General Care Discussion :: Baby turtle biting me...

[dagny24]

Hi All,

I've had my RES for several month now... he's a hatchling and is doing quite well - growing and eating all his veggies, reptomin and cuttlebone! It's been a joy watching his progress...

My only issue is that whenever I take him out of his tank (to clean it, etc...) - he opens up his tiny mouth real wide to grab hold of me! He'll even reach his head around to try to find my hand to bite!

Has anyone had experience with this? Will he ever grow out of it? I am careful to hold him the correct way. He only started this several weeks ago... he's still little now but I am scared of how his "bite" will feel when he grows full-size.

Many thanks for any help/suggestions...

[megcornell]

My young turtle Leo (he's a few months old) does that too. He was quite aggressive a few weeks ago when I had to give him daily meds, it was a joy for us both . I'm not sure how to curb the behavior, I just limit my holding of him, when he gets larger I'm afraid it may be a bit more painful that he wants to bite so I figure I'll just pick him up and have a holding tank very close by to place him in. I'm hoping it's a stage and he'll grow out of it before he gets much larger haha

[dagny24]

Yes exactly! It's annoying now but I fear that in the future it may become very painful! I love him but am not looking forward to 20+ years of biting.

I am hoping someone here will tell me that it is just a stage they go through...

Please...

[industrial_girl_2000]

Sounds like your turtle needs more hand-feeding & attention. That has broken the biting habit in my turts in the past.

Most RES/painted turts don't bite unless they feel threatened. RES's in particular are not known to be very aggressive (compared with snapper or soft-shell turts which are very aggressive!). They flatly do not want to open their mouths unless food is involved. Soooooo....get food more involved. Always feed a little bit by hand at every feeding so they get used to associating your hand with food. A way to a turtle's heart is thru his/her stomach. One thing I used to do with one of my RES's many years ago was to take his daily feeding, divide it into about 5-6 pieces, then every time I go by his tank, feed him one of the pieces. You are still feeding the same amount, just dividing it up so you do a lot of "repetition" with the turtle. They see you, and WHAM there is food there. Turtles have a very small brain, but they can learn where their food comes from.

Also, put the tank in a very public place where a lot of people walk by. This gets them used to seeing people all the time. Talk to the turtle a bit when you get a chance too so they get used to human voices. They will be used to all the traffic after a while and realize that it's no big deal if you are around (and once in a while give them a pellet of food).

Be very patient with this process. Just shower them with attention. I promise you will see results after a while.

[Muirner]

industrial - do you find feeding them almost every time you see them leads to them begging? Or anything like that?

[SpotsMama]

I pick Spot up almost every day - gently! - so I can look closely at his shell (which has some problems due to past poor habitat due to my ignorance) and generally check him out. I don't keep him out long. He never tries to bite me or even run when I come to pick him up and I think it's because he's accustomed to me and knows I won't hurt him.

The one time he did get really snappy - and bit me pretty hard - was when I moved him indoors to an aquarium from outside in a small pond. He didn't like it. After awhile though he got accustomed and we continue to have a good relationship.

I agree with Industrial Girl about giving the turtles personal attention.

[FanOfTurts]

This may be a stupid question....

I have 3 RES of my own and they have never bitten me. Yep, I do handle them regularly. Does a RES bite hurt.....how does it feel??

Just wondering....

[SpotsMama]

Take a look at this thread.....

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6513

[steve]

Dagny24, another member here has a RES that is very bitey. Always has been...