Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtles think my fingers are food, will this hurt me later?

[cooleststan]

I am hand feeding my turtles right now, they are only little babies 1.5 inches long. However, I think that they think my fingers are food now, because they cannot see the little pellets, so when they see my finger, they jsut try to bit my finger, and accdientally get the pellet that I am holding.

When I was using my turkey baster today, the turles kept biting at my pinky. It was funny becuase they are so little and it felt like he was tickliing me, but when they get bigger, can they harm me?
Thanks

[megcornell]

When they get larger their bites will hurt a lot more and can even draw blood. So it's not a good idea to let them get into the habit of biting you. Why would you want them biting you anyways?

[turboturtle8]

Believe me I have 2 three inch turtles and when they were hatchlings they would just nip at you but now it really hurts when they bite you

[adam85491]

I used to think it was "cool" to get bit but now that my turtles are larger-it really hurts! I was siphoning the water and wasn't paying attention and fell victim the other day..Hand feeding is alright though don't promote them biting you.

[steve]

Of course it will hurt later on. For future reference, if you need to do maintenance inside the tank, take them out. It'll be faster for you to do it that way.

[untsmurf]

I fed Mikey by hand when he was little like that, and after a while he started getting bigger and he accidentally chomped on my finger and wouldn't let go, it was probably more startling that painful, but it did hurt a bit. I stopped hand feeding him after that. And now he's big enough he could probably fit my entire finger tip in his mouth, so I'm not going to risk putting my fingers near his mouth while he is trying to eat.

[cooleststan]

sooo.... how do I prevent him form thining that my figners are food? lol
i like hand feeding the turtles because it makes me feel closer to them, but I jdont wantt hem to chomp my fingers!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

You dont. They cant learn like that, they dont have that kind of intelligence. You are just going to have to deal with it. If you dont want to get hurt, use feeding thongs or dont hand feed at all.

[untsmurf]

Or you can only hand feed them their veggies because those are long enough that your fingers can be completely out of the water. Then just don't hand feed them their pellets, that way you still get to be close, but not in pain.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Or you can only hand feed them their veggies because those are long enough that your fingers can be completely out of the water. Then just don't hand feed them their pellets, that way you still get to be close, but not in pain.

This is a good idea too..

[cooleststan]

sooo.... how do I prevent him form thining that my figners are food? lol
i like hand feeding the turtles because it makes me feel closer to them, but I jdont wantt hem to chomp my fingers!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

sooo.... how do I prevent him form thining that my figners are food? lol
i like hand feeding the turtles because it makes me feel closer to them, but I jdont wantt hem to chomp my fingers!

I already told you..you cant But untsmurf's idea is a good one

[untsmurf]

[Safdar]

I put the pellet in my hand and slightly put it under water
So it still floats on my hand
And Tito comes on my hand and eats it

No fingers invovled

[DavidY]

He he, Pilot, my big girl, would go straight for my fingers and skip the pellet! There's something about fingers that they just have to bite. Otherwise she's really friendly and doesn't mind me picking her up or being around. Maybe it's because she's just waiting for a better opportunity to get at my finger.