zootastic
today was quite fun, despite the fact that once again i was frickin' exhausted. two pairs of the GLTs, diego & gisella and hugo & samba, are quite comfortable with me. especially when i have big honkin' mealworms to feed them. they were seriously snatching 'em out of my hands this morning.
buddy the giant elephant shrew, who lives w/ hugo & samba, was busily building his nest for the day when i went in there. he'd cleared a nice spot in the mulch and was starting to gather leaves. he apparently wanted to gather my boots, too, b/c he came up & scrabbled on my toes for a while. hee.
when i went in to clean augusta & mateo's exhibit (two of the golden-headed lion tamarins -- augusta is one of a pair of sisters who were born handicapped), they went & hid in the nestbox. i came in & out several times, and the last couple times they were screaming blue murder. i mentioned it to keeper D, who poked his head in and said "they're just squabbling with each other -- they do that sometimes." at lunchtime, though, i asked if they'd calmed down any, and he said he went in and checked on them after a while b/c they were still yelling, and they'd managed to jam the doors such that they couldn't get out. dingbats. so he got the door open and augusta came ROCKETING out, yelling at the top of her little tiny lungs. apparently they were so pissed off that they threw their food pan around, b/c when i went in there to feed them this afternoon, it was on the floor along w/ most of the chunks of canned food. they were hungry enough to actually take food from my hands, which they'd mostly been too nervous to do before.
keeper D is apparently really impressed w/ how quickly i'm picking things up, and how much i notice. it's nice to know. >:)
ooh, and i got to give the chinchillas a dust bath. well, okay, i sat in their holding pen and put the pan w/ the dust bath stuff next to me, and they gave themselves dust baths. the dad was pretty comfortable w/ me, and came and wriggled around in it several times, but the daughter was a little too nervous -- she hung over the side of the pan and scratched her front feet around in it a bit, then went and hid behind the nestbox. i got the dad to take a biscuit from me, though -- i tried apple & kale first, and he'd sniff at them with great interest, but they obviously weren't what he WANTED. soon as i held the biscuit out to him, though, it was OM NOM NOM NOM!
keeper R & i bonded a bit over the introvert thing. she wasn't at the party on thursday, so she asked me if i had fun, and i told her i had to take off, both b/c i had family stuff and b/c i got a little freaked at how many people there were. she said she has the exact same problem w/ crowds. hopefully i'll be a little more comfortable at the xmas party, assuming i can make it -- they haven't set a date yet, but said it's usually on a tuesday or wednesday in the middle of the day. Boss'll probably let me off for that; he's nice that way.
nothing else of note happened. i left with a big smile on my face, though. the keepers always make a point of saying "thanks for all your help!" and obviously meaning it. it does seem like they'd be pretty swamped w/o the keeper's aides.
buddy the giant elephant shrew, who lives w/ hugo & samba, was busily building his nest for the day when i went in there. he'd cleared a nice spot in the mulch and was starting to gather leaves. he apparently wanted to gather my boots, too, b/c he came up & scrabbled on my toes for a while. hee.
when i went in to clean augusta & mateo's exhibit (two of the golden-headed lion tamarins -- augusta is one of a pair of sisters who were born handicapped), they went & hid in the nestbox. i came in & out several times, and the last couple times they were screaming blue murder. i mentioned it to keeper D, who poked his head in and said "they're just squabbling with each other -- they do that sometimes." at lunchtime, though, i asked if they'd calmed down any, and he said he went in and checked on them after a while b/c they were still yelling, and they'd managed to jam the doors such that they couldn't get out. dingbats. so he got the door open and augusta came ROCKETING out, yelling at the top of her little tiny lungs. apparently they were so pissed off that they threw their food pan around, b/c when i went in there to feed them this afternoon, it was on the floor along w/ most of the chunks of canned food. they were hungry enough to actually take food from my hands, which they'd mostly been too nervous to do before.
keeper D is apparently really impressed w/ how quickly i'm picking things up, and how much i notice. it's nice to know. >:)
ooh, and i got to give the chinchillas a dust bath. well, okay, i sat in their holding pen and put the pan w/ the dust bath stuff next to me, and they gave themselves dust baths. the dad was pretty comfortable w/ me, and came and wriggled around in it several times, but the daughter was a little too nervous -- she hung over the side of the pan and scratched her front feet around in it a bit, then went and hid behind the nestbox. i got the dad to take a biscuit from me, though -- i tried apple & kale first, and he'd sniff at them with great interest, but they obviously weren't what he WANTED. soon as i held the biscuit out to him, though, it was OM NOM NOM NOM!
keeper R & i bonded a bit over the introvert thing. she wasn't at the party on thursday, so she asked me if i had fun, and i told her i had to take off, both b/c i had family stuff and b/c i got a little freaked at how many people there were. she said she has the exact same problem w/ crowds. hopefully i'll be a little more comfortable at the xmas party, assuming i can make it -- they haven't set a date yet, but said it's usually on a tuesday or wednesday in the middle of the day. Boss'll probably let me off for that; he's nice that way.
nothing else of note happened. i left with a big smile on my face, though. the keepers always make a point of saying "thanks for all your help!" and obviously meaning it. it does seem like they'd be pretty swamped w/o the keeper's aides.