FINALLY!

Hello again faithful readers!

This post is going to be a doozy, so hang in there! I'll try to jam it chock-full of pictures to break up the wall of text.

First of all, the last day of Davis care-taking was this past Saturday. The previous week all the second years had been on a week-long field trip in Davis, leaving us to care for the zoo and the animals in their absence.  I was in charge of the duties that go along with maintaining the Reptiles area, meaning every morning I was there at 6:30 to clean enclosures, switch water, feed out area-made diets, and offer water to our prehensile-tailed skink, Luke Skinkwalker. Prehensile-tailed skinks in the wild get their water from moisture dripping off of leaves, so he won't drink from his water bowl. Instead, we have to drip water from the heavy duty mister we use so he can lap it up like a hamster. Super cute! We also have a blind bearded dragon named Spike whom I have taken under my wing. He is my special project. Because of his visual impairment, which he has been afflicted with since birth, he is unable to hunt or find food on his own. Part of area feeding responsibility is to hand-feed Spike his diet. Spike does not like this process. He's never quite sure what's going on, and is always reluctant to let you shove strange things in his mouth. Because of this, he usually eats about half his food at MOST. I decided that all Spike needed was a patient and loving touch. I took my time with him, being extra gentle and encouraging, and from my second feeding on got him to eat his entire diet ever single time. My lead was super impressed!

On top of the normal area duties, I was also responsible for six individual animals. There were the two Abyssinian Ground Hornbills, Beaker and Wilhelmina, who needed to be fed every morning and afternoon. Wilhelmina came to us from the San Diego Wild Animal Park after she was injured in an accident involving a stampeding rhino. She's currently the oldest female hornbill in captivity! Beaker likes to try and steal Wilhelmina's food, so while one trainer feeds Wilhelmina one piece at a time, the other has to try and distract Beaker by asking him to perform a variety of behaviors. This doesn't always work, as Beaker always has one eye on Wilhelmina and will often swoop in to snap up the guts that Willa shakes out of her mice. On top of a greedy Beaker, when feeding the hornbills you are always faced with the danger of being locked in the enclosure! Their door is connected to another enclosure, so you have to enter that one in order to get in with the Hornbills. This other enclosure happens to belong to Clarence, our 500 pound Galapagos tortoise. Clarence views every moment he's not getting his neck rubbed as a moment wasted, and if you're not paying attention, he will meander over to the Hornbills' door and plant himself right in front of it, quite effectively blocking you in until someone comes to tempt him away with his favorite treats. Clarence loooooves his massages. He stretches his neck out as far as it will go and raises himself up as high as possible on his stubby little legs, and become absolutely frozen in place. Even when you end the massage and go on about your business, he will remain in that stretched out position for several minutes, hoping you will come back. This is why, when feeding the Hornbills, it's important to remember to first paralyze the tortoise.

Beaker thinks people are other hornbills. He likes to bring everyone mating gifts. 

Paralyzing the tortoise.

In addition to the Hornbills, I was also in charge of Diego the Red Tailed Hawk and Nova the Great Horned Owl. Every day, Diego needed to be taken from his overnight mew to an outdoor perch. Nova was also perched out, but only every other day since he shares a perch with our Barn Owl. I also had to prepare diets for both birds and feed them in the afternoon.

The only reptile on my list of assigned animals was Brutus, a black throated monitor who is ten pounds of pure muscle with a long, formidable tail he likes to whip at anyone who annoys him. He is young and small for a monitor, as he will eventually be six feet long and weigh 50 pounds! Wrestling him out of his enclosure to meet the public was definitely a challenge, but a rewarding one!

And last but CERTAINLY not least, I had my wonderful, hilarious, sweet, petulant, crazy, manipulative, psychopath of a Lory to care for. He was amazing during Davis. He never gave me a spot of trouble, and I learned that he LOVES to sing and dance along to music. Watching him play and interact with his world always fascinates me and brings a smile to my day. I can't wait to spend time with him again during Projects week!

Speaking of which, Projects is only a week away ALREADY. I'm in Parrots this time, and aside from Cain I am responsible for Hollywood the blue fronted Amazon, Ebony the raven, and Peaches the crazy cockatoo. Davis was beyond exhausting, but I am still excited for what Projects week will have in store. Hopefully with four animals instead of six to care for my workload will be a little lighter, but I have to admit I think I'll miss the challenge :)

Ebony with a treat.

Holly wood came over to say  hi when I went to get his picture!

Peaches looking particularly fluffed!

That's all I have time for right now and I don't want to overload my dear readers with info, so stay tuned for a Boo at the Zoo update next time!

Love and Bellyrubs,

Christy