All Turtles Message Board

ali ss · Level 2 Joined: 07 Jan 2006 Posts: 83

hi

i was wondering if i can train my res to not bite me Question

hoover05 · Level 3 Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 137

Hi!
I believe you can train your turtle not to bite just by being around him/her, talking to it, holding it when possible.
It bites because it thinks you are going to hurt it, or because it thinks you are food.

I haven't trained my turtle not to bite yet, mainly because I do not like the way her claws feel on my hand. But I haven't tried taking her out of her cage in a long, long time. The fact that mine goes up on her ramp when everyone is around though, I think, means that she is becoming more friendly.
Try hand feeding it for awhile, if you didn't already and pic it up even when it trys to bite and try rubbing it. Let it know you aren't going to hurt it. And don't be a chicken, like I am. lol

That's my guess. I've done a bit of research in the past on turtles, and I can't remember everything I read though.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

ali ss · Level 2 Joined: 07 Jan 2006 Posts: 83

thank you for the information i will try to be more nice to my res Smile

dixieee · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:08 am Post subject:

turtles aren't the brightest animals so when they bite it doesn't always mean that they're trying to be aggressive. for example if u're used to hand-feeding them, everytime they see ur fingers they'll think it's food and try to bite..very peacefully
_________________
Wed 10/27/2004 is the worst day..i lost my best friend Leo

so now i have a female RES, Green, and a cute stupid male YBS, Mint

5/4/2006 RIP Lemon, u were my first rescue and i'm so proud of u. will never 4get u

hoover05 · Level 3 Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 137

not the brightest indeed dixeee, my turtle is a real good example of that! I put my finger on the outside of the glass tank and she'll go to bite it... sometimes so hard she knocks her head off the glass and bounces back. I'm trying to teach her that my fingers are not food. So far she only knows it about 25% of the time... at least it's sort of working?

I've had my turtle since fall and she hasn't bit me yet. I guess that means I'm doing something right Laughing

But, like I said, I don't hold her very much or anything, but I do hand feed her! lol

deesygirl · Moderator Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 1232

My oldest turtle is Sweet Pea and she is the sweetest thing, at least to me. She likes to bite the little turtles legs and heads but that is a different story. Any way she had never once bitten me or even tried but one day I was doing the big shell clean, condition and vitamin drops. It is where I rub the shell conditioner on them and then I give them their vit a suppliment. Well to get their attention I also give them little pieces of cooked chicken so they aren't hiding in the rocky crevices in the pond. Well I was trying to fish another turtle out of the pond, keeping an eye on Stew because he is a real butthead and he does bite and a full grown adult bites very hard, and I didn't even think about Sweet Pea. She came up and bit down on the fleshy part of my hand just under my pinky. She just did a quick bite and I could tell that as soon as she realized I wasn't chicken she let go, but the damage had been done. It was down to the bone and a huge gaping wound. Now this was just a real quick test bite on her part. Not an agressive or a food tearing bite. I hate to have felt that one.

Most of you here have babies so you think bites are no biggie. You forget RES females get up to 12". That is the size of your dinner plate and when they bite, even a test like my Sweet Pea did. It causes some damage.

Aslo turtles are not domestic animals. They can't be trained. Their brains don't work that way. The best you can hope for is to get them familiar with a routine but no you can't train them. The only other thing is their individual natures. Sweet Peas nature is to be gentle, at least with me and other females and larger males. Stews nature was to be aggressive to anything smaller than himself or any human. He would hiss and spit at you when you picked him up. this after being handled frequently and always very gently. It was just his nature. I could go on about all these guy's here. Both my babies and the rescues I have taken in. But the bottom line is you have to realize what you have. Turtles are not domestic animals and you can't expect them to behave as such.
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http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html

dixieee · Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject:

lol it's so cute having all those turtles and still pay attention to everyone of them to the point that u know their personalities Smile

even baby turtles' bites hurt but it depends. if they bite fast it kills..i hear the sound of meat being misplaced inside my hand:roll:
_________________
Wed 10/27/2004 is the worst day..i lost my best friend Leo

so now i have a female RES, Green, and a cute stupid male YBS, Mint

5/4/2006 RIP Lemon, u were my first rescue and i'm so proud of u. will never 4get u