Oh dear! (Raven)

[Dorrie Siu]

My routine since I've had Dorrie is to take her out for a "walk". I let her graze around in my front yard enjoying the greenery, and when she's had her fill of that, her and I walk around our court on the sidewalk.

Three days ago, I had noticed a Raven swoon past her and land in the tree in front of my yard. Naturally, being the protective mother that I am, I stood between the tree and Dorrie, hovering over her. The bird started at Dorrie... Dorrie stared at the bird. Both were completely still. So I shoo'd the bird away and brought Dorrie back into the house. Now for the past two days, that Raven has been sitting in the tree at about the time I take her for her walk. I did something different and took her to the BACK yard, but the Raven came around there as well. I took her back in. That bird is still waiting in the front tree. I'm afraid to bring her out, my husband thinks I'm being silly. Yet I hear about how ravens will go after tortoises. She's probably about 3 or 4 years old, five inches long. I fear for her.

It's not fair that I keep her in the house, she needs to get out into the sunshine and be a tortoise! How would you all handle this?

 

[T33's Torts]

RE: Oh dear!

Do NOT continue takinh Dorrie out. Standing infront of her WON'T do anything. What if it attacked you!? You couldn't protect her, the raven could hurt you VERY badly.

 

[wellington]

RE: Oh dear!

Make an outdoor enclosure to put her in with a top made from chicken type wire.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Oh dear!

I've seen lots of pictures of desert tortoise shells with a big hole pecked in it. Mostly baby tortoises, but quite a few bigger tortoises too.

Ravens are very intelligent birds. Dorrie will have to be protected from now on, now that the bird knows where to look for food.

Take a look through our enclosure section. Our members have been very ingenious in the design of covered outdoor habitats.

Scroll down three or four posts to the pictures in this link:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-42076.html

 

[Dorrie Siu]

RE: Oh dear!

Thanks Yvonne, I'm going to figure some way to do a safe outdoor habitat within the dog run I have (but never used for the dogs). Hopefully I will get to that sooner than later. Thanks everyone else for your replies. Those big birds are scary!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Oh dear!

I know what I would do go to Wendy's bring home a plastic straw then go to Safeway's bring home 5-6 dried peas .
It would take 2-3 days of blowing peas at that bird and he would move to a new block .

 

[ascott]

RE: Oh dear!

If you are out there with the tort, the tort will be fine. If you are planning to set up an outdoor enclosure then simply do so keeping in mind that the Raven is not the only rapture in the neighborhood...so just design the enclosure with a secure top and plenty of secure hiding places....

You absolutely can protect the tort from the silly bird, if you are there, you can bring your broom and knock the crap out of the bird a time or two and the bird will learn quickly to avoid you and all that is within broom slinging distance...

I live here in the high desert, where CDTs are a fav of the Raven out in the middle of the desert.....they are smart, they are tenacious--but they do not want to risk an injury, as injury to a Raven is a certain, long drawn out death....

 

[WillTort2]

Walk softly and carry a big tennis racquet!

 

[Dorrie Siu]

RE: Oh dear!

I know what I would do go to Wendy's bring home a plastic straw then go to Safeway's bring home 5-6 dried peas .
It would take 2-3 days of blowing peas at that bird and he would move to a new block .

Oh this is funny!! haha!

Thanks everyone for your replies, the broom and tennis racket seem like pretty good ideas. And yes, the dog run has a tarp like shade that can be removed but I think I should put fencing on top of it as well.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

RE: Oh dear!

Make an outdoor enclosure to put her in with a top made from chicken type wire.

2nd this.

 

[ascott]

Ravens are listed under the "Birds Protected By The Migratory Bird Treaty Act". Which is in Title 50 of the code of federal Regulations, section 10.13. You can see a complete listing of these birds by going to http://permits.fws.gov/mbpermits/birdbasic.html

I forgot to mention this while I was sharing my shooing method for this bird.....so please do not take lethal measures with them....I would not want you to be directed to do so and then have a problem....

---

Apology, that prior link appears to have been replaced;

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/RegulationsPolicies/mbta/MBTA LIst of Brds Final Rule.pdf

 

[Dorrie Siu]

Just an update here. I decided to put together an outside playground for Dorrie. A place that is safe from my three dogs, that dang Raven and any stray cats or others that might want to play with her. These pics were taken just as I finished it. She had not seen it yet.

The pool is 59 inches. The enclosure itself is 5'x10'. Dorrie herself is a little less than 5 inches across. Although some may say it's ugly, to me it's beautiful. Because it protects my baby.

 

[DayDreamer]

looks great! i love the hide!
did u put some holes in the bottom of the pool? we are planning to use a pool for our outdoor enclosure as well, but im a little worried about the rain. we thought maybe some holes in the bottom with a screen under and have the pool slightly raised off the ground so the water can have a way out of the pool. interested to know how you did it.

