Feeding and Nutrition :: is hand feeding bad?

[Big Labowski]

i can now feed my turt with tweezers in his normal home instead of switching all the time. so if i hand feed him everyday would it be bad, because i am thinking that he will become totally dependant on me feeding him that he wont be able to find food on his own, so is it bad ot hand feed all the time?

[jenaero]

I do it sometimes. I don't think it will keep them from eating food that you drop in the water...at least it hasn't for any of mine. The only thing is, I get bitten sometimes...cute when they're small, but painful when they get big.

[cam722]

I stopped hand feeding awhile ago, they got too close to my fingers for my comfort. It's not a bad thing to handfeed them all the time, just watch your fingers..

[TinySlider2]

A couple of our turtles, that Steven used to hand feed, will snap at us when we are taking them out of the tank to feed them. The ones that were not hand feed have never snapped at us. But I'm sure some day they will.

[ellman605]

i normally hand feed my turtles, sometimes i use my fingernails, other times i use fingers, for me, i've gotten bitten, and it doesnt really hurt, just surprising...

my view: not bad, but can become a pain, it's easy when one of the turtle barely touches the food to get it, but when others just try and get anything wherever it is, and they might become dependant, so once you get them started, and put the rest of the food in the water, i advise you leave the room for about 5 minutes, until they realize the rest of the food is in the water.

[Buslady]

i do and i know im asking for it...when i put my hand in the water without food, they're looking for it...and i know tokka will take a nip ...she's gotten be a couple times.

[marisa]

For more than 1 turt in a tank, I'll handfeed some foods if I don't feed separately and want to make sure everyone has equal amounts. They can come to depend on the hand feeding surprisingly quickly, and will often ignore the food if it's in the water in front of them and still try to snap at my hand.

My RES, who's in his own stock tank, though, has become very deliberate about taking food from my fingers, and hasn't missed the food (and gotten me) in a long time. If I put my fingers in the water without any food, he'll just smell them and then wait for some food to be put in them.

[jeggy]

my 3 yr old cousin and neighbor's kid stop poking their finger in the tank since my turtle bit their fingers when i let them feed my turtle once. now they just like to watch the turtle and not play with it.

[RESCHIU]

I like to hand feed my turtle since it makes me feel that he gets use to me and that he's comfortable around me(I think), but I only do it the first food stick everytime when I feed since I don't want him to work hard to bite the dry food stick into half.

[lazixixi]

I tried to hand feed my baby turtle, but he just runs away... -_-

[RESCHIU]

awww, don't give up, it takes them a while to get use to you
hold the food at the very tip, and not making any sudden movement,
eventually, they will come to you and take the food away from you

[cinwin1]

I use long chopsticks to feed my turtles

this works pretty good