redearslider.com

Hello,

I have had a Red Eared Slider turtle for about two years now. I know they're pets more for looking but every time I take him out (to clean his tank, of course, I do not take him out for any other reason.) he tries to bite me and I'm scared that one day he'll really hurt me. I'm just curious if anyone else has a way to distract him when he is handled or to somehow tame him? Thank you so much!


**Not sure if you need this information, but: He is two years old, three and a half inches long, I have owned him since he was a hatchling, he lives alone in a 50 gallon tank, (which is soon to be upgraded) the tank has a heater, filter, and UVB light. He is very healthy!**

You can't. It's in his blood that you are a predator. He can get used to it, though.

I agree that a turtle may get used to all the handling. In my case, we're on the head-pats-and-chin-rubs stage. Better start spending more time with your turtle while he's still small.

Use both hands, maybe wear work gloves? I usually pick them up from the side but be prepared to get scratched. If you have to hold him for a few minutes, then prepared to be peed on, possibly pooped on and if you have a male, fanned on.

Thanks everyone! I didn't think of wearing gloves, haha

I've been trying to get my baby Yellow Bellied Sliders used to handling lately. Every day around feeding time when I move them to their feeding tank, I hold them in my hand and gently stroke their heads and shells with my finger. They seem to be getting used to it, although one of them has bitten me a handful of times. Luckily mine are still at the age where their bites don't really hurt.

Banana wrote:Hello,

I have had a Red Eared Slider turtle for about two years now. I know they're pets more for looking but every time I take him out (to clean his tank, of course, I do not take him out for any other reason.) he tries to bite me and I'm scared that one day he'll really hurt me. I'm just curious if anyone else has a way to distract him when he is handled or to somehow tame him? Thank you so much!

**Not sure if you need this information, but: He is two years old, three and a half inches long, I have owned him since he was a hatchling, he lives alone in a 50 gallon tank, (which is soon to be upgraded) the tank has a heater, filter, and UVB light. He is very healthy!**

I have three RES and each has his/her unique personality. The oldest is a male who is about a year and a half. He is very quiet and gentle while being held, at least until he decides he wants to do something else. Then he starts thrashing around a little, but even so will often settle down again when talked to or petted. He's about 5 inches long and 4 inches wide. His foreclaws have started growing and he likes having them stroked!

The other two are females about a year old. We bought them both when they were very small babies. One weighed 9 grams and the other 13 grams! One of the females is a runt, primarily at first because she was a very fussy eater, then later because the other two bully her a lot and she has become the lowest in the pecking order. She's now about the size of your turtle. She used to like being held and would sit very calmly for petting. But she isn't so patient about it any more, even so with petting and talking she will usually settle down for a while. She likes to squirm around and poke her head out between your fingers.

The other female is nearly 5 inches in diameter already and heavier than the older male! From the day we brought her home she has eaten voraciously. She has never done more than tolerate holding and tends to thrash around a lot. She will sometimes settle down for a few seconds if something interesting catches her attention. She's big enough and strong enough that holding her securely is getting to be a challenge, especially when a claw tip digs in. Handling her will require gloves fairly soon.

None of the these turtles bite. Although when quite small, the first female mentioned did nip the wife a couple times. More of a pinch than bite since her mouth was so small then. The wife was actually teasing her by rubbing her finger tip on the turtle's mouth to entice her to open up. She did! The other female hisses at the wife sometimes. She has never hissed at me, though. They have all peed on both of us at least a few times.

My advise: handle your turtle more, pet him and talk to him. Don't just look at him. The more you interact in a positive and non-treatening way, the more he will tend to view you as a tank mate, not a big, hulking predator who intends to eat him.

