Potty Spot

My leo always poops in the front corner of his viv and I want him to use a different corner. I rearranged his viv and put a nice rock hide where his normal bathroom area and left the corner open I want him to use. Now he is pooping in the rock hide and on top of it but still in the same area. Is there any way I can get him to change his potty spot? Or once he has chosen his spot that's where its gonna be?

Once hes chosen, he's chosen. You should build the viv around that spot, or you could move some of his feces to the corner you want to use.

It's funny because I'm a dog trainer and its much different with lizards than with dogs. I tried cleaning the viv completely sanitizing everything so he didnt have the scent and moving it around but as soon as he went back in he hit up his usual spot. oh well. I think I'll just fold up some paper towel in that spot to i can take it out right away and replace it instead of having to take everything out and replace all the paper towel. Thanks for the reply

You could always make him a litter box. Go to the show off your set up thread and my viv is the first one, you can see how to make a litter box. yes it use desert sands but I've had mine (and several other members use them too) for years and it is safe as it isn't calci sands so no desire to eat it and youre not feeding in it, just sift it thru a colander once a week and your good. No odor, no sanitary issues and you can put it in his poop corner. I'm an animal behavior specialist, specialize in canine behavior, so like you I wanted to train my leo where to go since I was doing a natural set up and pooping where he wanted would be a mess to clean up, I had his breeder send me some of his poop when he shipped him, put it in his litter box, and he had used it from day 1. Once you get him litter trained you can move the box wherever you want. Clean his potty corner with white vinegar, it removes the biological element that draws them back to their potty area. Good luck

If you have indoor outdoor/repti carpet you could spin the carpet and leave the poop on it. He might think that is his corner, it worked for my cousin so why not for you.

Awesome job! I'm working towards becoming an animal behavior specialist. I'm at a fork in the road though as I also have been flirting with the idea of becoming a vet. eh, I digress. I will definitely being making a litter box. thanks for the advice!

LeopardGex wrote:If you have indoor outdoor/repti carpet you could spin the carpet and leave the poop on it. He might think that is his corner, it worked for my cousin so why not for you.

I don't use repti carpet. I am a bog fan of paper towel, although I was out of paper towel when I it was cleaning day so I used news paper and I think I like that better than paper towel. The crickets don't crawl under as much because he isn't curled up. I am going to spin the news paper to the other corner for now till I make the little box tomorrow. Great idea!

The repti carpet shouldn't be used as they harbor bacteria and if you try t clean them everytime they potty they fall apart. Making a litterbox is super easy, mines just a tiebox cut in half, sized by sliding one half into the other to make the length I wanted then encased with duct tape to waterproof it. I've used the same one for a year and still looks like new. I change half the sand out for new every month, but the only downside is sometimes eros gets a jag on where he liks to kick the sand out which is real easy to sweep up with the vinyl tile in my viv.

I wanted to be a vet too at first then after finding out how many years of school it took I decided I wanted t help in a different way. I specialize in aggression disorders, canine communication and pack dynamics... you do have to know a lot about medical as you have to rule out medical problems possibly being the cause of a behavioral problem before you can assume its strictly behavioral. I've done this for almost 17 years, love it, still learn something new every day. Did the wild wolf studies and its just fascinating seeing how similar our domestic dogs are. I decided I wanted to mess with their heads instead of their bodies. More dogs are euthed because of behavior problems than illness in most states. Its sad. Good luck with your choice

Il have to change my indoor outdoor carpet then. i was thinking of converting to tile as they arent as harboring for bacteriums.

I'm only 24 but have been going to school since I was 18. I have plenty of prerequisites to start taking classes for what I'm actually going to be doing. but 8 more years of school....yikes. Not to mention all the student loans I love dog training and animal behavioral specialist is right up that ally. I got into dog training for the exact reason to keep dogs out of the pound and being euthed for behaviors that can be fixed. I'm so glad to talk to you because this week is decision week for what I will start doing next semester. So thank you for that. And I think I will start on the litter box tonight instead of tomorrow because I have an extra little box I want to use.

@Leopardgex - You should check on craigslist for tiles. A TON of people have extra tile they just want to give away for free because they finished a house project and have extra or whatever. I will be converting to tile as soon as I found the ones I want.

Id be more than happy to talk more about my profession whenever you like, feel free to pm me about it anytime. Good canine vets are a dime a dozen howev er good canine behaviorists are a rare gem. Follow the teachings of barbara woodhouse or brian kilcommons if you want the truth, to he** with caesar milan and his brutish tactics.

Also tile for your viv will only run about 2-3$ each at any home supply store so for a 20 long that's 2 and a half 12 inch tiles so maybe 6-12$ total for a nice floor.

yeah people always come into my classes talking about Caesar Milan and how they are doing all the "pack leader" stuff and cant figure out why their dog still pulls them on the leash....

I didn't realize how cheap tile was! I've heard of people just setting their tiles in the tank and some grout them in. I'm concerned about the heat pad not heating the tiles up enough too. Any suggestions?

Read my sticky in the housing section about making the perfect leo set up it explains EVERYTHING.

Just an fyi, there its a lot of validity to being the pack leader but the way caesar goes about it is making dogs work out of fear of repercussion instead of anticipation of reward and THAT is wrong. Makes an unreliable dog. Send me a pm, I'll give you my #and we can discuss it, or go to my web page, theirs a link in my profile.

I sent you a PM. Thanks again. I really appreciate the information!