Zoo Diary 18th-19th May
I really should update this more regularly so I remember stuff but never mind, I'll do my best.
Monday I was ill so didn't go in :(
Tuesday:
8 am Cleaned squirrel monkey enclosure (or at least the bits I could reach standing on the milk crates - alas not all of it). Not smelly at all but quite gross as they poo on every available surface and appear to be keen on the old faecal art work
9.30 am Diana Monkeys which were terrifyingly clean - I wasn't even convinced they'd been in there, until I got to the 'toilet' which is a separate little room of the enclosure (about wide enough to stand in) that they actually used as a toilet - which is quite impressive, but god it stank ><
10.00 am (ish) breakfast, where Amy told me she has been informed they're looking for a replacement when Jemma leaves for Australia and Lynn wants her to go for it. Good for her and everything but felt kinda put out that nobody had mentioned it to me.
10.30 am Carnivore round with Jemma. Involved cleaning and feeding the fennec foxes, mongooses (yellow and pygmy), skunks, meerkats, coatis, armadillo, puma and wolf. Though I didn't have anything to do with the pygmy mongooses or skunks (just washed the windows) and the same for the puma and the maned wolf (for obvious reasons) but got to go in and clean, feed and water the others, some of which got to stay in with me (like Pedro the armadillo) Oh and Jemma did the tayra cos he's tricksy and he bites (he can get in even when he's shut out).
12.15 pm helped Jemma out with the ring tailed lemur talk - at least I put their food out and then after they'd eaten it I fed them a bag of grapes as a treat, one by one, they had to come round for them and would happily let me put one in their hands or mouths, and they'd gather round and put their hands on my arm or my leg (their hands are very strange by the way, clammy and cold). Anyway this was really lovely, lots of contact and got to get some (albeit crap) pics of a mum with twins - one riding on her back and one on her front ^.^ Massive squee.
12.30 pm Wallaby talk, where I just helped supervise and held a dish of feed out for the kids.
1.00 pm washing up from the carnivore round - woo
1.30 pm Lunch
2.30 pm Furries talk, got to hold a guinea pig this time for children who were either too scared to go near them or (like on little boy) wouldn't leave em alone. He was very sweet with it but wouldn't bugger off til everyone else had packed up and I had to tell him they were going back now.
3.00 pm Amy and I took the rabbit out in the run (which is actually no bigger than its cage so not much point) and picked some grass while we were out there and discussed the pros and cons of Amy going for the job , which she decided to go for. I said that I was worried that not being told was a reflection on my progress and said I was annoyed that nobody has said anything to me if I need to improve. Decided to ask Derek tomorrow. After she filled her crate, Amy went back for something and I carried on and after taking the rabbit back inside, moved on to plantain picking.
4.30 pm Washing up and sweeping
Wednesday:
8 am Told I was going on the outreach programme to do a school talk with Steve so was given "non-smelly" jobs for the morning. Did the squirrel monkeys again, but this time was a thorough clean with a special wall broom :D
10 am Breakfast
10.30 am Did the 'small chop' for birds, basically slicing fruit and veg up into the tiniest pieces visible to the eye, so the birds don't choke I assume.
12 pm Helped load up the van and drove off to this school to do a talk on 'under the sea' (also ended up rolling fags for Steve as I was kinda nervous him doing it while steering with his knees) Steve said he had no idea what to do as the school wanted him to bring animals so he was just doing comparisons between the animals he brought and sea creatures and then a general talk with props, like a turtle shell and a rather impressive whale rib bone. The animals were Humbug the skunk, a corn snake, a cockroach, an African Land snail and the massive spider (of course). After the talk the kids got to draw their own sea creature of their choosing and put it up on a blue board to make an ocean. ONly 30 kids in the entire school and they were really well behaved - a couple opened doors for me without being asked and all sorts bless em (primary school too!) Apparently school the size of my primary school class are common here though.
Only issue was at the end of the talk when I was putting all the animals back in the van when the kids had gone on break and I went to Humbug's box to find it open a bit and empty, I thought one of the kids had maybe opened it to play with her but looked round and found her snuffling through the staffroom bin. Was a bit worried picking her up as she was up against the cupboard and had to approach her from the tail end and wrestle her away from food (not a good combo) but she was fine :) got her back safely and didn't have a heart attack so was fine.
After all that (I think about 3 ish) we dropped in at Steve's mates house to pick up + drop off some stuff for an invertebrate show they're going to at the weekend - Steve was 'kind' enough to show me the guy's spider collection O.o also had a little staffie who got over excited to see people and has made a couple of impressive scratches in my leg - but very cute. The guy was very nice and made me tea Then back to the zoo for about half 4. Was not impressed I missed my lunch although i was glad of my emergency kit kat back at the school. The rest of the day I just helped Steve load the animals off the van and the stuff for the next day's talk onto the van.
Managed to have a talk with Derek about how I was doing (as this job thing has made me paranoid) and to my surprise he told me I was "one of the best" so I dunno what's going on. Maybe Lynn just really likes Amy (not that I'm saying that she's not right for the job cos I think she'd be really good.)
