Week 3 - rodents

I really enjoyed my third day at the Nature Centre. There was only me and another girl, Ariane, so we did our tasks together. She was very nice and clearly a bright girl; and we got on well throughout the day.


Rodent care

We met Kate, who is one of the full time staff: she gave us our first task of the day which was to look after the rodents. The rodents are in temporary accommodation, as the rodent house is being refurbished. So they are currently in cages such as you would keep your hamster in. Kate said that this wasn't ideal but they would be back in their normal house next week. There were 27 cages in all, and we had to change the water and half-change the bedding in each one. Kate explained that scent is very important to rodents, so that changing half the bedding leaves them with their scent on the other half.

There are lots of procedures to follow to avoid contamination and so on. We have a red bucket to put contaminated water in and a yellow bucket for fresh water. Ariane and I gave them fresh water together. The rodents range from fancy rats through to tiny mice (harvest mice) and some rodents not from Britain, including a gopher (Pippa) who is on a diet.  Unfortunately I could not tell what they all were, as their temporary homes did not include labels. Once they are back in their house, I will walk round and see who is who.

Ariane then went to clean out the guinea pigs and rabbits. I carried on with the rodents. I had to lift down each cage, take out half the bedding and replenish it with new bedding. Being new, I have been asking lots of questions, and had thought that Kate had pointed to a bag of new bedding near the door. However, on getting some of this out, I could see that it was not the soft stuff that they had already, so I had to double check, as I did not want to do it wrong. I was right: there was some soft bedding in another bag nearby. 

It was a good task for learning to work methodically; I had to concentrate so that I did every cage in turn, and so that I worked logically to make sure that the old bedding did not contaminate the new bedding. I counted the number of rodents in each cage, so that I could be confident that I was leaving the same amount of rodents in the cage after I'd finished! Some were docile and moved out of the way of my hand. Others were more lively and I had to take care that none leapt out of the cage (or up my sleeve!), which is not unknown. The further up the line of cages I went, the more lively they seemed to become! The ones at the end (spotted mice) were very lively; biting the bars and trying to get out as soon as I opened the cage. I had to encourage them up to the other end, but when they looked too keen to escape, I popped one into a holding container.  Most of them were huddled in little nests at one end; Kate had told me to check for injuries or fatalities, as mice in these conditions could be quite "brutal" - but luckily I did not see any. I took care not to throw any of the rodents away with the bedding, but when I did pick one up it was obvious as it wriggled!  It took me all morning to do the cages, with only one nip, and I really hope none escaped; I don't think they did. I was not able to take a decent photo of the rodents, as I did not want to startle them with the flash.

Behind the scenes
After lunch, we went behind the scenes in the rodent house (a different world!) and had to soap down a parrot's cage for a parrot who was returning. There was a parrot next to it, who was poorly, and had some feather loss. He was very interested in what was going on; he was very sweet; parrots are very intelligent. The mice at the end went mad when Ariane was vacuuming - so did the monkeys whose enclosure backed on to the rodent house. There was a moment of reality when Kate found a dead baby mouse who the mice had rejected - she removed it and put it in a bag. I was looking at the mouse when I realised it was still breathing. However, when Kate returned, she explained it would not be possible to resuscitate it and put it back in with them again. We finished off in here by starting on cleaning the rodents' usual homes, including cleaning the glass, and trying not to leave smears!


End of the day

Ariane and I finished the day by rounding up the guinea pigs, which was lovely - I thought it would be a case of catching all 20 of them, but they all trotted obediently to their hutch! We also put the turkey, peacock and rabbits away. Sid the goose, known for being like goose are, ie defensive, was already in his shed.

I really enjoyed the day - I saw the iguana again, and also behind the scenes in the vet area. There were some tenrecs - a type of hedgehog from Madagascar. I didn't even know they existed.  It feels really nice to work there; the people are friendly and Kate was quite talkative about the animals, which was great. We are working until 5 now, as the centre is open for the summer season. 

Week 2 - do you work here?

I was lucky that my second Sunday was another dry and sunny day. This week I found the same nicely-fitting overalls as last week, but was a bit perturbed to find someone else's (clean) tissues in the pocket, and some of those plastic gloves that make your hands sweat.

Mucking out

The day started by sharing mucking out duties with young volunteers Alex and Jake. Both are in college and have been volunteering a few months, so they were dab hands at mucking out. First we got spades and black bags and headed for the wallabies. There are 4 wallabies, one has a baby; they seemed quite docile and unperturbed by our presence. I was quite struck by how pleasant their hut was: a concrete floor, wooden sides, lots of straw, food and a salt lick. Mucking out involves moving all the used bedding and droppings into the centre of the hut floor, and then spading it into black bags. I soon realised that it wasn't as easy as it looked, but luckily, Jake and Alex were experts. They got lots of straw on their spades, and into the bag. When I tried it, I found it hard work to even get the spade in the heap of straw, and then I found that all the straw fell off my spade, so I ended up with a tiny girly amount of straw to put in the bag. At that rate, it would have taken a long time to clear the hut, so I am glad Jake and Alex were more efficient. We took turns in holding the bag and using the spades. I suppose I must give myself time to learn new skills!  Once all the bedding has been bagged up, we have to fetch new straw from a hut, and spread it out across the floor. That was quite fun, making the wallabies' new bed, but I sneezed a lot when bits of straw filled the air... Alex fetched a trolley and the lads took the black bags back to the skip. 

