Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, I left the cap off the hole where I throw crickets in last night, and both my mossies got out. One was left for me by my bedside when I woke up... the cats found him. Apparently under the christmas tree, there's blood everywhere, poor little guy...

My female is still MIA. I've searched the house high and low, mostly high, and haven't seen her. I'm pretty sure if the cats had found her she'd have been in the middle of the floor too. Any ideas where to look? My house just isn't that big, and I'm desperate to find her before the cats do...

After going through the house the fifth or sixth time I started to wonder where she might have gone if the cats HAD caught her, and started pulling stuff out from under the bed, which meant a flashlight was necessary. I found her underneath a dresser drawer, looking well hydrated and whole. She probably (hopefully) just enjoyed the extra space and managed to find a hiding spot on the other side of the house all on her own.

wow, sorry to hear about the male.
do you think he'll make it? i'd just get some antibiotic cream on him ASAP, and put him in a smaller than normal " sterile" container if you think he's going to make it. glad you found the female in good shape.
hope all works out and let us know how it goes.

The male was dead when I found him. He was stunning, and more active than the female. I'm going to miss him.

Unfortunately, I live in a trailer, and there isn't really a room I can keep the cats out of. I wish I could. I tried locking them out of the back bedroom because they were pestering my baby milksnakes. In return one of my cats started peeing on clothes. My house just isn't big enough to lock them out, and they're currently in the only room that stays cool in the summer... Normally they're more interested in the crickets than the geckos, and I've never had a problem with them messing with the cage itself. The fault lies completely with me. I was distracted putting the cricket cage away, and forgot to snap the porthole (the kind for hamster tubes) back on. It was left completely open, and both geckos found their way out.

I trained my parents cat, cleo, to stay away from the reptile enclosures when I lived at home by spraying them with freezing cold water out of spray bottle everytime she was near a cage. I had to convince my mother to do the same but it worked in just under a month. She would look from afar but never get near them. She also had learned the hard way when my male mangove monitor,smaug (5'6' in length), got annoyed with cleo trying to bat him while he basked under some heat lamps I positioned over my bed (he was too big for the cage and was given free range of my room). She clocked him once in the head and he launched her across the room and into a wall. There was a huge blood spot on the wall but she was ok. no stitches needed but a good vet trip and some preventative meds. needless to say she won't go near any area with heat lamps anymore.

try to spray bottle thing, it will work.

jason

I actually swear by the spray bottle trick, and used it to keep my cats from scratching in unwanted areas and keep them away from my fish. It works for barking dogs sometimes too. We had to upgrade to a super soaker for our german shephard, but the theory is sound.

They outsmarted me with the milksnakes. After three weeks, my cats wouldn't go near the cage when I was home, but I'd come home from class to find a snake cage on the floor... I have a pair of pain in the ass cats.

I don't think it would have helped keep them away from an escaped critter either... there's just no way to train out the basic instinct to chase small moving things.

i've got my reptiles mainly in a single room, and my bedroom has my incubator and uroplatus. i also live in a trailer and have 2 really dumb cats that are not allowed in either of those rooms. i just keep the doors closed and don't worry about it.
i got too pissed off one time when i came home and 2 of my brand new screen lids that i made were busted through and had a couple of escaped geckos, that was enough for me, but luckily i found all of mine without any further damage done to them.

man, that sucks. ive been wanting a pet dog for a long time now, but i keep myself from getting on for the reason that i am scared to run into the same thing you did. cat's are even worse. i lived with a few roommates last summer who had 3 or 4 cats, and they always sat around staring at my geckos. i was scared that one of them was going to get crafty and figure out how to lift a lid, one cat managed to knock down and break a few of my $20 UV bulbs. when youve got animals like that, youve really got to do your best to keep your geckos separated at all times from them, because accidents happen. luckily you got your female back, but you dont wanna take this chance again. i would strongly recommend making whatever room you keep the gecko(s) off-limits to the cats at all times. otherwise, they're bound to find another $100 play toy/snack sometime.
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-Mike Martin
North Carolina

We lost a bunch of lizards to our cat, and really felt like we had to decide between small pets and large pets. So the cat had to go.

We miss her, and peek at the kitten next door when we get a chance.

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ETChipotle

Such a shame I hate those kind of stories, I think through our lives we can all thnk of at least one horrible experience like that.

I agree with Mike, either find a way to keep the cats out or you will re live this terrible ordeal again in the future. I bet they will even be more interested now that they had the pleasure of chasing and killing the one.

I also have 2 cats and a large old english sheep dog, but NONE of them go into the reptile room, Door remains closed !

Again sorry to hear about your gecko!
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

I have always had 1 or 2 cats always with my reptiles. And because of how my places have usualy been, the lizards and small frogs have been in plain sight of the cats. I just always keep the screen tops locked. Never a problem. And my cat gets a kick out of watching little crickets move around and get chased by a gecko.
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Uroplatus sikorae 1.1
Uroplatus henkeli
Ball python
Hogg Island Boa Constrictor
Several species of tarantula