Training Again

Another training day! I'm getting a lot of those lately. I can't lie: I love it. I get to help and intern/volunteer with their first time in a pen. I remember how excited I was and how I wished I could have been taught, so I'm glad I get to train the new people.

I was assigned to train Jessica in how to do the enclosures of the fox squirrels and gray squirrels and then I had Russell on my own.

So we started in Nigel (Sherman's Fox Squirrel) cage. Poor baby still has his small cage but he didn't seem to care that day because it was chilly and he stayed bundled up in his nest of blankets the whole time. He didn't even come out for a grape! A GRAPE! Maybe I should have tried a walnut. The Squirrel enrichment for the day was a ropes course, so Jessica and I had fun stringing up Nigel's cage with rope.

Roc (Sherman's Fox Squirrel) didn't seem too excited to see us until we brought the food in. Then he went crazy for the grapes and apples. I looked for walnuts or peanuts but I couldn't find any. I offered him a pine nut but he turned up his nose at it and pouted in his nest. He's used to me bringing him walnuts. I'm so sorry I disappointed him! Hopefully I made up for it with his rope course. Jessica and I used an extra-long piece of rope and made his enclosure look like a spider web, hahaha! I feel sorry for whomever had to untangle that the next day.

"No walnuts?"

Awesome ropes course

Munching Roc

When we got to Little Man and Daisy's (Eastern Grey Squirrels) we were surprised as to how fat they were! We think the chubbiest one was Little Man, and Jessica began to joke around that he should be called Big Man. Hahaha!!! They seemed pretty excited to be getting their food. Though Daisy wasn't happy about us shooing her out of her nest so that we could change their dirty bedding. Still, I think the food offering was enough for them to forgive us.

Big Man

I was done with the training. Or so I thought. Jessica was assigned Wheems (Eastern Screech Owl) and it turns out she was never trained in the little owl's enclosure. So I helped her with that too. Wheems was not happy to see 2 people her in cage. Normally 2 people to the animals means they're going to be captured and taken to the vet or an event. So naturally little Wheems was chattering away at us. She was especially peeved when we had to shoo her out of her house to change her bedding. She had stowed away pieces of chicken in the t-shirt bedding. Ewwww.

She looks so peeved!

And then, since we were helping each other anyway and since she had never done Russell (Great Horned Owl), I had Jessica help me was I did his enclosure. He was especially nervous, with 2 people and all like I mentioned before. So Jessica stepped out while I finished raking. He's nervous around rakes, so I used a small one we normally use with a pooper-scooper. It took longer but it got the job done. Poor nervous guy.

Well... we were done for the day. Way ahead of schedule. So Jessica and I took a moment to go visit Spike (Iguana). He had chomped down on his food so fast that we thought he hadn't been fed that morning. And he was sunning himself like old times! I'm so glad he's feeling well again. He turned bright orange to show off to his lady friends when we came in and when a man walked by he started shaking his head around. Mr. Jealous! I'm flattered.

Jessica has the magic petting touch

I popped by Jagger's (Bobcat) cage to get keys from someone when I saw him in a good mood! He came right up to me along the cage and he stuck his butt out for me to scratch! I WAS SO HAPPY!!! Normally he's very temperamental. I'd say bipolar. But he looked very happy. I really can't tell you how happy I was that he let me interact with him. Normally he just growls and paces when someone gets near his enclosure. :D

Feeling good!

The Wild Dimes has Fainted!

P.S. The "Cupid Goes Wild" event was so much fun! Thank you to everyone that came out to support BTN! :)

Izzy looked adorable!

Silly Lemurs!

This was a very fun day!

My assignment for the day was the Lemurs, Whizzer, Tarot, Wheems and Russell.

BUT FIRST, an officer from the Sheriff's office came by to inform us of a dead white-tail deer on the side of a road in a nice neighborhood. He figured instead of letting it rot or be eaten by carrion birds, we could have it for our own animals. So with the permission of the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, we collected the deer and brought it back for processing. That's where a big chunk of my morning went. She was a large doe, very fat and pregnant with 2 fawns. Unfortunately the fawns died with their mother. They were so premature we would not have been able to raise them anyway. Poor things.

