so i am now doing all the animals, i can confidantly do the cats, the snow leopard and cougars, the bears i still want kathy to shadow me, i had her shadow me three times, i think one or two more times i will be ok, the problem with the bears, the diet they are on, makes them very anxious at feeding time, just like the newfs here at my home! LOL
they get all squirrly when it is time to come in and dont remember anything.
when before they were more relaxed about feeding time.
i can easily feed dog kibble to them by hand to their mouth thru the cage, they suck it in with their lips do not use teeth, still i am cautious and careful and remind myself these are big bears, with big claws and teeth and are wild animals, though, they are one of my favorites!
the cougars, rocky the male is very vocal and, as i said will make a wide range of noise, the female is very illusive and very cautious and non trusting, the two are wildlife reintro cats, they lived in the wild for many years but, caught the male capturing livestock, going for the easy kill, and, i do believe coleen was the same.
so they recaptured them, and now they are in the zoo.
i am esp careful with these two as they are full of the wild instinct, you can feel it when you look into those eyes.
coleen was watching me the whole time i was in there, and to get her to eat, we have to be out of the building, they are that illusive and private.
same goes for the sno leopard, mishu, he is a love, i just love this cat, but, he has the most incredible eyes, and, he does get crabby when confined inside to eat, he just will not eat until we open the door, after we cleaned his yard , to let him back out, and we have to free feed him so that he can eat in private.
the cats are very used to being alone, after all in the wild they pretty much are solitary animals.
they sure look big inside, but when outdoors they dont look that big ! anyway, the other animals i enjoy a lot, the wolves are my absolute fave , and the male does come up to me now, he will dig at his tray as it slides in, but, respectfully i have to walk away right away and let them eat without me there. i refuse to try to be a part of the dinner conversation between those two! LOL
even though they are in seperate rooms to eat.
i am going to try to see if i can bring my cam on sat and sunday, as, i close those two days, and, after closing i want to get the birds of prey in their enclosure, and, possibly the baby fallow deer that are newborns, and the sassy sandhill cranes, i just love those two, they are so naughty!
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yesterday and today i got kissed by the bears
thru the wire of course and at a safe distance.
the claws on them are big and huge and, if they catch your clothing, they use them like we use our fingers, imagine that sharp thing ripping your clothes?
yikers!
i didnt realize how much power was in those claws, till today, i was down cleaning the drain, i thought i was far enough from the reach of the claws, and sure nuff i felt tugging, i was not worried nor panicked, but i did see how they use those claws, and, it is amazing the strength and dexterity~ needless to say i have a prized hole in the sleeve of my tee shirt. Mo Bear is very curious of us, as soon as he is done eating, he wants back in the building, so we try to be quick about cleaning the inside so we can lock up the doors and let them in to watch us.
the two girls honey bear and bee bear are very curious to, they like to be sprayed by the hose some days.
so yesterday we cleaned their pool, imagine cowlegs sitting in the pool for a few months.
YUCK i mean MAJOR YUCK
the parts were falling off and smelled horrible, it didnt stink till we disturbed the water and it was drained most of the way, than holy heck broke out and i about puked! LOL
the scrubbing was hard but we managed to do that all today, filled it back up and the bears are very happy in the clean better smelling pool.
They have very small eyes compared to the size of the head and body, but they are very intelligent, supposedly asian black bears are much more smart than the american black bear.
the babies are still arriving, a mamma dear dropped a baby yesterday, the other buffalo female we thought was preggy they dont know that she is now.
the cats hate being locked indoors, they are like the wolf, but, not quite as bad, the wolf will go wild and ruin things trying to get back out, the cats are very indignant and very angry, yet they dont ruin stuff to get back out, instead they slink into their safe spot and glare.
we had some rain and had to lock the cougars up, they were quite indignified about that.
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yesterday i fed the big cats, mishu would not come in to eat, kathy had free fed him yesterday, so i waited for him and coleen the cougar to come in, no go.
Rocky on the other hand, the male cougar, does not miss a meal, he is so funny.
so rocky came in making quite different sounds, ate his meal, when i went to let him out, he stood in the doorway and chirped like a bird, i thought the females only did that when calling their young.
nope, this was happy chirping to.
he is so cool.
mishu was at his door when i finished rinsing his kennel out, sitting there looking at me, i wish i had the camera, he gave me a sassy lift of the lip but, i could tell he was relaxed and calm otherwise.
he is such a pretty leopard!
now that they trimmed the weeds around his compound, he is out much more sitting and watching the buffalo, if only we could hear what he is thinking! hahahahhaa
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ok so today i got to set up a heating lamp and rocks and a log and some branches in an exhibit that holds two turtles and a burrowing owl for a bearded dragon
pictured above is one, from the site dachiu.com
anyway,
i love these guys, they love to be handled, and are affectionate, and, have very intelligent eyes.
so this male had been injured in the other exhibit that held another male and two females, go figure! one had to be the looser, since i started at the zoo, this guy was confined in a small aquarium, to keep his movement at a minimum, he had two broken legs, well, not anymore! he is doing well.
i set up the heating lamp hanging from the ceiling with two wires, and an extension cord and hiding the cord was quite interesting.
piled rocks in a way so the cord was not seen plugged into wall, than i carried him upstairs to the building, the whole time he looked at me with trusting eyes and didnt struggle to get away.
i set his room up with him in there, moving sand around and rocks, it is nice sized by the way, and the whole time he sat on the calf of my leg! LOL
he didnt want me to leave him and when i did have to go he kept watching for me! to funny.
i had no idea lizards were this way.
i hope that he leaves the burrowing owl alone, she has a tumor and can only see shadows, and she is small, so hopefully she will be ok with him in there, he does move fast.
she hid in her burrow while he was in there for a while.
Mishu came into the building to say hi to me today, he is the sno leopard, and i had to disinfect and scrub the whole building.
but he did come into the wet floors when i was done, and rubbed against the wall and almost sounded purry, he is so gorgous. he has eyes almost but not quite, like a lion, just incredibly expressive.
he also can see thru to your soul.
TO BE CONTINUED>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
