Play Day

Today was a fun day! And it's going to keep being fun because you know what else happens today? Some of us from the Knights for Marine and Wildlife Conservation club at UCF are heading to our president Melyssa's parents' place to have a fun night before our beach clean-up tomorrow at Clearwater Beach! We're also going to see Winter again at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I'll take lots of pictures and even post them tomorrow when I get home! :)

There were a lot of people working today. I had to park outside of the back gate! But it's always nice having lots of help. It lets us focus more on the animals rather than rushing to get everything done before the end of the day. I had the lucky task of tending to Spencer (Arctic Fox) and Harriet (Opossum) today. They had the same diet: 1/4 dry cat/dog food, 2 veggies, 1 fruit, 1 chicken neck and a golf-ball sized piece of red meat. Only Spencer also gets wet dog food and I threw 2 of his favorite chicks in there. He gets upset if we don't bring him his chicks. He's so spoiled.

Spencer's bowl

Izzy was here today, since Debbie always brings her around when she's working. Izzy has gotten SO BIG. So. Big. When I met her at the beginning of the summer she fit into the palm of my hand! And now she's so big and chubby. She's everyone's baby, but Michy spoils her the most. She gives Izzy lots of fruit and baby food. Now poor Izzy is a chunky monkey! We'll just have to take her out for lots of walks to burn off that excess baby fat. 

John's first time with Izzy

Since I was assigned 2 resident animals, I had 2 enrichment activities to do. Thankfully it was very easy to prepare and were very similar. For Spencer I took some feathers out of the fridge (we collect fallen feathers from our resident raptors - except Winnie - to use for this) and tied long pieces of twine to a few of them and left some free. I hid the free feathers around Spencer's cage and tied the twine ones to the top of his cage so he'd have something fun to play with. They smell like the raptors, so Spencer should be entertained. But he seemed much more interested in the oregano I had for Harriet. I had tied the oregano into bundles and used it the same way in Harriet's cage. I was supposed to stuff them into empty toilet paper/paper towel rolls, but we didn't have any on hand so I made do.

2 feathers hanging

What a wonderful day with Spencer! He has sooo much more energy now that he's not baking in the heat. Florida summers are not good on an Arctic fox. He's built for weather that can hit as low as -15 Celsius! Now that it's getting nippy, he's a lot more playful. And he had never played with me before, but he was in a really good mood. We played Hide-and-Chase. I chased him around his cage and he'd hide behind his kennel or his playpen until I came around and chased him again and he ran and ran and ran! Poor guy was so pooped after this. And so was I!

He's starting to get his winter coat

 And a special and rare treat for me: Spencer let me pet him! I'd only gotten grazed before, and a few times my hand brushed against him. But today we became good buddies. We rested on the sand together and he stretched out while I petted, rubbed and brushed him. At one point he fell asleep for a minute. It was an amazing experience. Who gets to say they've loved on an Arctic Fox?

Look at those happy eyes!

I took a break after this. I was tired after all that playing. And guess what I found in the baby room? KITTENS. TWO of them! They're Stacey's babies and sooooo adorable. I'm a sucker for kittens. I will happily be a crazy cat lady with 50 cats and the house all made out with cubby holes and kitty walkways. I will be that woman and I will walk with my head held high. 

Who could resist that face?

Harriet and I hadn't seen each other in a long time. Months. And it was only once. This was the second time I had ever done her enclosure. She's practically blind, so I help up my hand so she could sniff me. She didn't let me pet her much since my smell is still so new to her. That's alright. Baby steps. We'll be friends soon enough. Harriet really enjoyed her food: she dug right in! Especially the watermelon. Girl has good taste. I scrubbed down her walkways and checked her bedding and gave her fresh water. Then I hung up her oregano. She didn't know what to make of that, but seemed really interested. And that's the point: stimulation.

Our old girl!

 When I came back to the baby room it was obvious all 15(?) of the raccoon babies had been fed. They were all napping! Hehehehe!!!

