Hi Cindy. Thanks for the reply.

He is in an aquarium and I do have 2 cat’s that are VERY interested in him. My daughter has drawn pictures and we taped them on the bottom 5 inches of the tank (as to hide him from the cats view). Of course I am not home during the day to see if there is an antagonistic situation developing. The aquarium is 35 gallons and will soon need to be upgraded – if he was a pleasant pet I would have upgraded it already since nose to tail doesn’t fit front to back any longer. The books say that’s the time to enlarge the home.

He has places to hide, tank is warm & lighted properly – I honestly think he’s just a bad egg. I am not ready to give up yet, but as he gets bigger and bites harder I am afraid I might be. I’ll continue to hand feed him his meals and see if we can become friends. He has developed a routine as I approach to feed: he waits where I will place my hands – once I open the top of the cage he walks away and climbs up high. I lower my hand all the way down at the furthest point from him so not to come down in a threatening motion. My hand is always in the same location as is Jazzy (aka the monster). I feed with my left hand – my index finger and sometime thumb is the target for attacks. Last night I had to put a Band-Aid on – I was wondering if I covered my entire finger with Band-Aids if I would be somewhat protected. What do you think ? I wish I knew if he was being a little bastard and biting on purpose, or if its accidental and he think’s I am part of the food.

I’ll take all the advice you can offer – I have been following the books and guidance I got on this forum some time ago. Everyone said be patient, but for how long ??

When he bites its more of a nibble, as if he is trying to pull my skin off – with each pull he bites harder. What can I do once he latches on? On one occurrence he latched on to my index and started his nibbling, I decided to push him off using my thumb (bad idea) tail-whip and food scattered. Yesterday I spoke loudly trying to get him to stop and I lowered my hand and that’s when he drew blood. Does it sound like he thinks I am food or is he evil incarnate?

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