I have lots of pictures, including me with the heart. If you want to see them e-mail me at cubanasiempre89@yahoo.com and I'll send pictures your way! I didn't post them here because they're quite gore-y. And I won't post details either in case someone is squeamish. But it was very interesting and cool! I'd like to try my hand at processing a deer one day. And I'd like to try eating one too. The backstrap, which apparently is the best part, looked like a beautiful cut of meat. I'm sure Zema will be very excited to have it. :)

Anyway, on to the cute animal pictures I'm sure you are all waiting for.

Whimsa, Thumbelina and Honeybear (Ringtailed Lemurs) had a cute enrichment item today: I had to make a foraging tree for them. So I cut up their food as per usual and stuck the majority of the pieces on a nice branch that I found out back. It turned out pretty great if I do say so myself.!

Isn't that yummy?

When I got to their cage, Honeybear was sunning himself on one of their perches. He looked adorable and let me pet him like a good boy! There was a problem though.... I saw a lot of diarrhea around the pen. Which I made a mental note to tell Kelly and Debbie about. But then, while I was scrubbing the floors clean, I heard Honeybear getting sick. The poor boy was vomiting. So I went to get Kelly. She told me that they had known one of the lemurs was sick, but they didn't know which one because they didn't see anyone in the process of being ill. Good thing now we know that Honeybear is the sick one so he can get treated.

Buuuuut, remember my great forage tree? Most of the food on it was not good for sensitive upset tummies. So I made a plate of apples, bananas and bread to give the lemurs instead. I was sad, but at least new intern Jessica was willing to take my forage tree and put it in one of the backrow pens for the squirrels to enjoy. Kelly said they loved it. :)

Honeybear getting a tan

Afterwards it was time for the birds. I was running so far behind schedule because of the deer processing! It's not good to rush though, so I did my best not to worry. The birds and squirrels had been all moved around which was good because everyone got bigger enclosures. That's always good. :) And they all seemed happier for it. Except Russell (Great Horned Owl) who is always a bit of a grump. The rake especially bothered him. He fell off of his igloo perch and stared at me while I raked. I made sure to move slowly and talk to him while I cleaned so that he knew I wasn't going to attack him. Poor guy is a little neurotic. But I figure he's just a grumpy old man.

"You kids get off my lawn!"

Like I said, the animals seemed very happy to have bigger enclosures. Whizzer (Red-Tailed Hawk) has a nice big cage (Roc's old one) where he can fly around. And he sure did. I accidentally got him with the hose while I was cleaning the perch he was on, and Whizzer wasted no time in letting me know how displeased he was. He flew onto another perch, flapped around a bit, and then came back. Hey, I said I was sorry!

Forgiveness equals weakness

Tarot (Red-Tailed Hawk) was moved to Whizzer's old cage. Which is a bit of a downgrade, but he didn't use all of the space he had before anyway. And he can be more on display in his new enclosure. He stayed quite calm this time when I came to clean his cage. He was more like a supervisor. He made sure I cleaned every inch of his pen! Hehehehe!

Oh Wheems (Eastern Screech Owl). Adorable adorable Wheems! He wasn't very happy for the interruption of my walking into his pen. He trilled his little heart out telling me to get out. I'm sorry Wheems, I had to clean. Depending on his mood Wheems lets someone pet him. So I approached slowly and attempted to rub his belly, but he was having none of that. He gave me a few warning nips. Awwww, ok Wheems. I got the idea. Maybe another day.

A snippy Wheems

After them it was time to go home. I had stayed an hour and a half past my normal time, but no worries! It was a very fun day! And next weekend is the 3rd Annual Cupid Goes Wild Valentine's party. Please come see me there! :D

The Wild Dimes has Fainted!

There is nothing sillier than lemurs eating bananas.