They're only this calm when they sleep

Tarot got her feet cleaned again today. She's had a fungal infection on the bottom of her feet for years, poor dear. So every other day we take of her bandages, soak her feet, reapply medicine and re-bandage her. I'm sure it's become routine after 3 years. She stays pretty calm once she's in her hood and held.

Get well soon!

Since I was done for the day and I couldn't put many dry dishes away (there was a volunteer in there cleaning everything out) I helped everyone else in their chores. Michy asked me (more like swindled me) into feeding some baby doves. But it's alright because they were only 2 and one of them was easy to feed. They're normally a pain to feed since they don't open their mouths to eat. A baby dove/pigeon actually sits its head into their parent's crop and eats regurgitated food. Yummy, right? So instead of prying their mouths open traumatically, I like to gently clasp their beaks between 2 fingers to simulate being inside the parent's throat, and they open their mouths all on their own. YAY!

I also took a gopher tortoise out for a soak. This is II. Remember him? He's the guy in a previous post that was trying to dig his way out of his enclosure. And I think I may have admitted him. Or maybe it was JJ. Either way, he's been here for a few months. It takes a while for gopher tortoises to heal because of their slow metabolisms.

He didn't want a bath

And then it was time to go home! Now I've showered and had lunch. All I have left to do before heading out for Clearwater is to finish my laundry and pack my things. I'm very excited. KMWC might even be chosen as a feature group for the Ocean Conservancy! What an amazing honor! Today has been a great day! :)

The Wild Dimes has Fainted!

Knights for Marine and Wildlife Conservation

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Hello my friends! I'm sorry I haven't been updating lately. This past Saturday I took off of BTN so that I could spend time with my LDR boyfriend and the week before was a very rainy day without much to write about. But here I am again! And I'm bringing you more pictures and stories.

So thank goodness I looked at the forecast before going in to work. I caught that it was supposed to be a very rainy day. So I grabbed my rain boots that my BFFL Maggie generously painted for me. They were so drab when I bought them from the Wal-Mart, but Maggie did some lovely color-blocking and now they look bright and friendly and fun! Though they're still very uncomfortable. I had to lay an extra pair of sock on the bottom so that my feet wouldn't scream at me. They're cheap-o boots and a half-a-size too small, so they pinch at the toes and have very hard unsupported souls. But they lasted me the time I spent at BTN. I also grabbed my blue poncho and headed out the door.

It was raining by the time I pulled into the back gate. Cats and dogs. I was scared driving down 50 to get there; I could barely see 10ft in front of my car. By the time I got to BTN, the rain was lighter because it hadn't caught up to us. But pretty soon it was POURING. Since the weather was so bad, we had to do rudimentary tasks only: Fresh food, fresh water and scoop the poop if we could. I had the task of taking care of the reptiles, i.e. the tortoise yard, the turtle enclosure and Spike's cage. We had to put a gopher tortoise with paralyzed back legs and Hercules into Spike's cage because it floods less.

So I prepared their diets, cleaned their water bowls, gave them fresh water and refilled Spike's pool. I had to place everything under trees or tarps that we had set up to create dry areas. It was really pouring. I should probably get a rain jacket instead, because a poncho is really awkward to work in. And the hood kept falling back off of my head. Thankfully, I managed to keep myself dry enough so that I didn't get a cold.

I finished quickly. It was pretty chilly out, and I noticed the reptiles were pretty lethargic. Especially Spike. He and the tortoises in his cage hadn't touched their food from the day before. But don't worry, this is normal in reptiles. The cold weather and their exothermy (cold-blooded) means they're less active and eat less. But I still wrote it down in the Critter Log like a good volunteer should.

