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.

Training

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the lack of update late week. I couldn't make it to my BTN shift because I had sprained my wrist. I rested and took ibuprofen and now I'm all better!

I had 2 training assignments today and the birds of prey flight cages. So I didn't have to do much except talk and let the new gals know what their duties were. Heheheh!

 First of all, look at these adorable baby raccoons. We call them popcorns. I don't know why.... We just do. Sorry for the bad quality of the photo, the Baby Room is very dim plus they were moving around a lot because they were hungry.

Adorable popcorns!

I didn't take any pictures while I was in Mocha (Eastern Fallow Deer) and Jennifer's (Nubian Goat) cages training Jessica, a new intern. So there are no pictures of them, sorry. Jennifer is looking fluffy with her winter coat, which is all white. It's weird because she's normally mostly chestnut-colored. And it was great getting to rub on Mocha again. I miss singing Disney songs to him. My big geriatric man!

It's been a while since I was in the Flight Cages, and it was good seeing the old birds again. Especially  beautiful Cookie (Turkey Vulture). I never get over looking at all of the colors in his feathers and his bright red head. The purples and greens. Absolutely beautiful. He didn't seem too happy about it being a fasting day. All the birds of prey don't get food on Saturdays.

"Where's my rotting chicken?"

Colombo (Great Horned Owl) had moved from his regular perch! Well, it was still the same branch, but he was on the opposite side of it. I guess he wanted to soak up some sun on such a pretty day! He did his normal hissing and clicking. All talk.

"Who dares disturb my slumber?"

Tarot (Red-Tailed Hawk) is now in Winnie's (Bald Eagle) old flight cage and he loves having all of that space. And his feet are getting much better! Everyone is so glad! Poor guy had bumblefoot for 3 years now, which is a bacterial infection on the feet of birds from improper perches. When he came to us he already had the infection and we've been treating him. Recently we've bumped up his treatments to every other day and it's done him good! And that means capturing him every other day, so I wasn't surprised that he stared me down while I was cleaning his enclosure. He wouldn't move from his perch and I had to scoop up some leftovers that was on the ground underneath him. I was so close I could feel the breeze from his wing-beats. What a rush!

Tarot loves his big enclosure!

Before I could train Fahima on Harriet (Virginia Opossum) I was shanghaied by Debbie into feeding 5 baby squirrels. They had their eyes open, which is a little older than what I prefer. I think they're the cutest when they have fur but their eyes are still closed. And they have less energy then too, lol! It took 45 minutes to feed all of them. Longer than you would think, I know. But that's normal. Still, when they behave they're ADORABLE!!!

What a tasty lunch!

A lot of resident animals were getting moved today, since we're trying to put the birds with each other. I don't remember exactly where everyone is going. I think Kenny and Mogua (Barred Owls) are moving in with Columbo, and the Screechies (Tobias, Squinty and Pirate) are getting K and M's old enclosure. Nigel (Sherman's Fox Squirrel) is moving into the old Screechies' enclosure since he's so cooped up in his current cage. Little Man and Daisy (Eastern Grey Squirrels) are moving into a big enclosure in what used to be Jennifer's yard. Lots of moving.

The Screechies were in the Baby Room for the day.

Tobias makes a dramatic profile!

Finally I trained Fahima on how to do Harriet's enclosure. Fortunately there isn't much to do in there, so while Fahima was working I spent a minute with Harriet who let me pet her for the first time! How exciting! I knew our friendship would grow. :)

Shuffling back into her kennel with a tasty chicken neck.

It was a fun day. I like training the new people. It makes me think back to when I was new about half a year ago. I can't believe it's been that long! Time flies when you're having fun with animals. I love all of our critters and the wonderful people I volunteer with. :)

Until next week!

The Wild Dimes had Fainted!

Vash likes to sleep in odd positions with his Auntie Dimes