Hibernation disaster.

[pagan queen]

http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/03/wheel-...-rats-4387458/

[becciwales]

Oh my god!! That's horrendous! Poor thing.
Imagine being the owner finding your baby like that
We have a small brook behind my fence and have had rats in our shed. I think they killed my rabbits.
When our torts are bigger I think I'd want to put them out on sunny days and bring them in in the evenings incase of things like this. Plus I'd be scared they'd be stolen. :-/

[ClareandCo]

There have been quite a few reports of rats getting into tortoise enclosures during the day whilst in the garden. Also on here there was a turtle in an indoor pond attacked by a rat coming into the house. A friend of mine had a rat climb the pebble dashing on her house and come in through an open bathroom window during the night. She woke up as it had knocked some bottles etc off the window sill.

We of course had a fox come in one summer's afternoon and come upstairs.

[becciwales]

Originally Posted by ClareandCo

There have been quite a few reports of rats getting into tortoise enclosures during the day whilst in the garden. Also on here there was a turtle in an indoor pond attacked by a rat coming into the house. A friend of mine had a rat climb the pebble dashing on her house and come in through an open bathroom window during the night. She woke up as it had knocked some bottles etc off the window sill.

We of course had a fox come in one summer's afternoon and come upstairs.

Did you post that on here? I think I remember reading it.
Since we've had our garden done we haven't seen any rats around. My dog caught a few. I think the person attracting them a few doors down has also cleaned their back garden up a bit.

[Pussygalore]

I must admit mine were always shut in at night and hibernated in a good wooden box in a rat proof shed. I know many do allow them to dig down in the garden and I suppose as you want them to be as natural as poss then you must also accept what might happen in nature. I also assume that where torts would naturally occur in the wild they wouldn't have the problem of our sort of rats, I'm not sure what predators would be able to dig down to them though, it might be why cold blooded reptiles don't have a strong smell so its harder to find them.

[becciwales]

Originally Posted by Pussygalore

I must admit mine were always shut in at night and hibernated in a good wooden box in a rat proof shed. I know many do allow them to dig down in the garden and I suppose as you want them to be as natural as poss then you must also accept what might happen in nature. I also assume that where torts would naturally occur in the wild they wouldn't have the problem of our sort of rats, I'm not sure what predators would be able to dig down to them though, it might be why cold blooded reptiles don't have a strong smell so its harder to find them.

Possibly.

As much as natural keeping is good, we don't have native torts in the UK for a reason.

[ClareandCo]

Yes I did. This was the rat and turtle one - not pleasant photos:

http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/for...hlight=nikki81

[becciwales]

:-/ that's grim. I hate rats.

[lonelylayla]

Oh poor tort, how awful Credit to the vet for giving him a set of wheels, hope tort goes on to have a long, hapy and healthy life

[pagan queen]

It just makes me even more amazed that Herbie lived so long in the wild without any harm coming to him.

I do wonder how the tort will rub his face, and any food will have to be cut small as they use their front legs to hold and pull longer pieces out of the mouth.