We all finished quickly and then hunkered down in the baby room until our shifts were over. We helped out feeding babies and tidying up, but there wasn't much to do since Leslie and Kelly did a good job in there. An  intern, Scott, was showing us his injury that he got a few days before. He was cutting something at home and ended up slicing his arm with a box cutter. Looking at it, we all agreed that he should have gotten stitches but it had started to heal, so that's good. Still, it looked red and a little swollen so the womenfolk gave him lots of tips on how to clean it and promote healthy healing.

Speaking of womenfolk taking care of men, John the intern was running around without any kind of  protection from the rain. He came sopping wet into the baby room. We all told him to get some dry clothes from the laundry storage room like the rest of us did, but he refused. I told him to at least dry his hair so he wouldn't get a cold. Men, they never listen. Well, I'm not bringing anyone homemade chicken noodle soup that doesn't at least try to make sure they don't get sick. Suffice it to say, he went home still soaked.

Michy and I fed a few baby squirrels. They were squirmy and aspirated a lot, so we had to go really slow and stop often to let them get a breather. Afterwards, Stacey was cleaning a few cages that her babies were in and she handed me a couple to hold on to and.... one of them had diarrhea alllll over me (Ok, just on my shirt. Still) So then it was my turn to run into the laundry room and grab a shirt. The only thing left was a big frumpy sweatshirt, but it was clean and warm and dry so it was actually pretty nice to change into. Still, thanks kid.

Lovely....

That's the one and only photo I took that day. I'm sorry that it was such a gross one. I didn't freak out, I just handed the babies to someone else and went to go change my shirt. Bonnie says that we're not real interns/volunteers until we get ourselves a "Species Feces" shirt. Meaning getting covered in all kinds of critter poo. I've had my share of poop experiences, so I was a prepared veteran when this happened. Keep on working folks, nothing to see here. Top it off with the fact that Scott tried to scare me with a spider. A little spider was walking on the counter I was leaning on, and I told him to stay quiet because Cait and Stacey both haaaaate spiders, so he said "It's on your leg." Fooled him. I calmly looked around so I wouldn't step on it, and since Scott seemed disappointed I put two and two together: Haha, very funny if I was Cait or Stacey. I finally located the little guy and put him on a piece of paper and released him into a dry part of the yard. Be free, little spider! Eat all of the mosquito and roach larva.

We hung out and talked for a long time, bonding as it poured buckets outside. Then it was time for the volunteers like me to head out. I had stuff to do! My girls and I were going out that night.

So this Saturday I'll be back at BTN and I'll have more adventures to tell! It's starting to get chilly, so I'm glad to still have that sweatshirt to keep me warm. It can get muddy and poopy and I won't care. I'm just going to have to invest in better boots that don't kill my feet when I wear them.

See you Saturday!

The Wild Dimes has Fainted!

P.S. For those of you that missed it, I made a whole Facebook album with pictures of my summer internship. There isn't much commentary nor any stories, but it's fun to look at. :)

My BTN Summer Internship

Long Day

Hello world! I am back with another post. Atlanta was so much fun. I went to the Georgia Aquarium (OMG SO AMAZING) and 6 Flags (I rode crazy roller coasters). But now to the part I know you're waiting for, the adorable pictures of animals at BTN.

Jasper (Nubian goat) was crying, as usual. He wanted his bottle. He's too old for formula, but the poor baby still has a very bad UTI (urinary tract infection) and he gets a bottle of water with cranberry tablets dissolved in it. It seems to make him feel better, the poor dear. At least he got a nice bath today.

Jasper clearly needs a bath

Today I was assigned Spencer (Arctic Fox) and the backrow squirrels. We have a new Animal Enrichment program and every day we follow a log detailing what kind of enrichment we need to prepare to keep the lives of our animals fun and spontaneous. The backrow kids don't get any planned enrichment, but today was Spencer's "Forage Day". That means hiding his food in creative places so he has to go look for it. I even gave him a treat of his favorite food: whole chicks. I cut one up and stuffed the pieces into small sweet peppers. The peppers will mask the scent, and he'll have an interesting time getting the chick pieces out to eat. And I prepared water bags for tomorrow's "Arctic Day" and stuck them in the freezer. Whoever is in charge of Spencer tomorrow will use these bags of ice to make his pool cold, so it's like he's really up in the Arctic. He'll love it. :)

