General Care Discussion :: Social Anxiety?

[queenjane]

Tank did something uncharacteristically ODD today.

I had two friends over this afternoon to check out my turtle. I fed her a shrimp, let her eat it, and then took her out of her tank to show to my buddies. Then she did something she has NEVER done: she snapped at me! She turned her head and made two goes at my fingers. I thought she might have mistaken my fingers for shrimp, and didn't worry about it. But then about five seconds later, she pulled her head in, shut her eyes and held onto my hand with an absolute deathgrip. She was holding on so tight that she left claw prints in my forefinger!

Do you think she was she scared? I'm usually the only person she ever sees, and the three of us were all kind of up in her face trying to look at her. Have any of you ever had a turtle latch onto you with a death grip?

[Caphits]

Probably just scared. I would be too! 3 Giants holding me, and looking at me, and feeling so vulnerable. She is used to you, but with those other 2... Imagine what you would be thinking if you were her. I think it would be something like

[queenjane]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced something similar with their turtles.

She just shut her eyes like she didn't even want to look at us, haha!

[VanishingReality]

In the last month or so Crush went from never snapping to snapping if we even try to hold him. He's not necessarily scared of my hand, never nips when I hand feed or move his stuff around. It could just be scared of not being in control.

[mikee]

Q-J -- Turtles don't like to be held. Some tolerate it better than others. It is not natural to be picked up by someone (humans) or anything else. If you must pick up one, keep it warm and support it under it's plastorn. If your turtle tries to bite you out of water you can rest assured that is was not trying to eat. It was out of fright. They need water to eat. It has taken me several years to get mine not to try and bite me when I take them out for dry docking or a quick cleaning. They still don't like it, but do tolerate it. m.

[queenjane]

Hmm. Tank doesn't mind being handled at all. This instance was a really unusual moment for her. She is pretty much used to me, I think. It's only when I scrub her shell or put in eyedrops that she freaks out and hisses. But this time she went nutty and just froze up after trying to eat my hands, haha.

She hasn't done it since. She wanted "out" three times today, so she's used to being handled. (Don't worry, I keep a close eye on her and I don't leave her out for very long, especially when it's chilly in my apartment. She just gets tired of her tank sometimes and wants to be out in the big world.)