New Kitten + Tortoise

[dwright27]

Good evening everyone,
I brought home a new kitten today. I'm just wondering, for those of you who have reptiles and cats: How do you train a cat to stay off of tank-lids so they don't burn themselves on heat lamp hoods etc?
(Can you tell this is my first cat lol)

 

[lkwagner]

Mine gets on my enclosures and can touch the lights but not fall through. I just trust it's not dumb enough to burn itself lol you could try saying no and using a water spray bottle... like when it gets on it spray it so it knows not to go on it. I did that so my cat stayed out of the blinds in the morning because she kept waking me up. Sprayed her a few times and she's never gone back in them until after I open my eyes in the morning.

---

I've fostered over 100 kittens and have never had a problem with them and reptile lights as long as they couldn't get in the enclosure itself

 

[dwright27]

Thanks! I'd like to try non-aversive methods before resorting to a spray bottle, though I have heard it being used successfully by a lot of people..

 

[DevilsLettuce]

If the tank isn't high enough and the cat wants to get on top, it will. Cats are very stubborn animals. You can try and put some Velcro on top of the tank, they hate the feeling. They also hate bursts of air so if you really want to send the message you can use one of those condensed air cans and give it a quick spray at the cat. But the cat will most likely go up when you're not home. Best answer is to put it where the cat can't get to it.

 

[Laura]

train a cat... HAHAHAHAHA
you are going to have to make it so the cat cant get to the top or the lamps... its hard to control what they do when you are not home..

 

[Jacqui]

Congrats on the new kitten! No matter what I have tried, my cats still find a way to end up curled around the heat lamps and lights. As long as they can not get their hair against the bulb itself, you should be safe from burning fur.

 

[dwright27]

Thanks everyone!
It's more the tortoise tank that I'm concerned about than the skink tank, as the kitten may fall into it lol.. Luckily the tortoise is kept in my bedroom (for now), and she will not have access to my room without supervision.
She is NOT happy about the dog so far, but I'm sure with some time and patience she'll come around. The dog is super confused too lol

 

[Yvonne G]

I have one outdoor cat who just loves to sleep in the tort tables that I have inside the tortoise shed. He curls up right under where the black light shines on the substrate. I finally had to cut some hardware cloth and cover the table with it. The cat won't harm the little tortoise, but I don't want cats and all their cat hair on my substrate!