Tuesday 10 August 2010

monkey magic

1st August - after a happy chat to Colin about the delights of camper vans, he said I could accompany him on the monkey round. We started at the new tamarins house, and Colin explained that he had to check the temperature daily; it is kept in the twenties. He emptied a bowl of water over the leaves to keep the air humid. I had to keep next to him, to make sure the monkeys were not disturbed by an extra person being in there. There were four monkeys, one behind us up on the ledge above the window, which is his favourite place.
The next stop was the Goeldi's which are two parents and two babies: apparently baby Goeldis are hard to breed in captivity, so Colin was very pleased that these had survived. He seemed particularly fond of them. I had to stick by him again, and I gave the monkeys a bit of banana. The female also enjoys the special gum that is part of their diet.
It was very nice to go in to see them, as I have not done this before. Colin asked me to clean out their indoor quarters; they were shut in the outside enclosure while I did this, and as soon as I'd finished I was to tell Colin, so that he could open their hatch again. The monkeys would not survive if they were left out in the cold at night. To clean their enclosure, I had to scoop up their sawdust from the floor and any shelf area, and then wipe down all the walls with a mild disinfectant. It was quite warm in there, so with the door shut for safety, I was quite hot by the end of it.
I went along to the small mammals house to help Rosie and Joe, two new volunteers. We were giving the rodents a spot clean, then swept and vacuumed the floor, as sawdust goes everywhere. The afternoon was quite easy, with all three of us weeding the ecology garden. It did not need much weeding but was nice and easy, and Rosie, Joe and I had a nice chat about what it is like being a volunteer. Joe was there all week on work experience.
The day ended with us putting the animals away - I delegated to Rosie and Joe, and then we attempted to put Sid away but he was hissing as usual and we did not have any protection. On crying to Colin that it was too hard, he laughed at us and said, put him away! take a broom, so with a broom in hand, Joe did a great job of steering the hissing bird towards his shed. It was quite a result.


8th August - it was a really hot, muggy day, so luckily I was not asked to do anything too physical. I started in the small mammal house: Kate apologised that it was boring, but the rodents need doing, and I am quite used to them. I made the effort this time to work a bit faster, but it still took all morning. There are a lot of rodents. I did an almost full clean of the off-shows, and talked a bit more to the rats, for stimulation. I also became brave and stroked one, and it did not mind at all.  The lemmings are funny: they can be nestling quietly in a corner and when I reach in to disturb their sub-strate (bedding), they all rush to the front, and try to escape. I had to make sure the main door is shut while I do this, in case any leap out. One mouse nearly tricked me by leaping on top of another mouse's back and making a bid for freedom.  The baby rats had grown and were now like mini adults; very sweet.
I also cleared out the off-show degus, the chinchillas and the tenrecs (who bite, but were fast asleep). I did the on-show waters. Pippa, the ground squirrel, had been gnawing at her hatch and pushing the bedding out each day, so Kate had moved her off-show and explained that she was hoping to get a larger enclosure, with a friend or two for Pippa. We are both fond of her: she is very appealing.
In the afternoon I filled the bird feeders with bird seed, and learnt of Colin's new plans for a "walk through" section in the new Mouse Lemurs section. (They were hiding so well during the week that they had to be looked for). It sounds good. He explained that he did most of the maintenance at the Centre, and I have seen the staff creating fencing, sawing, hammering etc, as well as taking care of the animals. 
I topped up the soay sheep water (managing not to let the ram see, and avoiding being butted) and then it was time to put the animals away. I met Kate coming away from Sid's pen, and kindly she'd done him for me... Perhaps spending so much time with the rodents has its advantages :-)