Making Him Recognize a Door

[knight_visionn]

I recently built a great new outdoor house for Keyser out of an old 1930's Oak desk that I found for free on Craigslist. It's sealed, smoothed, and heated, complete with a door of black vinyl strips (couldn't find any good transparent ones), to help maintain the temperature while allowing for entry and exit.

The thing is, Keyser's lack of any formal schooling is starting to show, as he refuses to get on board with the idea that the front of the house is a door. Every night, I have to play forklift and guide him into the house. If I don't, he'll go shove his face into the fence and proceed to freeze his *** off (I blocked off all other appealing hide areas, to try and motivate him towards the warm home). Every morning, I have to go spurlunking to dig him out (my one design flaw was not including a removable roof). If I don't, he'll just sit there and begrudgingly accept the house as his home for the rest of his life.

It's been about two weeks, and I've tried almost everything. I've cut the door to include a visible half-inch at the bottom, and some spacing between the strips, so that it doesn't appear to be a solid surface. I've physically dipped him in, then out, then in again, then out again, hoping that he would start to get it. I've even tried leaving him halfway in/out with treats in front of him, hoping he would finish the exit on his own (he just backed up back into his house).

Will he ever learn? Is there a way to speed up this process? I'm a fairly big guy, but for this house to last longer than his 30-pound current state, I'm going to need a way to put him in at night without playing tortoisecopter.

 

[dmmj]

Hi I am a tortoise, and I am stubborn. I suspect he emjoys the attention, he will either use it or he won't. not much you can do to train him. sorry.

 

[Amanda81]

Could you get something clear? Maybe floor mats for your car, they have ones that are clear and real thick. You could cut them into strips and then just put him in his house at dark and let him b. He will exit when the sun comes up and he wants to go hunting for his food. Perhaps it's not a factor of him thinking its a solid surface but a light/darkness thing. He could also just need a couple days to get use to his new house. Maybe just put him in and leave him alone. My guys was slow to warm up to their new house and I had built them one almost exactly like what they had w their previous owner but after a few days they started coming and going as they wanted.

 

[Dizisdalife]

The four sulcata that I have been associated with all have taken to going in and out of their night box right away. So, I am not much help with any training suggestions. I do suspect that the black door may be a hindrance. You might try pinning it back to give your tortoise a chance to come and go as he pleases. I have read where some keepers have needed to do this even with a clear vinyl door.

 

[Tom]

Joe is right. I've "trained" many sulcata to use their night boxes. Some get it right away and others take months.

I suspect that the not coming out might have to do with temperatures. Its cold outside compared to where they come from. Try bumping the temp up to about 85 in there. Being warmer over night will likely make him more active, and active earlier the next day. This might take a couple of weeks though.

In the mean time, replace the black flaps with something clear. Lifting the flaps during the day does help.

One technique that I have employed with success is to make an 8' circle around the door to the house with cinder blocks stacked three high and put him in there in the early evening. Probably around 4:30-4:45 right now. There is nowhere else to go, but in. In conjunction with that, you might have to put him half way in a few times, and gradually back him up from half way.

Then if he wants to stay in the next day, let him. That tells me temps might be too cool either outside or in.

Some of them take months to learn this, so be patient.

Some pics of your box might give more insight too.