My day as a Zookeeper
Okay, I realize that this happened back in September of 2008. But Annette has asked me repeatedly to blog about it and hopefully she is still interested. I finally had to go through my pictures because it's time to scrapbook them. Anyway, here goes the pictorial account of my wonderful day of being a zookeeper.
Here is the sign that started it all. Mom and I agreed that we couldn't think of a more perfect birthday present.
This is the area I worked in. I had my choice of the four areas in the Small Animal Building (SAB). I figure I can work my way through each of them eventually. :)
This cute guy here is a cape hyrax. They are adorable and very cuddly looking. Unfortunately, I didn't get to cuddle them, I just washed their windows and scrapped up their poop.
This cute little guy here is an African striped weasel. Did you know that in the wild, weasels will always eat the head of their prey off first to guarantee they get enough nutrients? Apparently, they get their food stolen a lot. So I got to clean up decapitated mice from this particular home.
Here are some Agouti. Again, very cute and cuddly. Again, a couple of jelly-bean factory workers (meaning, there was a lot of poop) It's a MASH reference for those of you who don't know.
Here is a Degu. Isn't he adorable? They are pretty much big mice. They even had their own spinning wheel in their cage.
Here is Hank the meerkat. He was in a different exhibit from the rest of his family because they just had babies. I have to say that this was one of the absolute highlights of my day. I got to play with a couple of baby meerkats. They are SO CUTE!!! They are like little mice and kept trying to run up my arms. Oh my goodness, I have never wanted to steal something from a zoo so bad in my life...except when I see polar bear babies.
This is Captain Jack the porcupine. He lives with some monekys and spends most of his time up on this ledge sleeping. He did wake up long enough to be fed. That was my job. I got him to eat out of my hand. So cute!
Here are the monkeys that live with Captain Jack. They are called Wied's Marmosets. This is one of the cages that I cleaned while the animals were still inside. Basically they just ran from me screaming (seriously). They were still cute though. Oh, and the Zookeeper I was shadowing did warn me that if I felt something wet, not to look up because if I got pee in my eyes, it would be a pretty big problem. Thankfully, I didn't get peed on.
This adorable little things are called Patgonian Cavys. They look like they would be related to a kangaroo, but they are still members of the mouse family (the tech name just left me.) Anyway, they are pretty shy, but still were friendly. They live with birds, so I was mainly scrubbing bird poop off their home. I did get to feed them though.
This cutie is a Prevost's squirrel. He has the cutest fluffy tale!
Here is Hogle Zoo's wallaby, taking a nap. He was awake when we went in to see him. He's really shy, so I had to stay in a crouching position for what seemed like forever, but he eventually came and took some yam from me. SO CUTE. He lives with the tortoise and some swans.
Here's the tortoise. Now I knew that small tortoises like to have their necks scratched from the time I have spent with the Hanni's tortoises. In fact, they stretch their necks out and make an adorable purring sound. Well, apparently that is true for all tortoises no matter how big. This guy stretched his neck out until it was as long as my leg. He was SO CUTE!!! I know, I know, I keep saying that, but it is true!
Part of my experience was an "animal encounter". I could choose between penguins and giraffes. Well, nothing personal giraffes, but penguins are way cooler. So I got to hand out with a penguin and get my picture taken.
This guy was friendly and cute.
I also got to help clean the penguins. While I was waiting for the keeper to get their food ready, she had me hang out with one of their younger penguins. They were trying to get him comfortable enough with people to be an animal ambassador. Well, hopefully he has improved, because when I tried to pet him, he tried to bite me. So we spent out ten minutes together with me petting and him chewing on my boots. He was still adorable.
Here's my t-shirt that shows I was a zookeeper for a day.
This was absolutely the best birthday present I have ever gotten (and I have really gotten some cool stuff). I plan on this being the best experience of my life until I make it on a polar bear excursion (who's up for that for my 30th) Thank you Mom and Dad for spoiling me. And for everyone who told me that I wouldn't want to be a zookeeper...you're wrong. Still do.
Okay, now I'm just cranky. I typed this entire post yesterday (and it wasn't easy trying to get all the animals' names right and the stupid blogger site was down and I lost the entire thing. It is only my deepest love for my sister who has asked for this repeatedly (and Mom telling me to do it) that I am typing it all over again. So you had better enjoy.
