Nighttime safety?

[pugsandkids]

How do you all keep your outside torts/turtles safe at night? I would really like Oscar to become a year round outdoor tort. ( and now I want box turtles, heck I want more torts too!) But I worry about raccoons and such at night. I'm thinking about a "house" that is set into the ground 6-12 inches, with a latching door, and a roof that lifts so that I can install a heat source for him. What do you do?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Sarah:

I've either actually seen or seen evidence of: coyote, skunk, opossum, raccoon, cats, dogs, birds of prey...in my neighborhood.

I make the rounds every evening and make sure all the tortoises are shut up in their houses. The box turtles are a bit worrisome because they don't have houses, just big piles of garden trash. But I make sure all their food is picked up so as to not be an attractant.

I have several cats and a dog. I THINK the fact that there's a dog on the property keeps the coyotes and raccoons away. Don't know for sure, but they don't come on my property. I've trapped the opossum and skunks and released them further out into the country.

 

[jaizei]

I agree. I think having a dog on the property goes a long ways, for both animal and human predators

 

[pugsandkids]

I have three dogs, they've actually gotten into one fight with a neighborhood 'coon. I have pugs though, so they are only out at night after I make sure it is safe!

 

[dmmj]

I have a dog who hears everything, so if I hear him barking in the middle of the night, something is out there, and I go check, chased away a couple of coons that way.

 

[Kristina]

I have a dog, who is inside but her smell is right by the tortoise pens. I also have a single strand of electric fence around the perimiter.

The ONLY way to be 100% sure that your tortoises are safe is to bring them inside. My first tortoise was killed by a predator inside what I thought was a safe enclosure. I don't worry as much about the adults, but the babies come inside at night. Since all they are doing is sleeping they just spend the night in little boxes with moss in them, so I don't have to fool with the enclosures during the summer.

 

[NEtorts]

i bring small torts inside and the older ones come inside on their own anyway, but the door stays open and to keep predators out I have electric fence.......seems to work, ive seen coon tracks NEVER inside.... they would have to grab the top of the fence to get into it and thats where the electric line is......i have it on a timmer to come on after dark and off at daylight....

 

[N2TORTS]

I prefer.... the " green dot " .. method~ works well even at 500 yards !

works well ....... " day or night" ... for them Pesky critters!
exspecially the most evasive "Homo Sapiens"......
JD~
(just a lil' Sunday humor~)

 

[pugsandkids]

Yes JD, the tort yard is right under my bedroom window. I could spend all night in the window with my Beretta...Except that I want to SLEEP soundly knowing that the outside critters are safe! Thank you for the suggestion though ;D

 

[81SHOVELHEAD]

View attachment 8845View attachment 8845Heres how i keep mine safe at night .
Fairly inexspensive to do & i like the security of knowing my 4 little redfoots are secure 24/7
Sorry for the double attachment ,
I built the enclosure inside a 6x12x6 dog kennel .
It has a screen mesh top that i know is secure B/C Saturday a week ago i got up ay 6 am to feed the torts breakfast & have morning coffee with them and
My neighbors cat was laying on top of the pen on the screen mesh .
I would like to beleive he slept up there fending off the 2 hoot owls we have living in the trees behind my house.
Mike D.

---

View attachment 8846View attachment 8847OK the first photo was right after i built it .
Here it is now with some grass in it .
Pick up 4 Hibiscus plant today a lowes to plant inside .
Will probably wait a couple of weeks th make sure i rid the plants of herbisides before i plant in enclosure .
I have a few older Hibiscus finally coming back to life .
I don't mean to hijack you're thread but i just wanted to show you some very cheap options to the security of you're torts.

 

[Tom]

I just bring my little ones in every night. I just sleep better knowing that they are safe. Only my big sulcatas stay outside at night and they are in their big heated boxes.

81Shovelhead's way ought to keep him safe though...

 

[Tina Marie]

I have a dog, who is inside but her smell is right by the tortoise pens. I also have a single strand of electric fence around the perimiter.

The ONLY way to be 100% sure that your tortoises are safe is to bring them inside. My first tortoise was killed by a predator inside what I thought was a safe enclosure. I don't worry as much about the adults, but the babies come inside at night. Since all they are doing is sleeping they just spend the night in little boxes with moss in them, so I don't have to fool with the enclosures during the summer.

Thank you for that it was definitely a worry for me and I don't even have my little one yet- I just wanted to know if when the time comes she can come in at night. My dogs stay inside I wouldn't want her out alone

 

[DixieParadise]

I have a ZooMed Tortoise House with hatch locks. That's where they go when they are not roaming the yard and at night.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

If you have raccoons you must make sure any chelonia is in a safe place. When I first moved to Corvallis I met the owner of the local small pet shop. He had a 100 or so pound Sulcata who's head was chewed off by a raccoon.. They have a sharp muzzle. Bob lives in a locked shed and everybody else comes in at night. I don't trust 'coons or most people...