Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my 3 Herman tortoises Bites me whenever they see me! lol..
is that normal ? or maybe they think i’m a big lettuce paper ?

My russians will bite my shoes if I'm wearing red/yellow/orange. A hatchling russian once bit my bare foot when I let him roam around while I was cleaning his enclosure. I guess it was because my foot was kind of pink and probably smelled earthy.

I've never had the impression that they were biting as a form of defense. Just a misdirected sense of hunger.

yeah ,but i hate 'em when they Bite..

Worst reptile (& amphibian) bites I've experienced:

1) Giant day gecko: It wasn't so bad until he went into a crocodile-style deathroll. Then there was bleeding and tearing of flesh

2) Horned frog (pacman): I had been feeding him various worms, crickets and the occasional fuzzy mouse. Then one day I reached into clean up something. I guess my dangling, white fingers were too tempting. There was sharp pain followed by bleeding. Nothing at all like my dumpy frog who playfully chews on my hand when I feed him.

3) blue-tongued skink: I had a male who was very laid back and friendly for about 10 months of the year. Then for two months in the spring he treated my hand like his own private chew-toy. It involved a little pain and blood but no real damage

3) Bell's hinge-back: I forgot this one when discussing tortoise bites. He liked to eat earthworms along with his fruits and greens. One day while I cleaned his tank he came over and latched onto the tip of my worm-like index finger. He was only 3-4" long but he held on tenaciously. Minor skin damage and bleeding.

4) Garter snake: Even though I was trying to save him from my father-in-law who liked to chop up any non-farm animal he came across, the snake greeted my attempts at capturing him with a hail of rapid strikes at my arms. Slightly more painful than mosquito bites and produced a few droplets of blood.

I've learned that my hands resemble food for some animals, and that even the tiniest creatures can inflict a painful bite if you irritate them enough. And some, like garter snakes, have an attitude all of out proportion to their ability to cause damage.

Sometimes it's the animals you least expect to bite that do the most damage. The worst bite I ever got from a reptile was from a VERY large water dragon that someone assured me was as tame as a kitten. I reached into the enclosure to stroke him before picking him up and he bit the %&*$#$# out of me as quick as lightening. He did the crocodile "death roll" as well after he latched on to my forearm. Lots of blood. Later the guy told me he was "tame the last time I handled him." Turns out that was more than 6 months before I tried to pick him up! He wasn't tame anymore!

The most pain I've gotten courtesy of an amimal though is from lion fish. I've been stung twice by the bastards, and not one of those times was I in the ocean! I used to work in a tropical fish store that sold all kinds of poisonous fish. I got stung once when I was catching a big lion fish in a net for a customer, and another time when I was cleaning an aquarium with another lion fish in it and got careless. Both times hurt bad, but they really aren't as toxic as the stories you hear. I never even went to the hospital. Took a lot of tylenol, though.

The worst bite by far I've had though is from a macaw. A blue and gold owned by a friend of mine latched onto my index finger and would not let go. I had clipped her nails and wings a few days before and parrots never forget a face. Never. I was only intending to pet her head to show her I was still her buddy, but she was not in the mood for forgeveness. She would not let go and squeezed harder each time I reached for her head with my free hand to try to get her off. When I took my free hand away from her head, she let up a bit. This went on for a couple of minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. I'm sure she thought it was hilarious, but when I finally did get my hand back it was bleeding badly and was almost cut to the bone. Needless to say, I told by friend to ask someone else next time she needed a trim.

>>my 3 Herman tortoises Bites me whenever they see me! lol..
>>is that normal ? or maybe they think i’m a big lettuce paper ?