More muck

Our next task was to muck out the sitatunga; their hut was quite smelly. I was trying to joke and chat to the lads, but I think they're a bit shy, or prefer to concentrate on the job in hand... Everyone is nice enough but I suppose teenage lads aren't known as the chattiest of people.

Boisterous ram

After a break, we were asked to muck out the mouflon sheep. I saw one of the rangers raising his eyebrows, and I'd already heard rumours about this sheep... Sure enough, as soon as we started on the hut, the ram took an unwelcome interest in our activity. The exact opposite of the sitatunga, instead of running away in fright, the ram ran towards us. Luckily Jake and I were in the hut, shovelling straw, but Alex got charged by the ram a couple of times - he fended him off, but I think the ram must have knocked him. The ram started tearing the black bags with his hooves. But he was mostly interested in eating the fresh hay and straw that was waiting to go in the hut. Realising we had to look after our own safety as well as complete the job, we decided to inform Neil, the ranger on reception, who had no problems about coming back with us and watching the ram until we had finished. He knows the ram can be quite boisterous, and said that one of the ewes is pregnant. Neil said we'd done a good job and held the ram back by the horns until we'd all got outside the gate. It is nice to receive praise from the staff; it's very encouraging.

Raking

We waited a bit before our next activity, as the rangers were in a meeting. The other volunteers seemed happy to sit about after our lunch hour as well, but - call me keen - I was eager to get on with another job. I thought,  I can sit around any day of the week. I'm there to learn and do things. From this week the Nature Centre opens every day; so the manager, Les, wanted the place looking tidy. I quite enjoyed raking the leaves up (even though there are leaves everywhere once you start looking!) as it is really satisfying to see a visible difference when you have completed a task. I am enjoying that part of it already. I don't really get the same kind of satisfaction at work in the week.

Moonlighting

Whilst I was queuing for chips in the café, I bumped into one of the students I work with. She did a double take once she saw I was wearing overalls, and said "Do you work here!?" Another woman asked me this as well, so that she could report something:

"There's a meerkat in with the lemurs!" 

I did my best to be professional; I went over to check and sure enough, there was a meerkat in with the lemurs. I said I'd report it immediately and so I went to reception, knocked on the staff door, and popped my head round. The manager thought I was very polite. They knew about the meerkat already so he told me to go back and tell the woman that they would come and sort it out. I'm glad he told me that, as I perhaps would not have thought to return to her to update her on the situation. She was still there; a crowd had gathered (it was a very busy day), and she was glad to be updated.
Someone else asked me if there was any food available - I started directing him confidently to the café, but it turned out he meant food to feed the animals. That isn't something which is available there.

Iguana watch

After a little more leaf-raking, Adam came along and said he needed "two people to dig a hole" and "one person to iguana watch."  I thought the two lads might be better at digging the hole, and he could see I fancied iguana watch, so I followed him with anticipation to find out just what this entailed... Adam brought out "Trigger", a rhinocerous iguana, from behind the scenes (not on display to the public). He was a fine looking iguana, with a body a foot long, and a tail of equal length. Trigger was placed on a strip of grass about 2 foot wide which runs in front of the ocelot enclosure. In front of this are metal railings, so you cannot get up close to the enclosure. Trigger was being given some fresh air and sunlight on this patch of grass, and Adam needed me to watch him to make sure he did not go under the railings and escape. I was excited at having this responsibility, and glad to be trusted with it on just my second day. 

Adam went off to help the manager; I was left with Trigger. Pretty soon a crowd of people had gathered at the railings and were asking all about him, intrigued and excited to see the iguana out and about. The kids thought it was a dinosaur or a crocodile, but lots of them knew that he is a big lizard. I enjoyed talking to the public, telling them that it was a rhinocerous iguana, and that he was 10 years old. Carefully repeating what Adam had said about how his previous owner had brought him here, I pointed out how some of the skin on his back had got burnt by the UV lamps, but Adam had treated it with cream and it got better. They asked about what iguanas eat; luckily I was able to hazard my best guess, later confirmed by Adam, that it is mostly vegetation and small insects. Sometimes small mice.  Iguanas can live to 30-40 years - 10 more than I imagined. There is some information on iguanas here.

