? I don't know what I should do...

 

[Watermelon]

I try not to much as I dont want to encourage them to bite me.

 

[xxflowersxx]

NOT to hand feed! I used to hand feed my tort all the time and now she associates my hand with food. This means that now she tries to bite my hand every time i go near her...if i have food or not. She still does this even though I haven't fed her by hand in approx 4 months.

 

[dmmj]

In all honesty you do not want them associating your fingers with food, can become a messy situation.

 

[dmarcus]

I got bitten yesterday by Vegas and it hurt bad, broke the skin a little. They will associate your fingers with food and go after them...

 

[Jacqui]

I will hand feed very rarely and then with food that is long in length, so my fingers can be far far away from those beaks. With the sulcata, I really worry if they become use to fingers meaning food, some small child will get bit when I have my back turned.

 

[dmarcus]

I will hand feed very rarely and then with food that is long in length, so my fingers can be far far away from those beaks. With the sulcata, I really worry if they become use to fingers meaning food, some small child will get bit when I have my back turned.

I didn't think about the small kid thing, would hate for one of my nieces or nephews to get bitten while around one of the tortoises because of the association of hands with food. Going to have to really cut back on the hand feeding...

 

[drgnfly2265]

It does seem like she is starting to associate fingers=food after seeing her trying to noms noms my finger . I tried cutting the squash in long pieces so my hand or fingers would be close to her mouth, but I guess at her angle that she is at that is what she is looking at while she is munching...

I will hand feed very rarely and then with food that is long in length, so my fingers can be far far away from those beaks. With the sulcata, I really worry if they become use to fingers meaning food, some small child will get bit when I have my back turned.

I didn't think about the small kid thing, would hate for one of my nieces or nephews to get bitten while around one of the tortoises because of the association of hands with food. Going to have to really cut back on the hand feeding...

I don't have any children, but I do have a niece and 3 nephews that are between the ages of 5-12 and I would hate for them to get hurt

Hm, sounds like I might have to stop the handfeeding...

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

I hand feed cactus. It is one of my favorite things to do. But, I agree that they could associate fingers with food. As far as my kids, they are under strict orders to look not touch and the enclosures make it hard for anyone to do anything but look.

 

[Sunny]

I usually handfeed my torts everyday because I know they are too small to cause me any harm if I m bitten. But I didn't notice any association with my hands, just some occasional biting.

 

[Missy]

I would stop now. They dont have teeth but the jaw is serrated like a knife. A full grown tort could do some real damage. It's fun and cute now when they come at you with that mouth open but soon it will be scary.

 

[wrmitchell22]

I have read on here of Sulcatas doing damage to their owners because of hand feeding, so I won't hand feed Boulder. I know how big he is going to get and we are expecting our first child, so I don't want him thinking chewing on people leads to food

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

I have read on here of Sulcatas doing damage to their owners because of hand feeding, so I won't hand feed Boulder. I know how big he is going to get and we are expecting our first child, so I don't want him thinking chewing on people leads to food

Congrats!! That is exciting!!

 

[l0velesly]

I handfeed my tort sometimes. It's still small and all.. it doesn't mistaken my finger as food unless it sees my nails. It only accidentally bit me xD

 

[motero]

Edward (80lbs) has gotten my finger once and I did bleed. It has been over a year since I have hand fed him and he still thinks my fingers are food. I put my hand down and wiggle my fingers when I want him to come over, it works every time, and I never give him food at that time. So I would not hand feed any tort that is going to grow to more than 10 inches as an adult.

 

[Baoh]

I place food down in front of them so they see my hand deliver the food, but I typically do not hand-feed. I do not want the larger animals to mistake my girlfriend's toes, my dogs' toes, or a child's digits for food items if possible. I am not worried about it, but I don't encourage the association. They tend to follow my girlfriend, my dogs, and I around the yard more in hope of receiving a vegetable treat.

 

[Tom]

I have hand fed all of mine for many years. I have never been bit. They do come running whenever they see someone near their pen, but they have never bitten or tried to bite anyone, child or adult. I think every situation and every tortoise is an individual. I was just hand feeding today. Yesterday too. They come charging over to me, but then stop, sniff and look for something edible. If I hold out some food, they will carefully inspect it, sniff it, nose bump it, and then commence eating. Mine have never come over just biting at anything all willy-nilly, but I realize that some might. I don't know what makes mine different, or more selective.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

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...

 

[HipsterTorts]

I hand feed occasionally, but have never been bit while hand feeding. Both torts have bitten my fingers once but the second they both bit one they realized it wasn't food and haven't done it since. But Willow has walked over to my foot while outside once and bit it. I guess she didn't realize what it was

 

[TonkaLuv]

As much as I hate to say it.....I think i'll stop handfeeding Tonka now I hand feed him his worms (once a week protein) because he is not fast enough to grab then before they crawl off his feeding plate. lol. I think I'll start cutting them or something so they die before he eats them. Kinda feel bad about that....but.......I guess he would have killed them anyway..... lol.