cats and tortoise

[jeninak907]

Hello, so I have a russian tortoise- lilly. I have her enclosure on the ground. I have 2 cats. one is afraid of the tort and its enclosure but the other seems to think that the dirt is something to play in... woke up this morning and there was dirt everywhere!!!! Needless to say I was pissed!! I am not going to get rid of the cat or lilly. So what can i do to keep the cat out? Are moth balls bad for tortoises? I thought of puting them in there at night and taking them out in the morning. At night when no one is looking is the only time the cat gets in there.. any sugguestions?

 

[clare n]

From experience- I LOVE my cats and my tortoise... But I had the same trouble as you last year. Kept finding dirt kicked about... Gary used to sleep under the heat lamp, "cute" to start, but Phillip couldn't get to it then he started staying in his hide... I'd take him out, he stopped eating, just went straight back in to the hide. turns out one of the cats was using it as an occasional litter tray.... Phillip poops in there from time to time so the bits i found were no real big deal, til i realised what was going on and that the poo wasnt his.. I emptied the lot, cleaned, started afresh. Then he was absolutely fine. My husband made me a simple wood and mesh lid with holes big enough to accommodate the lamps, problem solved now. given the kicked about dirt, id have a good sift and see what you find, could be that your cat is doing the same thing. hope it helps

 

[Laurie]

I have four cats and three steppe tortoises. I have had to cover all the enclosures and even with that, I still have one cat that tries to squeeze his way under the heat lamps, lol. You can use wood and hardware cloth for a top. Be careful with screening, if you are using UVB, the smaller screens can block the rays if the lamp is just laid on top. You would have to do as Clare said and cutaway the screen for the lamp.

 

[RonHays]

I had to use metal grid shelving from home depot to completely cover my enclosure. Before that I was just squirting the cats with a squirt bottle full of water. They hate that. Lol. It worked to keep the cats away while we were here but when we were gone they got in it anyway. Good luck! I know the frustrations!

 

[clare n]

I had to use metal grid shelving from home depot to completely cover my enclosure. Before that I was just squirting the cats with a squirt bottle full of water. They hate that. Lol. It worked to keep the cats away while we were here but when we were gone they got in it anyway. Good luck! I know the frustrations!

We tried that when they were constantly trying to aggravate the parrot yes they hated it... Now whenever I pick up the tortoise spray bottle they're off, skidding across the laminate