why shouldn't you stick your hand in a burrow?

[ICUSleeping]

So stupid question but i gotta ask...my zeus is around 7mnts old. So he cant hurt me yet... I know its a bad idea to stick your hand in their burrow..but i dont know reallt know why? When my zeus is in his habitat he has a burrow and sometimes at night i have to stick my hand in there and grab him and i feel him ether moving back or pushing me. During the day i call him and try and bribe him out sometimes he come sometimes he doesn't but i can normally get him to at least the front of his burrow ..so my question is when they get larger will he bite me? Also does anyone have any good or bad experiences? I would definitely like some knowledge on this subject.

 

[sibi]

I'm on a learning curve like you. My babies are 11 months old, and their burrow is really not that deep. I can go in and pull one of them out whenever I want, but I wouldn't try it when they get bigger because, common sense tells me, they may bite me and it will hurt. The larger they get, the more damage they can do to your skin if they ram into you or pin your hand against the wall of their burrow. Maybe someone will tell you some real experiences with torts and their burrows.

 

[waterboy]

When they get big and if they like burrow you will not be able to get to them unless you dig them up. My males burrow this year is six foot in and then turns to the left and goes another 6 foot or so and it about 7 foot deep. If they are close to the front you don't want to grab them from the sides because they can smash you if the are very big but i have never heard of them biting before,unless you feed them and are not paying attention.

 

[ascott]

Don't forget about the pesky black widows and snakes that like to get down in the burrows as well....always look before you reach....I would not worry about the biting concern as much as the other surprises...

 

[EricIvins]

Because in a match against your hand and a Sulcata, in a burrow, your hand will lose every time.......I had a Sulcata just about rip one of my fingernails off last week.......All it took was a leg scale catching the nail bed and a push.......Happened in all of about 4 seconds, soooooo it doesn't take much for these guys to do permanent damage........I don't know about you, but I need my hands to function in all aspects of my existance........Do you?

 

[dustee35]

I brought all my sullies in for the winter 2 weeks ago and I could not catch 1 female out of her burrow. I finally sent my son in and it took him an hour to ger her out. He was in her burrow to his hip bones and then had his arm completely streached out to reach her. It was a struggle to the bitter end but he finally got her out. We tried everything to get her out, favorite foods, heat, bribery and anything else and he finally had to drag her out and when he got her to the entrance he had to make the burrow bigger to get her out. He was so covered in dirt you could not see him. It did not help that she weighs 50 lbs.lol. Deanna

 

[Tom]

I've never heard not to stick your hand down a small sulcatas burrow. I have done it many times. I wouldn't put my body into a large sulcatas burrow with a tortoise in there because they get pretty quick and spastic down there sometimes and I wouldn't want them to wedge themselves between me and a wall. You could suffocate if they were up against your rib cage and the worlds strongest man could not pull you out.

And Deanna, next time try the hose trick. Get a garden hose and run it full blast down the hole. Your sulcata will come shooting out of that burrow real quick, so don't be in the way.

 

[Urtle]

And Deanna, next time try the hose trick. Get a garden hose and run it full blast down the hole. Your sulcata will come shooting out of that burrow real quick, so don't be in the way.

Thats a clever idea