Tortoise enclosure - cat protection

[Raskham]

Morning all

I've just moved to a new flat and the only place my tortoise table could fit is on the floor. Our next door neighbours have a very curious and playful cat which likes to wander in when we open our door. He gets very curious about the scratches coming from Bradley's enclosure. We always ward him off and make sure he doesn't get anywhere near him.

Obviously I don't want to do that forever, and the mrs would like to get a kitten of her own at some point. What is the best thin I can use to protect the enclosure. There is a large open area and a covered house. I was thinking about a sheet of Perspex or something but would this affect the light and heat from the lamps making it too humid like a vivarium? Or would some kind of wire mesh work better?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks

 

[JoesMum]

I would have thought a chicken wire mesh in some sort of frame would do the job without affecting heat and humidity

 

[wellington]

My cat goes into my torts enclosure and drinks his water. He has his own water, but seems to like my torts better. He doesn't bother my tort, ever. However, I would not trust a cat that is let outside to possibly hunt. Chicken wire or hardware fencing, the square stuff will work. Screen or plastic will block too much uv.

 

[Raskham]

That's what I thought. Thanks very much

 

[lkwagner]

---

That's my cat proof lid, half wood half wire so I can put my lights on it

 

[Vickie]

My cat goes into my torts enclosure and drinks his water. He has his own water, but seems to like my torts better. He doesn't bother my tort, ever. However, I would not trust a cat that is let outside to possibly hunt. Chicken wire or hardware fencing, the square stuff will work. Screen or plastic will block too much uv.

Honestly, myself I would stick to the the square hard wire myself. Chicken wire would work other then if the cat is to heavy and if its not pulled tight enough would give in a lot more then the hard square wire one.

 

[lisa127]

I have also found that cats don't bother torts/boxies really. But they do like to use the enclosure as a litterbox!

 

[Jacqui]

My personal experiences with cats inside and out, is they usually ignore the tortoises. They love watch them and may do a soft paw swipe, but that's it. Now I would never trust them with a hatchling to not carry them off to play with them. The worse thing is they do love tortoise enclosures as huge liter boxes. Like Barb I have several cats who prefer to drink tortoise/turtle water over any other water source.

As to lids, an average adult cat leaping onto the lid can and will start bending and breaking the wire. While the chicken wire has large enough holes to allow better light in, it also is a weaker wire which breaks faster. So, if you need the holes in the wire for the light to enter, go with chicken wire and replace more often otherwiae the harder hardware cloth is the way to go.

Another reminder, cats as we all know love to cuddle in warm spots, please be sure there is no way the cat can get it's tail or other body parts or fur under and right next to those hot bulbs. I had a cat once actually catch it's hair on fire from a CHE.

 

[Yvonne G]

My experience with cats and indoor tortoise habitats comes from listening to my sister. Her cats like to lay under the tortoises' lights. She seems to think that Roxie "mothers" the babies.

My experience with outdoor cats and tortoise habitats is that the cats couldn't care less about tortoises, except for babies. I've seen my cat carrying a baby box turtle in her mouth - don't know where she got it. Probably a hatch I missed.

 

[Hybrid]

Hello,

Should we be worry about the possibilities of cross-infection between cat and tortoise whatsoever?

 

[PapS]

I have two cats as well as my tortoise. Apart from drinking my tortoise's water to wash down a hunt (which annoys me) they don't care about my tortoise. I have even put my tortoise right next to one of my cats under supervision. Cat smelled it and 3 seconds later lied down and started washing its paws. Cats really don't care about a tortoise unless it's very small.

About health issue between cats and tortoises, I'm not sure but I would like to know myself...