Week 10 - an auspicious day

Week 10 began with the rodents! yey, they must know me well by now. I was working with Toby, who I'd not met before - he said he'd been there 4 weeks but had always ended up doing things on his own. He seemed a sensible lad, doing his Duke of Edinburgh, and just GCSE age. Toby hadn't done the rodents before so it was new for me to be able to tell a volunteer what to do, instead of the other way round.

The rats didn't take long with two of us, so after that we did the squirrels (changing the food, water and spot-cleaning). I over-confidently said to Toby that the red squirrels were very shy and we'd be lucky if we saw one. Neil was doing the owls next door and they were flying about, in a fluster, so I think this disturbed the squirrels. Whilst we were both in the middle of the enclosure, one popped out of its nest box, and started scurrying, really quickly, and nimbly, all over the walls. It even stopped upside down on the ceiling. It was a really wonderful experience; although the squirrel isn't in the wild, it was still beautiful to see it so close at hand, and to watch it, motionless, as it ran about the enclosure. It has really tufty ears (I could not help thinking of Squirrel Nutkin) and a lovely bushy tail. Toby was equally as thrilled, and I, of course, had to take back everything I'd said.

We had a long break, and then I went to the rodent house. This has now been renamed "small mammals" as I think it has a larger variety of animals in there. I had to give each rodent enclosure fresh food and water. From the back, each area is accessible from 2 small hatches, which open in the back panel which the visitors can see. A couple of times I made someone jump, by an arm and face suddenly appearing out of nowhere - I've experienced this as a visitor too! I had to carefully locate the rodent, or small mammal, and then make sure it wasn't about to jump out of the hatch. Each animal had a different food mix, all cleverly stored in those plastic containers you can put cereal in, each with a cup with a different "fill" level, to show how much food you should put in. With the water, I discovered my bucket was leaking, which wasn't helpful! The little harvest mouse was up in one corner, looking across at me with its beady but adorable eyes! One animal, the gambian pouched rat, is not accessible unless you are a senior keeper, as it can be quite vicious. It was nice to see the four-toed hedgehog and tenrecs settled in, and Pippa the ground squirrel is in there too.

After I had finished up here, Sam came to check I was ok, and then it was lunch time. We had a nice long lunch in the sun. There was a steady stream of visitors, as ever.

In the afternoon, we helped Neil out by moving some items from one shed to another, and then we did various small tasks such as sweeping up some bark. It was quite an easy afternoon really so we were happy to enjoy the weather. I had heard earlier that morning on the radio that Hindus thought it was an auspicious day, and so I had a sneaking feeling it would be lucky for me too. Sure enough, as Ariane and I were heading back to the kitchen, what should we see but the elusive beaver, out in the sunshine, munching something. I have to admit, I was very excited. I could not believe it really existed. We even saw it again on the way back from somewhere.

The day ended by putting the animals away, it always seems a shame when people are still walking round looking at them. The woman and her son who were looking at the guinea pigs were amazed (as I was) that the guinea pigs all trot into their house at night, without much encouragement! She said her boy should take note and go to bed when he is told! There is always one grey guinea pig who tries to hide, and this time hid under the little ramp into the house!