Our interns’ owl enrichment project seems to be a success. We (they) haven’t watched all the footage yet, but we got some video of the barred owl engaging with the nesting box that Dakota and Lauren worked on. Another one of our favorite enrichment items is an old car wash brush. We had hoped to order another one this year, however, we’re just going to have to make due with what we have. Yona seems to claim the brush asRead more
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Flashback Friday- Reptile Enrichment
I try to take a little time on Fridays and reflect. Sometimes it’s about the past week and other times I go further back. I came across these two videos looking through old emails. The moss for the snake, and tomato for the turtle were given to the animals, then the following was captured:Read more
Keepers building enrichment!
When we aren’t busy shoveling stalls, scooping poop or making diets we occasionally get time to work on a special project or make new enrichment items. Last month, Janine, Katie and I got to build a hammock bed for our bears. It involved some wood as the frame, fire hose and lots of washers and screws. At Janine’s past job she made plenty of these types of beds so she was showing Katie and I the ropes. Not only isRead more
Superworms need enrichment too!
One night I was closing Carolina Wildlife and I was checking on all the animals. I started to walk past the superworms when I saw that they had a structure in their container. Our crickets, superworms and mealworms all get a regular diet just like our other animals do. But, if we have food scrapes that none of the other animals would want, then we give it to the feeder animals (which are animals that end up being a mealRead more
Lemur Enrichment
I’m always looking for new and novel enrichment to give out to the animals which can sometimes be a challenge. One day I was looking for a sensory enrichment for the lemurs and I was tired of using scents or spices. I remembered that we had leftover streamers from Cynthia’s birthday celebration. I decided to wrap some of their perching in it and hang some off the perching. Below are a few pictures of what it looked like! The nextRead more
Having fun with Bear Enrichment
Enriching the lives of our animals is a daily task for us keepers. When I have the time, I like to be a little more creative with my enrichment ideas. The other day I decided to put a table and four chairs into the bear side yard. I carefully picked out the tallest chair for Gus and the shortest chair for Yona. Mimi and Virginia received similar sized chairs. To entice them to actually check out my creation, I wroteRead more