Other Turtle Discussion :: She's a baby but she can bite!

[buffyfan9005]

Last night Veronica was swimming in and out of my hand at the top of her tank. This is what I call "playing".

I also hand feed her her lettuce in her tank so sometimes while pushing the lettuce towards her she'll try and take a nip at my hand thinking it's food. I plan to stop hand feeding her soon because I don't want her nipping at me when she gets bigger.

But anyway last night I saw her going in the for the kill on my pinky and before I knew it she had a hold of my pinky and was not letting go.

She was like "FOOD!" and I was like "Um...no.".

I was surprised at how tight her grip was! She's only a few months old but she really got a good bite out of my finger. I can only imagine how much this must hurt when it's an adult turtle.

[marisa]

My eastern painted yearlings aren't that large (the largest one has an SCL of a tad over 3 inches), but they HURT when they bite. And they hang on to skin for dear life.

My RES, who's over twice their size, has yet to bite with any force, so I don't know what damage he's capable of. I've read, though, of keepers being bitten by their adult turts where skin was broken and blood flowed...

[buffyfan9005]

Yeah Veronica wasn't letting go. She was kind of just hanging on my pinky for a second in mid-air before I gently pulled her off, haha.

[Giddy]

You know, I have to admit I am a weiner in this area and NEVER want to get bit. I had my middle finger torn all the open on the palm side by a guinea pig when I was younger and ever since then...I am a tad shy of the mouth. lol

I am not hand feeding for that very reason. Hands are for touching, not biting. lol

[RESCHIU]

just recently I was just curious about what turtle bite feels like so I purposely stick my finger in front of him while feeding him and let him take a bite, and yes turtle IS much stronger than I thought 0_0;; I definitly don't want to try it when my turtle gets bigger though. If only getting his mouth open to feed him vitamin is as easy as that. However, pineapple won't bite when he's not fed, only get a smell of my finger, I wonder if during the feeding time, they usually mistaken everything to be food? :p

[buffyfan9005]

Well they will assume your fingers are food if you're hand feeding. Your fingers are all around them if you put pellets or lettuce in front of them or in their mouths. So I see how they would begin to associate our hands as food.

[tutlehaven]

my two bigger turts both have bitten me, the first time Dumbledor bite me she left a blister inbetween where her top and bottom jaws were. Voltamort has bitten me on the palm of my hand, did not bleed but a chunk of skin came off. yes i hand feed mine. they will not eat any pellets off the top of the water until they have had some from my hand,,,spoiled. it is always my fault when i get bit but it is only at feeding time, any other time they just rub up against my hands.


Dumbledor--7"
Voltamort--6 1/2"
Crush----4"
Sqwooshie--3 1/2"