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!
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