I've found that picking them up just behind the front legs and keeping them parallel to the ground (no tilting) results in no fussing and no serious defensive behavior by either of my turtles. I've noticed that when other people handle them who aren't as particular about the turtles' position vis a vis the ground, this seems to upset both of them. I've never been bitten, and since I am no where near the ends that don't bite While handling them, I can't really say they've excreted anything. Mostly the only place they get carried to is the tub and they seem to like that.
As far as training them... Mine "come when called" and seem real happy to see me. (begging behavior that starts right around the time they hear the bathroom door open and ends when they either decide it's not feeding time or they get something dropped into the water far from where they are. There is also what is easily misread as response to my voice. I usually just say "Hi Guys!" and they stop what they are doing and look at me, then go back to tickling eachothers eyes or chasing eachother with mouth wide.

I have 3 matured size res adopted 9 months ago . They are my first pets and I show them how much I love them .I give them warm bath with a shell cleanser everyday and make them sleep on their makeshift bed .I talk to each one by their names and I talk to them like I would talk to a human. One of my turtle has grown so attached to me he sleeps bedsides me , he comes to me when I call him and keeps his forelimbs on my palms for me to lift him. He likes to sleep snuggled under thick blanket with me . In morning he wakes up before I do but he lays there , he never once jumped out of ed , he caresses my face with his face at times .He likes to be patted on his back to sleep like a human baby he is not just friendly with me but anyone in my family . My dad was the only one who never touched him fearing diseases. He would run upto my dad , stand I n between his feet and lift himself up with help of his forelimbs ,asking to be lifted . He did that often till dad finally gave in .
The others are still opening up and not as friendly but they don't fear us either .Even the other ones respond to their respective names and show some interesting behavior. I think I'm successfully taming my turtles. Also to whoever thinks I'm risking my and others health because of my turtles , I'd like everyone to know I maintain a lot of hygiene , be myself , or the house or my turtles . I'm a cleanliness freak .

This^ is a perfect example of how to improperly care for your turtles

firsh wrote:I have 3 matured size res adopted 9 months ago . They are my first pets and I show them how much I love them .I give them warm bath with a shell cleanser everyday and make them sleep on their makeshift bed .I talk to each one by their names and I talk to them like I would talk to a human. One of my turtle has grown so attached to me he sleeps bedsides me , he comes to me when I call him and keeps his forelimbs on my palms for me to lift him. He likes to sleep snuggled under thick blanket with me . In morning he wakes up before I do but he lays there , he never once jumped out of ed , he caresses my face with his face at times .He likes to be patted on his back to sleep like a human baby he is not just friendly with me but anyone in my family . My dad was the only one who never touched him fearing diseases. He would run upto my dad , stand I n between his feet and lift himself up with help of his forelimbs ,asking to be lifted . He did that often till dad finally gave in .
The others are still opening up and not as friendly but they don't fear us either .Even the other ones respond to their respective names and show some interesting behavior. I think I'm successfully taming my turtles. Also to whoever thinks I'm risking my and others health because of my turtles , I'd like everyone to know I maintain a lot of hygiene , be myself , or the house or my turtles . I'm a cleanliness freak .

baby mouth + turtle = very sick baby and possible dead turtle.

Yes you can tame RES

I agree with Amwassil's advice : handle your turtle more, pet him and talk to him. Don't just look at him. The more you interact in a positive and non-treatening way, the more he will tend to view you as a tank mate, not a big, hulking predator who intends to eat him.

It might be partly your turtle's temperament: Mango doesn't much like being handled and is much less sociable than Green, who is pretty laid back and happy to be picked up and will climb up and sit on me.

My turtles like habits and routines, so if yours is the same it would be better to handle him more so he gets used to it, rather than to avoid it, in which case it might feel new and scary every time. A little bit often seems to work best for building trust with animals. As Claynstone said, they need to feel secure so hold him with both hands.

You can absolutely tame a RES! My smallest one, Banjo is amazing.
He do tricks, follows me where ever I go and he figured out how to climb up the sofa when i sit there. He always sleep in my lap in the evening. I have never tried learning him thing, he just continuing to amaze me everyday. All I do is caring for him and his friends, give them lot of attention and loving them <3