General Care Discussion :: How do I stop my turtle from biting?

[swargle]

Hi,

I have a red eared slider turtle who's about a year old. S/he always swims around the tank to follow me. When I put my hand into the tank, it tries to bite me. How do I stop it from biting? Will nudging it make it more aggressive? I have another RES the same age and the aggressive one constantly pushes the other one away so I nudge it to stop. Thanks!

[Kansasslider]

I'm not sure you can actually stop a turtle from biting. I have 2 that bite and 2 that don't. I do scold them when they bite and I also push them away lightly on top of their head when they do bite me. Does it work? Time will tell. My res female is a sweetheart and has never bitten me. I hand feed all my turtles treats like shrimp but feed pellets by placing them in a separate container. My DBT's strike at the snacks so fast it scares me sometimes. They bite really hard and a lot of the time I just end up dropping the treat wrather than taking the chance of getting bitten. My advice would be don't push it! If you have a biter chances are you won't be able to change that behavior.

[steve]

If my fingers are the water, my RES will try to half-heartedly bite.

[Turd]

My 9" female tries to bite my finger through the glass. When my wife goes to the tank she puts her hand on the glass and Turd doesn't try to bite her. Humm. Maybe I will have my wife put her finger in the tank and see what hppens LOL. I hand fed my turd until she got me instead d the pellet stick. took a while before se let go. So I too just drop the pellets in the tank.