 

[taza]

Looks awesome!
Sandy

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Looking good!

 

[Dorrie Siu]

looks great! i love the hide!
did u put some holes in the bottom of the pool? we are planning to use a pool for our outdoor enclosure as well, but im a little worried about the rain. we thought maybe some holes in the bottom with a screen under and have the pool slightly raised off the ground so the water can have a way out of the pool. interested to know how you did it.

I have holes drilled on the sides of the pool, about an inch higher than the bottom. The reason I did this is because it hardly rains here in California, we are in a terrible drought (funny I say that, it's supposed to rain tomorrow). With the holes an inch up, it will drain if it's too much rain but will retain some of it, figuring the absorption will move up. Being that our summers frequently stay at 85 - 115 degrees, hopefully it will also help with retaining water when I need to spray it. Of course I wont let her stay outside if it's that hot, but at least I know that it has some water retaining value.

Underneath the pool I have a piece of wood so that if it does happen to drain, the water will hit most of the wood rather than dirt, and not be washed away. The wood supports the pool evenly.

 

[DayDreamer]

thanks for answering that. i see the holes on the side now that i look again. we have a lot of rain here esp. during hurricane season so im a bit worried even keeping it in a area with a roof (sun during 1/2 the day shade during the other 1/2) my plants stay wet for days just with the early morning rains spraying in to the deck.

 

[Tom]

RE: Oh dear!

Do NOT continue takinh Dorrie out. Standing infront of her WON'T do anything. What if it attacked you!? You couldn't protect her, the raven could hurt you VERY badly.

This is just silly. There are BILLIONS of ravens all over this whole country. Do you know of one single case of a wild raven just flying over and attacking someone? That just doesn't happen. And if it did, the worse thing you would get would be a pinch and a bunch of people laughing at you.

Also, it is unlikely that a raven will mess with a 5" tortoise, or be able to do much if it did. It certainly isn't going to do anything with you sitting there.

There are local and state laws that allow people to "deal" with pest animals that are messing with their "stock". Look up or ask about depredation laws. The ravens out here CAN be a problem during lambing season or with newborn goats.

What concerns me more is your tortoise running around loose without the boundaries of an enclosure. Now THAT is a dangerous practice. Your new set up solves that problem, but that kiddie pool is much too small for a tortoise that size. If you go to Home Depot or Lowes, they will rip a 4x8' sheet of plywood into 4 12" x 8' long strips. Attach this along the bottom of your dog kennel and you can use the entire space. This will last a while, but your tortoise will soon outgrow this too.

 

[Maverick]

Re: RE: Oh dear!

Do NOT continue takinh Dorrie out. Standing infront of her WON'T do anything. What if it attacked you!? You couldn't protect her, the raven could hurt you VERY badly.

This is just silly. There are BILLIONS of ravens all over this whole country. Do you know of one single case of a wild raven just flying over and attacking someone? That just doesn't happen. And if it did, the worse thing you would get would be a pinch and a bunch of people laughing at you.

Also, it is unlikely that a raven will mess with a 5" tortoise, or be able to do much if it did. It certainly isn't going to do anything with you sitting there.

There are local and state laws that allow people to "deal" with pest animals that are messing with their "stock". Look up or ask about depredation laws. The ravens out here CAN be a problem during lambing season or with newborn goats.

What concerns me more is your tortoise running around loose without the boundaries of an enclosure. Now THAT is a dangerous practice. Your new set up solves that problem, but that kiddie pool is much too small for a tortoise that size. If you go to Home Depot or Lowes, they will rip a 4x8' sheet of plywood into 4 12" x 8' long strips. Attach this along the bottom of your dog kennel and you can use the entire space. This will last a while, but your tortoise will soon outgrow this too.

I realize your the "expert" here.... But a wild raven will most certainly attack a person, and can give more than a pinch, have you ever been attacked by a bird? I have seen it with my own eyes. As well in the west wild life management destroys entire populations of ravens because they have learned to drop tortoises from heights to crack there shells and are a real threat to CDT's. Calling someone silly when expressing a legitimate concern is.not the way I would have went.

 

[erdavis]

For future reference, those nerf guns work great on keeping unwanted small pets away without harm. I don't know if that is illegal to do with protected species or not though. But when we used to raise orphan squirrels we kept them in cages on our back porch and sometimes we would look out to see that some neighborhood cats would be sitting and staring at our squirrels. Scaring them away wouldn't work because they'd come back. But after a couple of hits from a nerf gun they'll stay away. They're just Styrofoam and more of a scare than pain- my 5 year old cousin thinks its fun to get hit from up close, so unless you hit them in the eye or face or something they'll be alright.

Also, Idk if its a myth and always wondered about it. But my parents would have us take old CDs and tie one end of a string to the CD and the other end to a rock and sling shot them in trees in our yard because apparently shiny things distract birds of prey and they don't like it. But like I said I don't know if that's a myth or not.