Problem with my cat and my gecko

[Fonzy_Goldy]

well, the first time my cat saw my gecko was when he ran out of his cage on to my wall. Ever since then she has been mesmerized with him. I wake up at night to see her gawking at my gecko. She even almost jumped into his terrarium once while i was feeding him, i didnt notice my cat was standing right there, and she broke the screen on one of the doors. Is there anything i can do to make her leave my golden alone? My cat is bordering on driving me nuts. Reply please

[Hoomi]

The problem with cats is that disciplining them typically serves no real purpose. If you swat the cat with newspaper when it gets on the gecko enclosure, the cat won't learn to stay off the enclosure, the cat will simply learn to stay off the enclosure when you're looking. What you need to do is to make the ENCLOSURE something unpleasant for the cat. This has worked for me with our cats, so maybe it will work for you as well.

Buy a roll of the 1.5" or 2" wide packing tape. Cheap is fine for this purpose. Cut strips of the tape and lay it STICKY SIDE UP on top of the enclosure, and if necessary, hanging sticky side out down the side. The cat will get the tape stuck to its paws and fur each time it tries to get into or onto the enclosure, and if you keep replacing the tape, will soon learn that being around the enclosure leads to something unpleasant for it.

I've used this method to train our cats to stay off the top of our anole tank, my BP enclosure, and the entertainment center. It might sound a bit mean, but not nearly as mean as possibly having your cat eat your gecko(s).

[UberAlice]

My cat does the same thing with my snake enclosures. I made sure to put "blinders" up all around the clear sides of the tank as well (just photos of rainforests I found off of Google) and taped them all around the sides. Seems to have kept the cat from looking in the tanks all the time: there's nothing to see.

[mlededee]

the tape thing worked great for me too. my cat just could NOT keep herself off of my tanks no matter what. i used the tape method plus sprayed her with water every time i saw her up there. she hates tape (as most all cats do i think) so that's what really did the trick.

[Fonzy_Goldy]

Well, this morning i just got up to see that my cat was in my golden's enclosure. She must of given him a heart attack. She must of moved the heat lamp away and just broke the screen on the door with her wieght. I am going to miss butters alot. He was an awesome gecko and i wish i had asked you about my cat sooner. The next step for me is making my enclosure cat proof and getting another gecko. I really want a leopard.

[Fonzy_Goldy]

Well for the past hour ive almost convinced my mother of letting me own a BP. I really love them and the way they look and how curious they act. We'll see about her saying yes. I'll keep posting

[Marla]

Sorry to hear about your golden. That's awful! If you're going to have any herps at all, a cat-proof enclosure is pretty essential and not difficult to make. My older cat is absolutely fascinated by my geckos when they're active, but I don't worry because I know she can't get to them.

[UberAlice]

I'm so sorry to hear about your gecko. Sometimes the poor little things just get spooked, I guess.

[Fonzy_Goldy]

Its my fault because i thought that fiberglass screen on the doors was enough, and now i know better. Metal screen on them! But anyways im a proud father of a leopard gecko. He is soo cooool

[Schlyne]

This is an old post, but I may start trying the sticky tape on the cages with Nebula. Right now I keep all my herps in the room she's not allowed in, but that may not always be feasible. I would like to see my herps cruising around in the cages at night more often when I walk by.

Unforunately, I don't think I can cover the aloe plant with tape sticky side up to keep her from eating it

That plant is the reason she's not allowed in the room in the first place.