We have 2 cats, brothers age 2, both indoor cats due to how busy the road we live on is.
We also have a gecko who lives in a vivarium in the lounge.
DC1 is obsessed with the gecko - as soon as there is any movement he is on or at the vivarium, which we easily manage and causes no issue when we are there. If we are out they are shut out of the lounge so the gecko is safe!
DC2 could not care less about the gecko, and ignores her.
At night we have always shout the lounge door, and the cats have the run of the upstairs and downstairs hall, kitchen and garage and my bedroom. Since they were kittens we have had no issue with them over night apart from them having the odd fight on the bed or trying to jump from the wardrobe onto the ceiling light!
In the last 4 months DC1 has taken to trying to get in the lounge at night. He starts anytime from 3am and it can last till 5.30am. He bangs and scratches at the door which wakes us up. DC2 is usually curled up in one of the cat beds or asleep on our bed through all the racket.
So far to discourage this we have tried:- tinfoil on the door where he scratches; citrus spray on the door; double sided sticky tape on the door and frame; change of feeding routine to see if he was hungry; extra play time with us before bed. We also tried going downstairs, picking him up and bringing him up to our room. Nothing has helped so far.
We thought about moving the vivarium so we could leave the door open and remove the issue, but there really is nowhere else it can go. DD has a box room with no floor or shelve space, and DS1 & DS2 share a room so space is tight - plus DS2 is ASD, and easily disturbed at night, when the gecko is most active. Our room also doubles as an office so again no space.
Some nights it can be 2 or 3 times he has us up, others it can be upwards of 10 times. Last night between DH and I from 3am we were up 9 times. We are knackered.
Can anyone think of anything we can try? It's worse than having a newborn!!