Tortoises, Skunks, and Raccoons

[Duff]

Hi all, we have a 1.5-2 year-old Leopard tortoise (not sure of the exact age). She has an enclosure outside, but roams the entire yard during the day, and we bring her in at night. We're in Newport Beach California. I'd like to let her stay out at night, but we have a lot of wildlife in our neighborhood. Our yard is visited by skunks, raccoons, and possum nightly.
Her enclosure isn't completely secured so obviously I need to make a secure night time enclosure out of a doghouse or something similar. I don't know how I would keep a raccoon out though. So I'm wondering if anyone has experience in keeping the uninvited wildlife away from their tortoise. And is a skunk or raccoon a threat to a 7" tortoise. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

 

[wellington]

Most will lock their tort inside the tort house for the night. No wild life should be able to get them then.

 

[dmmj]

A hide with a strong and secured door, should work, be warned cooons are smart and skunks strong. Both will eat a tortoise if given the chance. Not trying to scare you, just warning you.

 

[T33's Torts]

Whatever you do, DO NOT get a motion activated light. I installed one at my grandparents' place so they'd know when skunks would come by. Totally backfired! The light scared the critters, making them spray.

 

[wellington]

Whatever you do, DO NOT get a motion activated light. I installed one at my grandparents' place so they'd know when skunks would come by. Totally backfired! The light scared the critters, making them spray.

Didn't really backfire, we'll okay, their back side fired, but you did scare them

 

[T33's Torts]

Didn't really backfire, we'll okay, their back side fired, but you did scare them

Ha-Ha! Real funny Barb!

 

[wellington]

Hehehe

 

[Tom]

Dog houses don't work well in my experience. You'll need something like this once your tortoise gets bigger.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-effective-night-box.86632/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/

I prefer to bring them in at night until they are around 8-10" long.

 

[Duff]

Thank you for the replies. It's 9:45pm and I just saw the first skunk of the night. I reckoned that since we've had raccoons walk in the house with the lights and TV on that they aren't easily deterred, and a simple dog house isn't secure enough. I bring the tortoise in between 3-4pm and she's perfectly happy to go right to sleep in her indoor enclosure. I'm trying to prepare for the future. I've seen Tom's night box thread, looks like it's time to start getting the power tools out. Thanks again!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have raccoons and coyotes almost every night. It's the same Mama 'coon and now she has 3 teenagers. Every night they come up on my deck and get into my hummingbird feeder and drink the stuff. Last night I guess there wasn't much liquid left, so they threw it onto the deck and broke it...Darn things. I lock Bob and Queenie in their shed and padlock the door because 'coons are so smart. The guy that owns a pet shop downtown had the head eaten off his adult male Sulcata a couple of years ago.
Duff...they make a thing called a scarecrow. It is a pipe looking thing that is a motion sensor only instead of turning on a light, it fires a stream of water out about 5- 6 feet. That scares away most anything. That's how my neighbor keeps me out of her yard...

 

[Duff]

That's funny! I forgot to mention that my neighbor, coincidently her name is Maggie, feeds every creature imaginable. It's like living next to a zoo. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Tom]

That's how my neighbor keeps me out of her yard...

Sheesh. Your neighbor doesn't appreciate the free weed removal service??? Some people just don't know a good thing when they see it.

 

[Duff]

My neighbor doesn't appreciate much, but that's another story for another forum!