Week 35: Old Man Starsky

The routine of getting all of these animals fed and entertained is starting to sink in well. I'm enjoying it and actually found this very busy Saturday somewhat enjoyable. All my animals are doing well, and I'm doing well working with them. For the most part my co-trainers are good too. There are a few issues, but we are hoping they resolve themselves in a short matter of time. Next week I'll start bringing my maze and rat to school more regularly since the test for that is only two or three weeks away (I can't remember).
The major happening of this week is that on Wednesday, Starsky, our patagonian cavy was put down. He was really old (13, they generally live to 10!) and he had an infection in his chest. Sadness, but not too much. He was a rather skiddish rodent, so he never had much of an impact on the zoo, but he will be missed. You can reference the picture of him if you've forgotten on week 25's post.
This week's pics: Sampson- bobcat, Tyson- squirrel monkey, Nyani- hamadryas baboon, Harrison- harris hawk.

Week 34: Spring Break!

"Break" is very loosely used here. We didn't have class this week, but we still had to come in and care for the animals, and we still had shows to do. It was a nice preview of how the summer will go once we hit the swing of things. Drama is rearing its ugly head in several places. People are getting way stressed out now and true, or maybe not so true, colors are starting to come out. My feelings about others are starting to change, some better, some worse. I'm definitely enjoying working with my animals, and I'll get some pictures of that up one of these days. Still no sight of a day off, but some days are much lighter than others.
I'm experiencing some drama with my manager duties. The moron who proclaimed himself in charge of the crates is not effectively doing his job to get us ready for the fire season (which is just around the bend). The other two of us have been pushing him to get it done, but he's really dragging his feet and I'm just praying that on May 13 or so we get to hear the happy news that he didn't make the right score on the test and is now kicked out. Until then, we just have to keep nagging him and he'll keep not doing it because he won't ask us for help and it's a large and overwhelming task... Working with idiots really bites (but you knew that already, didn't you?).
Pics: Malaika- African Gray, me and Ghost, me and Nova, the Eye to Eye committee

Week 33: Money!

Money inevitably and most agreeably sucks. However, that is not the reference I'm making. For our Spring Spectacular, we raised more money than ever before, and by a whole lot. We raised over $55,000!! We've apparently never hit even $50,000. Yeah us! We're going to have a good and tough time beating that next year, but we'll certainly do our best.
For the rest of the week, we began officially feeding our animals and really getting into the swing of how this summer is going to be. The second years are all starting to leave for their various projects and destinations across the globe. They will be missed, but they are not officially gone just yet. Graduation is in May, then they're out. It's been lots of fun taking care of everything full time and working with all my animals. There is a little co-trainer drama already rearing it's ugly head, but it's not as horrid as some of the stories I've heard.
My rats are still doing well and I'm totally convinced that Crow is a super genius. I'll post a video as soon as he's learned the whole maze. I'm still spending all day, every day at the zoo, but hubby is being awesomely understanding about it all. I'll get a day off eventually... At least next week is spring break, so no classes, but we still have to do shows. Not really a break, but ah well. Pictures: Gumdrop- Kookaburra, Hollywood- Blue-fronted yellow-headed amazon, Salsa- Catalina macaw, Julietta- Emu

Week 32: Turn, Turn, Turn...

I am now officially turned over on three of my animals! This week I ended up finishing my turnover with Kissu, Nuez, and Ghost! I am now officially a big cat, eagle, and rodent trainer! I'm also starting to really focus on my rat training at home and it is going pretty well so far. My maze was built for rats much smaller than mine it would seem, so I am having a few issues, but so far he runs the last two levels perfectly! (Yes, I train it backwards; don't worry, it makes sense.) I am doing a bit more with Nova and I'm almost done with that turnover, and Chance's trainers are still being a bit elusive, but he'll be an easy one. The vervets are as good as done, the whole primate turn over process is a really different story once you hit the relationship building process, it can take the whole year-long assignment in some cases.
Spring spec is almost over, only one day left! So far this weekend is amazing and we will defiately end on a very high note.
One funny thing for me to illustrate this week: remember Dunny? The big hairy cow? Well, Dunny had some lice issues (no worries, very species specific) so we finally decided to shave him and do all the shampoo treatments as a final end to all that and here's a picture of him. Also pictured: (Barney- Double yellow-headed amazon, Rico and Iggy- Swainson's Toucans, Rio- Blue and gold macaw)

Week 31: New Things

This week was again all geared up for spring spec's second weekend. The first one ended well, and we found out we were headed for a potentially dreary and cold weekend. During the week, I continued to work on my turn overs, and there are a few people on some animals that are close to being finished. I am so tired and I am always at the zoo. I love it, but it's really wearing. Hubby is being amazingly helpful on the weekends since I'm not here at all, and that is awesome. Next week there should be more fantastic things to report on my turn overs, and more fun and cute stories. The big new thing this week is that I have a new niece! As of Saturday morning, little Paxton joined my family! For now, I leave you with some bird pictures I took this week: (Rox- Scarlet macaw, Cain- Chattering lory, Zeta- Red-crested turaco, Kiley- Military macaw)

Week 30: Panda-monium!

I know, I'm sorry for the cheesy pun title, but it's fairly accurate to describe this week. Sunday started me off with a glorious journey in San Diego. We (myself and a fellow classmate) got to see behind the scenes of the panda exhibits! It was amazing, yet wholly simplistic in its design. We watched the keeper feed the 18 month old that had only been separated from mom for a week, and we watched mom chow down on some tasty bamboo. It was really cool to see all the neat procedures they had trained the pandas to sit through, including blood draws, ultrasounds, and specimen collections. It was really neat and there's tons of pics and video below!
The rest of my week was filled with insane last-minute prep for spring spec. We made sure the sound works in our stage and that everything we needed was present and accounted for. Today we opened with wild success. We broke all previous records and made about $10,000! Things will only go up from there. In eye to eye, we're kind of in our own little world so we don't get the full effect of spring spec, but it seems cool. Every thing is going well for us: people are bringing animals, and they are all enjoying the food. The camping theme seems to work well for us too. This is really an interesting thing and hopefully everyone reading this will come out this year or next to get a full effect of what's happening. It's totally different from visiting the zoo the rest of the year. Anywho, I know you are all chomping at the bit for those panda pics, so here they are: (dad, mom, mom, baby)

Week 29: More Assignments!

I got my final assignments, so the two I added are Chance (binturong) and Nova (great horned owl). I didn't have time to get pictures of these guys, so hopefully next week they'll be up. Most of my time is now spent sitting and watching animals. Most of my observations are done though and I'm starting to do stuff with the animals and interact.
The news on the panda front is good! We finally got everything set up for this Sunday (hey, I know I'm posting it today, but you'll see nothing until next week to keep with the true spirit of this blog!!). Spring spec. starts next weekend and we're all gearing up for that, I'm not sure the show is totally ready, but I'm sure it will turn out fine! Time is just really flying by me, and I'm pretty sure I just spent most of my week staring at random animals, so there's really nothing exciting to say. No pics this week since the site is not cooperating to load them. Don't worry, there'll be plenty to see next week!