Other Turtle Discussion :: Taming of the Turtle

[annar]

I've always liked turtles, but I'm new to living with one. She's just a baby (the vet says she's probably a few months old) and I've done my best to set up her habitat and nutrition, but I've been unsuccessful in finding information on socializing and handling her. I take her out every day and hold her. She seems to calm down (less wiggling) when I stroke the right side of her shell. I've recently started to put her in a feeding tub separate from the tank and yesterday was the first time she actually took a brine/krill treat from my hand. Right now, I think I'm either "the big scary thing with food" or just "the big scary thing".

I've seen some amazing examples of turtle/human relationships on this site and I was wondering if people had some advice on how to bond with the turtle. Especially the poster who had a video of the turtle going over to her and crawling into her hand - How do you reach that point?

Thanks!

[Tokapeli]

i dont know how she did that with her turtles its a pretty cool video though. I got my turtle a few months ago but she had a previous owner (not a very good one). I think it will get better for you when the turtle is older, and ive heard that females are more chill than males. Shes not tame by any means, she just begs for food, and shell chase my finger around too. She doesnt usually try to bite me or my girlfriend, but we noticed she is not comfortable with other people at all. So that makes me think that she at least recognizes me, even if its only as the food source. She does have a personality though, so its deffinitely more like a real pet than a fish or even most lizards and stuff. I feed her by hand always, i think thats why she chases my finger around, this makes her take intrest in me and siwm up to me when i approach the tank, but im pretty sure its just cuz she thinks my finger is food.

[annar]

I'm glad your turtle found a good home with you. I'm sure with time, mine will warm up to me a bit more. I suppose I'm just hoping I'm doing things right and not stressing out the poor little thing and making it worse. I can live with the turtle not coming to me (without food being involved), but I'm hoping we can get to the point where he/she won't run away from me (when food isn't involved.).

[steve]

In my opinion, you need to first keep the turtle in a secluded area so it can adjust to it's new home. Just feed it and check on it to make sure it's OK. Then start with hand feeding but I would avoid any excessive handling. Your turtle will no doubt eventually associate you with food, but it will grow more comfortable with you when he's out of the tank.

[annar]

Thanks, Steve. That's part of what I wasn't sure about. I think I've been making the mistake of handling him too much right now. Since he had gotten a sunburn, the vet had me putting a cream on the back of his neck every day. I thought gently holding him and doing that would make things better, but I think it's making him less trustful. I apologized to him this morning and I'll try to keep my hands off as much as possible.

[Sora]

I don't know if my turtle is "tamed" exactly, but more or less just gotten used to the fact that I'm around . I've had my turtle for two years now(after my friend gave her to me, she was about one at that time so she's three) and at first she didn't even like swimming much, just huddled in the corner, but now, it's all I can do to keep her still long enough to take a picture lol. If I take her outside, she either follows me, or sticks next to the door and when I let her "roam" around the house, she's always on my feet or goes into one of the rooms(we lock the doors now lol). Im not trying to give her human qualities or seem like a dog, but for a turtle, she's pretty social.

Hand feeding... well, i'll admit I was skeptical at first of putting my hand in the water,full of food,with a 5"(at the time, she's 7.3" now) turtle that could possibly bite my finger quite painfully. But now, I've graduated a bit, and have started allowing her to eat from my hand(albeit with caution), and I haven't had her bite me yet. There's still the possibility, but I think for now she won't do it(hopefully), although she tried to take a nip at my little cousin when he was playing with her(he was trying to pet her head ). So, i'm not sure if you can "tame" them like you could a dog, but they could have social personalities, and won't mind eating from your hand or you handling them(after some trust building ).

[steve]

How did he get sunburn?

[annar]

@Sora - He's gotten to the point where he'll take the little brine treats from my hand, but if he ever got to the point where he'd follow me like yours does, I'd be happy with that. I just feel bad for him when he thinks he has to hide from me. Since I've been leaving him alone, he seems to be more interested in me.

@Pete - When I first got him, I got a MVB for him. I set up thermometers for both the water and basking area. The water temp was always perfect and the basking area always stayed around 85-90 degrees. He got up there and basked for hours with neck and limbs extended. I started noticing a little blister on the back of his neck. At first, I thought it was just shedding, because his behavior (activity, appetite, etc...) all seemed healthy and normal. When it didn't go away, I took him to the vet. She said that the temperature of the basking spot was right, so it might be a UV burn and the light was just too powerful for him at that size. I later found out that the basking thermometer was malfunctioning, so it was probably too hot after all. Fortunately, the burn wasn't too serious. I put cream on the back of his neck for several days and changed the light set up. Now he has a regular basking lamp (I got a new thermometer that works.) and an uvb compact florescent 5.0 (exo-terra). I packed up the MVB, so I'll break it out again when he's bigger and in a bigger tank.