Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A week ago this past Saturday, Casey twice got into my bathroom trash can, knocking it over. The can's lid assembly snaps on, and he apparently was able to work the release to flip the lid open. I closed the lid and put the trash can back, but that was not the end of it. Friday evening I came home from work and saw some trash from the bathroom scattered down my stairs. I went in the bathroom, and the can was open again with the trash scattered all over. I've since had to move to move the trash can into my bedroom, which is a bit inconvenient for me.

Yesterday, I came home and found that they'd gotten into my kitchen trash can. The can I had in my kitchen was a tall one with a flipping lid assembly that fits on top of the can. Chessie pulled it over once when he was a kitten, but he got spooked by the bang of it falling over and never messed with it again. Yesterday, the lid assembly was on the floor with claw marks ripped into the bag inside the can. Apparently, one of them got in through the lid from the kitchen table and then knocked the lid off in his attempt to get out. I put the lid back on, thinking that was the end of it. Last night while outside for about five minutes, they'd knocked the can over completely. I cleared a space on the landing for my basement stairs (behind a closed door) and moved it there. Again, this is making it a bit inconvenient for me.

Any suggestions on keeping these two out of my trash cans? It seems like no more than I get one problem solved, they stay out of trouble for a while and then get into something else. Other than the incident when Chessie was a kitten, they never got into the trash cans before.
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Chessie and Casey Jones relaxing together.

Hi,

This may sound odd, but it might work. Cats normally hate anything citrus so putting something like a cut grapefruit or orange on top of the trash cans might deter the cats. I know that some people put cut citrus under Christmas trees to keep their cats away.

At my home, I just keep trash containers in places where the cats can't get to them. With 9 felines, it's the best solution for me. I do understand if you prefer to not do this though.

Good luck if you decide to try the citrus thing........

Regards,
PHKitkat

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to look into it.

I do know it is Casey who is getting into the trash. This weekend, I was cleaning and had the upstairs bathroom trash can out so I didn't have to keep getting into the closet that it's in now. I went downstairs for no more than five minutes. I came upstairs, and he had the lid open and pulled off the can, which was on it's side with him in it.

It's just strange that other than that one time when he was a kitten, Chessie never got into the trash, and in the nearly a year that I've had Casey, he's never bothered with either trash can until now.
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Chessie and Casey Jones relaxing together.