10 bags of soon-to-be ice

Precious was here today, since Stacey was working. She really is precious! And she's getting so big. I remember when she was just an itty bitty baby. Kids grow up so fast, right? Speaking of coonie babies, someone brought in an itty bitty raccoon pup this morning. Just a week old. The poor thing was found being eaten alive by ants. She was absolutely covered in ant bites that were starting to fester. But she was hungry, so that was a good sign. And she got some medicine from us. I hope she makes it through to adulthood! I got really attached to her. I think I'll call her "Anita".

Precious being adorable!

More adorable babies. A little bit past the Popcorn (infant) stage. They're more like toddlers now. They're on the skinny side, but we'll soon change that. :)

So cute!

I did the backrow squirrels. In case you didn't read my earlier posts, "Backrow" is the area in which we keep our rehabilitated animals that are getting ready to be released. They are unavailable to the public, since we have to get them used to not being around people. They need to be wild and learn to forage for themselves. We try to give them food that they'd find in the wild like acorns, but we still prepare diets for them. Today the squirrels also got some bread soaked in squirrel formula since a lot of them are kind of young still.

The back cage kids said it was delicious

The second cage I did had a bunch of rowdy young'ns. They were running around and having fun at the fact that I was there. They would jump around and chew on my shoe and nibble on the food I brought. Some even tried to bury a few pieces of food. Good grown-up technique that they have to learn. They're clearly not ready to be released, but they're on their way to getting there.

"Did you bring me a peanut?"

Last time I did Russell's cage he stayed in his igloo the whole time. Here he was today taking in the good weather. It was quite nice out today. I would not mind if every day was like this. Enjoy yourself, Russell.

Lovely October weather

 This guy..... This guy in the 3rd cage kept trying to give me a new ear piercing. Either that, or he was trying to make my boyfriend jealous. He kept jumping onto me and climbing up to the back of my neck where he would play with my ponytail, bite my ear and bite my neck. Sometimes he would get a little too rough. Boy do squirrel bites hurt. And they were only love bites! It was only after I finished in the enclosure that I learned that everyone in that cage had mange. Well... How lovely. They were all over me. Fortunately, it's very difficult for humans to contract mange from an animal. But they were still covered in scabs from scratching themselves. Yay.

My new boyfriend chowing down

When I left and came back to rake, I guess he was upset. So he peed on me. Great.

I also released some kids from the Baby Room into one of the enclosures. Instead of me taking them out of their cages, I preferred to watch them figure it out for themselves. It was so entertaining to watch the gears turning in their little heads. Most of them figured it out, but I had to give a few of them a helping hand. Yes, you can leave your cage! There is a lot of room and lots of friends out here! 

"Is this a trap?"

It was way after my usual time to leave at this point, so Cait (an intern) said she would take over my Spencer (Arctic Fox) duties so that I could help Stacey (curator) finish the backrow. I'm not allowed in with the raccoons and opossums because of the risk of contracting rabies or distemper or something like that. Our guys are pretty healthy and I'm not afraid of catching anything, but for legal reasons all I did was assist Stacey outside of the cages.

Angry little opossum

I know it doesn't seem like much, but I did end up finishing 3.5 hours later than normal. Remember that I also have sidework duties that I don't take pictures of. You don't want to see the pile of disgusting laundry I had to sort through today. It was so beyond washing, I had to throw 90% of it away. Our washing machine is broken, so anything incredibly dirty unfortunately had to be discarded. After that, I took out the trash and relined the trash bins. I also helped do dishes for a while since after the backrow is cleared there are a lot of dishes piled up.

I decided to stay and chat with the other workers after we had finished our chores. We had a great time, and talked for 2 whole hours!

I love these people. :)

The Wild Dimes has Fainted!