EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment You may have noticed on your last visit to the Museum, that our farmyard rabbit Nimbus has recently made a move out of her hutch and into the space where our chickens lived. When we decided to retire our 2 older Dominique chickens (they moved to a great home in Tobaccoville where Keeper Larry’s friend is taking care of them), we figured that yard and stall would be a great place to houseRead more
Posts filed in: Enrichment & Training
Creature Feature: Squealer the pot-bellied pig
Yes, his name is Squealer, but the keepers just call him Pig! You can probably guess how he got his name, though. Pot-bellied pigs often times react by squealing when they are petted or touched. This is one reason why you might want to think twice about having a pot-bellied pig as a pet, because you will not be successful at cuddling with it like you would a dog or cat! Pig was born in April of 2000, and wasRead more
EnrichBits: Choice
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichmentThis picture is from my home bathroom. I have, at any given moment, at least 4 brands/flavors of toothpaste in my bathroom drawer. Sometimes I feel like regular Crest, sometimes Tom’s of Maine Mint. Sometimes it’s the baking soda one, sometimes the cinnamon flavor. This stupid, simple little thing — staring at the tubes and choosing which I want –makes me happy. So, what on earth do my weird toothpaste habits have to doRead more
Taking the bad with the good
Everyone is different when it comes to choosing a career that best fits their interests and desires. A good place to start when it comes to deciding if a job is right for you is to look at what the job really entails. If you are thinking about being an animal keeper, the first thing you should know is that your days would not consist of just playing with animals. In fact, if you would rather not clean, get dirty,Read more
Catching some rays
I did a post a few months ago about an outdoor playpen that we were working on for our education animals that live inside. We wanted this enclosure to be suitable for many different animals to use, and with some work we made that possible. Now this outdoor area can hold opossums, chinchillas, ferrets, rabbits, chickens, turtles, bearded dragons and alligators (not all together, of course!) We are pretty excited about having this new enrichment possibility for our animals, asRead more
EnrichBits: It’s hot!
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment As you probably already know by now if you are a regular reader, enrichment is all about giving our captive animals the opporunities to exhibit their natural behaviors. Well, on a 95 degree afternoon, the natural behavior for a lot of our outdoor animals is to find a cool shady spot and sleep. These are afternoons where there is no interest in new scents, none of the animals seem to want to exploreRead more