Tips to get a Tortoise to use a Nightbox

MillerJ

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Anyone have any tips to get a Tortoise to use his nightbox? I'm worried that if there is a sudden cold snap or nasty thunderstorm he would be sitting out in the cold 30ft from shelter. I've been locking him up in the nightbox the last 3 weeks at night, and putting his favorite foods in there to try positive association, but he has not once walked up the ramp into the box( I put a friends trailcam in the box to check).

I would love if someone has some tips to share.
 

dmmj

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Honestly just keep doing what you have been doing
 

wellington

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Post a pic of the night box and ramp. We might be able to see a reason.
You can also try moving the night box to the area he usually chooses to sleep.
 

MillerJ

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Post a pic of the night box and ramp. We might be able to see a reason.
You can also try moving the night box to the area he usually chooses to sleep.

I thought about moving the box but power is an issue. the 1st week the ramp didn't have the steps, not sure if they are helping at all.
IMG_20190602_180519.jpg IMG_20190607_210232.jpg IMG_20190602_180517.jpg
 
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wellington

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Nice box. I would try putting some substrate in there. That's the only thing I can see that may be the cause. Add the substrate and then continue putting him to the box, except don't put him in the box but at the bottom of the ramp or on the ramp and let him walk in on his own.
My leopards have a very long and steep ramp and they go in and out all the time without ever having to teach them. Yours should do it, just have to find the reason s/he isn't.
 

MillerJ

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I'll try the substrate and see how that goes. Thanks for the help.
 

MillerJ

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If the substrate doesnt work, you could try making a small enclosure around the box. Then once he starts using it, you can open the enclosure back up to the amount he has now.
Put him on the ramp and watched him for 25 mins he would turn right around and walk away. I'm going to get substrate tomorrow and possibly wall him off. Hoping one of those work because having to run power across my yard and moving that heavy box seems like a good way to work a Saturday away.
 

Tom

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Get some cinder blocks and do what Barb suggested. Make a small enclosed area around the door. Nowhere to go but up and in. Put the tortoise on the ramp at dusk and if needed, make it so the tortoise can't go anywhere but in. Do this a few times and the tortoise should figure it out. I've had some that took two months, but my persistence eventually paid off.

Another method to be used very carefully is to do the same thing on a hot sunny day and the only shade is to go up the ramp and into the box. I don't know if it gets hot enough up whee you are for this to work. First 100 degree day of the season and even the most stubborn tortoises can't wait to go inside and get some shade.
 

MillerJ

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Get some cinder blocks and do what Barb suggested. Make a small enclosed area around the door. Nowhere to go but up and in. Put the tortoise on the ramp at dusk and if needed, make it so the tortoise can't go anywhere but in. Do this a few times and the tortoise should figure it out. I've had some that took two months, but my persistence eventually paid off.

Another method to be used very carefully is to do the same thing on a hot sunny day and the only shade is to go up the ramp and into the box. I don't know if it gets hot enough up whee you are for this to work. First 100 degree day of the season and even the most stubborn tortoises can't wait to go inside and get some shade.
We get a few hot weeks at the end of July hopefully that will be a last resort, mostly because I don't want to wait that long. Wish I could teach him a kennel up command.
 

Tom

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We get a few hot weeks at the end of July hopefully that will be a last resort, mostly because I don't want to wait that long. Wish I could teach him a kennel up command.
To really start at square one, put him on the ramp at dusk and block him on there so there is nowhere to go but up and in.

Another thing that helps is to somehow hold up the plastic door flaps, if you have any, with a clip of some sort for a while. Sometime they perceive the flaps as a barrier, and overtime I slowly lower them back down little by little.
 

MillerJ

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To really start at square one, put him on the ramp at dusk and block him on there so there is nowhere to go but up and in.

Another thing that helps is to somehow hold up the plastic door flaps, if you have any, with a clip of some sort for a while. Sometime they perceive the flaps as a barrier, and overtime I slowly lower them back down little by little.
I do have the plastic door flaps but left them off in the hopes he would be more willing to use it. Once he has been using the nightbox for a few weeks I'll add them.
Thanks for the advice Tom.
 

Maro2Bear

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If the substrate doesnt work, you could try making a small enclosure around the box. Then once he starts using it, you can open the enclosure back up to the amount he has now.

I was thinking the same. Add some substrate, but also make the enclosure temporarily smaller. Also, the space under the ramp sometimes keeps torts from going up and in..
 

Yvonne G

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I'm curious - once you have put him in there for the night, does he come out on his own in the a.m.?

My suggestion is to pick him up and put him in the box every night.

I also have a tortoise that won't use the night box. There are three of her same species in that yard with a really nice heated night box. Two of them are in there every night, but the one refuses to go in. I have to put her in every night. I tried every trick in the book. I've had her for about three years now, and every night I still have to put her away.
 

MillerJ

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I'm curious - once you have put him in there for the night, does he come out on his own in the a.m.?

My suggestion is to pick him up and put him in the box every night.

I also have a tortoise that won't use the night box. There are three of her same species in that yard with a really nice heated night box. Two of them are in there every night, but the one refuses to go in. I have to put her in every night. I tried every trick in the book. I've had her for about three years now, and every night I still have to put her away.
I do put him in every night and he does come out on his own. I don't really care if he puts himself away every night. I still have to go out to shut his door and check on his water, but I'd like to see him go in every once in a while just so I know he knows where warm safe shelter is.
 

MillerJ

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I was talking with a person here in Mn that has a Aldabra that she keeps outside over the summer. She was telling me that her tort 100% knows where his shelter is and puts himself to sleep most nights, BUT he will still sit outside and get hailed on. So I guess my new question is do your torts have any sense of self preservation? I thought Sheldon did but that might have been a fluke.
 

Tom

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I was talking with a person here in Mn that has a Aldabra that she keeps outside over the summer. She was telling me that her tort 100% knows where his shelter is and puts himself to sleep most nights, BUT he will still sit outside and get hailed on. So I guess my new question is do your torts have any sense of self preservation? I thought Sheldon did but that might have been a fluke.
Its not about self-preservation. Its that for millions of year they evolved in a place where the temps are never wrong for them. When we move them to a foreign land with a different climate, they simply don't possess the mental mechanisms that say: "Its too cold here. I should move to that wooden box with the heaters inside...". If there was a cool spell in the wild, they'd park under a bush and simply wait for it to warm up later that day or the next.
 

dmmj

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No heated night boxes in the wild. Foreign subject to them.
 

Professor Brenda

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I'm curious - once you have put him in there for the night, does he come out on his own in the a.m.?

My suggestion is to pick him up and put him in the box every night.

I also have a tortoise that won't use the night box. There are three of her same species in that yard with a really nice heated night box. Two of them are in there every night, but the one refuses to go in. I have to put her in every night. I tried every trick in the book. I've had her for about three years now, and every night I still have to put her away.
She just wants your attention, Yvonne. ;)
 

Professor Brenda

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My Otis has a tunnel that provides him shade as well as a house ready for heat in the winter. He tends to sleep in the tunnel during the day and now that it is summer, sleeps in it at night. I have not had him in the winter yet (he's a recent rescue). In the winter I will move him to the house where the heat is.

So all this discussion being said, do I need to move my Otis into his house at night in the summer or only in the winter?
 
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