Anyway, tired now and this is taking longer than I thought so will write up today's adventures tomorrow (my last day :'() and I'm off to read fanfic and watch Have I got News for You (woop) :D
Monday I was ill so didn't go in :(
Tuesday:
8 am Cleaned squirrel monkey enclosure (or at least the bits I could reach standing on the milk crates - alas not all of it). Not smelly at all but quite gross as they poo on every available surface and appear to be keen on the old faecal art work
9.30 am Diana Monkeys which were terrifyingly clean - I wasn't even convinced they'd been in there, until I got to the 'toilet' which is a separate little room of the enclosure (about wide enough to stand in) that they actually used as a toilet - which is quite impressive, but god it stank ><
10.00 am (ish) breakfast, where Amy told me she has been informed they're looking for a replacement when Jemma leaves for Australia and Lynn wants her to go for it. Good for her and everything but felt kinda put out that nobody had mentioned it to me.
10.30 am Carnivore round with Jemma. Involved cleaning and feeding the fennec foxes, mongooses (yellow and pygmy), skunks, meerkats, coatis, armadillo, puma and wolf. Though I didn't have anything to do with the pygmy mongooses or skunks (just washed the windows) and the same for the puma and the maned wolf (for obvious reasons) but got to go in and clean, feed and water the others, some of which got to stay in with me (like Pedro the armadillo) Oh and Jemma did the tayra cos he's tricksy and he bites (he can get in even when he's shut out).
12.15 pm helped Jemma out with the ring tailed lemur talk - at least I put their food out and then after they'd eaten it I fed them a bag of grapes as a treat, one by one, they had to come round for them and would happily let me put one in their hands or mouths, and they'd gather round and put their hands on my arm or my leg (their hands are very strange by the way, clammy and cold). Anyway this was really lovely, lots of contact and got to get some (albeit crap) pics of a mum with twins - one riding on her back and one on her front ^.^ Massive squee.
12.30 pm Wallaby talk, where I just helped supervise and held a dish of feed out for the kids.
1.00 pm washing up from the carnivore round - woo
1.30 pm Lunch
2.30 pm Furries talk, got to hold a guinea pig this time for children who were either too scared to go near them or (like on little boy) wouldn't leave em alone. He was very sweet with it but wouldn't bugger off til everyone else had packed up and I had to tell him they were going back now.
3.00 pm Amy and I took the rabbit out in the run (which is actually no bigger than its cage so not much point) and picked some grass while we were out there and discussed the pros and cons of Amy going for the job , which she decided to go for. I said that I was worried that not being told was a reflection on my progress and said I was annoyed that nobody has said anything to me if I need to improve. Decided to ask Derek tomorrow. After she filled her crate, Amy went back for something and I carried on and after taking the rabbit back inside, moved on to plantain picking.
4.30 pm Washing up and sweeping
Wednesday:
8 am Told I was going on the outreach programme to do a school talk with Steve so was given "non-smelly" jobs for the morning. Did the squirrel monkeys again, but this time was a thorough clean with a special wall broom :D
10 am Breakfast
10.30 am Did the 'small chop' for birds, basically slicing fruit and veg up into the tiniest pieces visible to the eye, so the birds don't choke I assume.
12 pm Helped load up the van and drove off to this school to do a talk on 'under the sea' (also ended up rolling fags for Steve as I was kinda nervous him doing it while steering with his knees) Steve said he had no idea what to do as the school wanted him to bring animals so he was just doing comparisons between the animals he brought and sea creatures and then a general talk with props, like a turtle shell and a rather impressive whale rib bone. The animals were Humbug the skunk, a corn snake, a cockroach, an African Land snail and the massive spider (of course). After the talk the kids got to draw their own sea creature of their choosing and put it up on a blue board to make an ocean. ONly 30 kids in the entire school and they were really well behaved - a couple opened doors for me without being asked and all sorts bless em (primary school too!) Apparently school the size of my primary school class are common here though.
Only issue was at the end of the talk when I was putting all the animals back in the van when the kids had gone on break and I went to Humbug's box to find it open a bit and empty, I thought one of the kids had maybe opened it to play with her but looked round and found her snuffling through the staffroom bin. Was a bit worried picking her up as she was up against the cupboard and had to approach her from the tail end and wrestle her away from food (not a good combo) but she was fine :) got her back safely and didn't have a heart attack so was fine.
After all that (I think about 3 ish) we dropped in at Steve's mates house to pick up + drop off some stuff for an invertebrate show they're going to at the weekend - Steve was 'kind' enough to show me the guy's spider collection O.o also had a little staffie who got over excited to see people and has made a couple of impressive scratches in my leg - but very cute. The guy was very nice and made me tea Then back to the zoo for about half 4. Was not impressed I missed my lunch although i was glad of my emergency kit kat back at the school. The rest of the day I just helped Steve load the animals off the van and the stuff for the next day's talk onto the van.
Managed to have a talk with Derek about how I was doing (as this job thing has made me paranoid) and to my surprise he told me I was "one of the best" so I dunno what's going on. Maybe Lynn just really likes Amy (not that I'm saying that she's not right for the job cos I think she'd be really good.)
Anyway, tired now and this is taking longer than I thought so will write up today's adventures tomorrow (my last day :'() and I'm off to read fanfic and watch Have I got News for You (woop) :D