I was with the iguana for about 30 mins and there was lots of interest from people in that time. One of them thought that Trigger wasn't real because he was as still as a statue at one point! He was enjoying eating the daisies. He kept moving along the grass, and although he was ambling, I think he could go faster if he wanted to... He did get close to the railings a couple of times, and so, as shown, I had to lift him gently and turn him in another direction, by putting my hands under his body. His tummy was soft and lovely; he was quite a solid creature; I enjoyed lifting him. I'm not sure he enjoyed it, as his back legs scrabbled each time and his toes scratched my arm. He has a very long back toe on both back feet.

Adam popped back and asked me to guide the iguana back near the door as he'd come and put it back shortly. I somehow managed to coax Trigger back towards the end of the grass. Whilst I was waiting, a woman was telling me in a heated manner about a man who'd had an argument with her, but I had to focus on the iguana and so I directed her to reception. 

Adam returned to collect Trigger. He was appreciative and he kindly answered all my questions on Trigger, who was put back into his heated house.

I really enjoyed iguana-watching and the next day all I could think about was the iguana; he made a real impact on me, watching him close-to and actually being privileged enough to touch him. It feels nice that although the bulk of any job with animals will be mucking out, I am already being given the chance to see different animals and to be trusted with their care.

My first day

I was unnecessarily nervous before going along, but there was no need to be. I just wanted to make a good impression and to make the most of the day.

First job
There were lots of rules to read and remember, which I will need to recap on. I started off by raking straw in the sheep enclosure, with a volunteer called Sam. The three sheep were quite docile - 2 from Iceland, one from the Shetlands or somewhere. They eyed us warily (one had horns, so I kept an eye on it, whilst raking!) Sam said they wouldn't approach us. He was doing his Duke of Edinburgh volunteering and seemed to enjoy the exercise and being with the animals. He was very kind and showed me where everything was and told me how to do things.

Raking was fine, although it was one of those jobs where you know the straw will be back over the field the next day! But it felt nice to be making it look clean and cared for, for both the sheep and the public. And it is always satisfying to be able to see that you have completed a task well.

The sheep are by the entrance, so we could see lots of people coming in, for Mothers Day. The sun came out and I got quite warm in my specially provided overalls, which I really liked - all-in-one dark green - they made me feel the part.

Scooping
Once we had raked and bagged up the straw (before the wind blew it everywhere), Adam, our supervisor, said "good job", which was great (because you don't always get praise at work!) - and then asked us to scoop up the sheep poop in both halves of their pen. We did this with little shovels - a spade with a very short handle. It was quite an inoffensive job to do, and it was nice to be out in the fresh air hearing the public enjoying the animals.

An hour for lunch, which was great, because we needed time to wash our hands, take overalls on and off, and eat. I had a little look round at the other animals - lemurs were out, otters were busy and there is a new tamarind monkey section. They are tiny.

Afternoon

After lunch, Sam had gone home, so I was on poop-scooping duty with the beautiful sitatunga. I was very excited to go in with them, as they are my favourite. They are supposed to be inquisitive, and the male one did come over to look at me - but he didn't get closer than 12 feet and they are all so nervy, they ran away when I went closer. By this stage I was getting too warm, so I must remember not to wear so many layers next week - it's not easy to strip off when you have the overalls on top of everything.

One member of the public asked me where the meerkats were - I suddenly realised how a uniform/overalls makes you officially look the part and that people were expecting me to look and act like a true member of staff. Thankfully my many trips to the place meant I could tell her straight away how to get to the meerkats, and not look like a bumbling idiot. It felt great to be able to help her. I think I felt at ease doing the smiley staff bit, from having done this at university events so often.

Once I'd done the sitatunga, and struggled with the padlock - aware I could not let the animals escape on my first day! - I went to find Adam to ask him to check the enclosure was shut properly. He was in with the snakes, behind the scenes, with a volunteer called Alex. Whilst Adam went to check the sitatunga, Alex showed me the corn snakes. They were very pretty, but I am not sure how much I like snakes. Their movement is a bit weird. Alex was moving corn snakes from a kind of holding area to separate plastic boxes, and he explained that he had to feed them separately or that they would fight. He put in a dead mouse for one, and it leapt forward to eat it. I wasn't too freaked out by the dead mouse; it just looked dead.

Adam had asked me what animals I would prefer to work with, which was great, because I didn't realise I would have any choice. I explained I would probably prefer not to have a look at the spiders, but that I would be happy to learn about all the other creatures. I might even look at the spiders if I am feeling brave. After all, I want to learn as much as I can about as many animals as I can whilst I am there, and they do have a wide range.

Afterwards
At 4pm it was home time and as I walked through the nature centre, I realised everyone had left - I had not noticed them leaving at all! It was a really good first day and at one point I had just realised it "felt right" and that it was lovely to be in the air, with the animals nearby, and with people who cared about them. I felt tired aftewards, and in the days following, my shovel arm has been sore - but I'm hoping that with regular exercise, I will toughen up and not notice! Sunday is nearly here again already...!