Other Turtle Discussion :: She had such a Hissy fit!

[kneenuh]

I was doing a full tank clean-up yesterday and I was also cleaning my fishy tanks, so I had no real place to put my turtle while I was cleaning since I have a very interested kitty wondering around. I drained the tank while April was still in it, and I noticed she was getting very aggitated with the reducing water.

So I took her out and she crawled under my dresser. I brought her out and asked my boyfriend to hold her while I filled the tank.

And WHOA! Hissy fit! she was trying to bite him frantically! I mean she tried to nip at me when I first got her, but she's stopped since......she was not pleased with us!!!

I've never seen her so keen to draw blood!

[Starchick]

If I put Napoleon in his tank without water in it he completely freaks out. Something about it just scares him. I'll take him back out and put him on the carpet, and he goes straight behind the couch and hides until he feels better. That's the only time he ever goes behind the couch, and the only time he ever hides. And if I pick him up during that time he would freak out. So I don't do that anymore, if I can't let him run around during cleaning I'll put a towel in a cardboard box for him, that doesn't upset him as much as whatever it is about the empty tank. But once he's agitated, I just have to leave him alone until he gets over it because he really will throw a fit.

[SpotsMama]

Turtles get to know you personally, and just because one gets used to you and will let you pick him/her up etc doesn't mean he/she will let just anyone do it. Obviously, she doesn't understand that your boyfriend is a good guy who is to be trusted!

The only time Spot has bitten me since he's been grown is when I brought him indoors from his outdoor pond (which he loved) and put him in a new indoor tank (which took some getting used to). He was very upset for several days with the change, and one day when I was feeding him he LEAPED up out of the water to bite me. There was no mistake about it, he was aiming for my fingers and not the food. It really hurt. After a few days he settled down again and there hasn't been any snapping or bitting since then. Just in case, though, I keep my fingers out of reach.

[Andrew7769]

the water is their security blanket, the turtles instinct is to go in the water to hide and when you take that away from them they tend to get a bit fussy

[pumpkinsherbet]

Turtles get to know you personally, and just because one gets used to you and will let you pick him/her up etc doesn't mean he/she will let just anyone do it. Obviously, she doesn't understand that your boyfriend is a good guy who is to be trusted!

i concur! my boyfriend doesn't believe me when i say they have their own personalities. whenever i handle my turtles they react in their own way. when i hand him the turtles (as is necessary at times, though not much) all they do is stick their head in their shell. not warmed up to him at all. the most he ever does for them is turn off the light. i try to get him to take more of an interest, so they know who he is for when they are bigger and the weather's warmer (allowing them some outside the tank time) but he only occasionally watches them eat. that's it.

[kneenuh]

Well my boyfriend has been doing some bonding with her recently, so I was a little surprised.....but maybe it had something to do with the fact that he called her a "sandwich" just before I handed her over...haha

Well, I'm relieved others have experienced this same sort of tantrum. Just when I thought she was warming up, she throws a FIT!

[Starchick]

Hahaha i like to hold Napoleon like a sandwich and pretend to eat him! You can't help it, you hold them and that's what they feel like!

[kneenuh]

becareful! It's why my boyfriend was almost bit!

[pumpkinsherbet]

oh nonono i'm gonna teach mine to bite one of my coworkers cuz he will not stop talking about turtle soup. :p

[myrtle1123]

When ever I clean Myrtles aquarium i always put her in like a "critter carriers" i put a rock in it andd she likes to hid behind that. but once shes in there shes fine and enjoys her clean habitat.

*but she is just a baby and is still very small..

[industrial_girl_2000]

Sheba freaks out when her water level drops too, so I take her out for cleanings. I think they associate it as their "home" & security and wouldn't you be freaked out if you came home from work to find all your stuff gone too?

They do have their own unique personalities. I used to have a turtle named Nelson (4.5" boy) who after a coupla yrs finally got used to me & wasn't so snappy with me anymore. I let Nelson & Sheba out to walk around my room. When my boyfriend came over, Nelson would march right up to him and start HISSING at him in the meanest way possible!!! It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. He certainly didn't do that to me, but it was something about my boyfriend at the time that bugged Nelson. And it happened more than once. Nelson just HATED my boyfriend.