Here is the sign that started it all. Mom and I agreed that we couldn't think of a more perfect birthday present.
This is the area I worked in. I had my choice of the four areas in the Small Animal Building (SAB). I figure I can work my way through each of them eventually. :)
This cute guy here is a cape hyrax. They are adorable and very cuddly looking. Unfortunately, I didn't get to cuddle them, I just washed their windows and scrapped up their poop.
This cute little guy here is an African striped weasel. Did you know that in the wild, weasels will always eat the head of their prey off first to guarantee they get enough nutrients? Apparently, they get their food stolen a lot. So I got to clean up decapitated mice from this particular home.
Here are some Agouti. Again, very cute and cuddly. Again, a couple of jelly-bean factory workers (meaning, there was a lot of poop) It's a MASH reference for those of you who don't know.
Here is a Degu. Isn't he adorable? They are pretty much big mice. They even had their own spinning wheel in their cage.
Here is Hank the meerkat. He was in a different exhibit from the rest of his family because they just had babies. I have to say that this was one of the absolute highlights of my day. I got to play with a couple of baby meerkats. They are SO CUTE!!! They are like little mice and kept trying to run up my arms. Oh my goodness, I have never wanted to steal something from a zoo so bad in my life...except when I see polar bear babies.
This is Captain Jack the porcupine. He lives with some monekys and spends most of his time up on this ledge sleeping. He did wake up long enough to be fed. That was my job. I got him to eat out of my hand. So cute!
Here are the monkeys that live with Captain Jack. They are called Wied's Marmosets. This is one of the cages that I cleaned while the animals were still inside. Basically they just ran from me screaming (seriously). They were still cute though. Oh, and the Zookeeper I was shadowing did warn me that if I felt something wet, not to look up because if I got pee in my eyes, it would be a pretty big problem. Thankfully, I didn't get peed on.
This adorable little things are called Patgonian Cavys. They look like they would be related to a kangaroo, but they are still members of the mouse family (the tech name just left me.) Anyway, they are pretty shy, but still were friendly. They live with birds, so I was mainly scrubbing bird poop off their home. I did get to feed them though.
This cutie is a Prevost's squirrel. He has the cutest fluffy tale!
Here is Hogle Zoo's wallaby, taking a nap. He was awake when we went in to see him. He's really shy, so I had to stay in a crouching position for what seemed like forever, but he eventually came and took some yam from me. SO CUTE. He lives with the tortoise and some swans.
Here's the tortoise. Now I knew that small tortoises like to have their necks scratched from the time I have spent with the Hanni's tortoises. In fact, they stretch their necks out and make an adorable purring sound. Well, apparently that is true for all tortoises no matter how big. This guy stretched his neck out until it was as long as my leg. He was SO CUTE!!! I know, I know, I keep saying that, but it is true!
Part of my experience was an "animal encounter". I could choose between penguins and giraffes. Well, nothing personal giraffes, but penguins are way cooler. So I got to hand out with a penguin and get my picture taken.
This guy was friendly and cute. 
I also got to help clean the penguins. While I was waiting for the keeper to get their food ready, she had me hang out with one of their younger penguins. They were trying to get him comfortable enough with people to be an animal ambassador. Well, hopefully he has improved, because when I tried to pet him, he tried to bite me. So we spent out ten minutes together with me petting and him chewing on my boots. He was still adorable.
Here's my t-shirt that shows I was a zookeeper for a day.
This was absolutely the best birthday present I have ever gotten (and I have really gotten some cool stuff). I plan on this being the best experience of my life until I make it on a polar bear excursion (who's up for that for my 30th) Thank you Mom and Dad for spoiling me. And for everyone who told me that I wouldn't want to be a zookeeper...you're wrong. Still do.Okay, now I'm just cranky. I typed this entire post yesterday (and it wasn't easy trying to get all the animals' names right and the stupid blogger site was down and I lost the entire thing. It is only my deepest love for my sister who has asked for this repeatedly (and Mom telling me to do it) that I am typing it all over again. So you had better enjoy.
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