A while ago, I posted about Lightning getting a visit from the dentist. A few weeks ago our alpaca Retro had to get her teeth looked at too. Her teeth needed to be floated so Dr. Cannedy came and went to work.Read more
Posts filed in: Health/Vet
Toad Surgery
Last week, while checking on the animals at the end of the day, a keeper noticed something amiss with the toad: Dr. Lewbart happened to be visiting with some veterinary students- what perfect timing for us to have an expert on grounds for some sort of prolapse with this toad. We use a product called MS222 to put the toad to sleep. We put the toad and MS222 in water. Once the toad is ready, the work can begin. The stitches cameRead more
Bribe?
The type of training we do at the museum has a few different names. Depending on who you ask, they might call it Clicker Training, or Food Training, or Operant Conditioning, or Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT). All of those are correct labels for our reinforcement-based, contingency-focused style of behavior management for exotic and companion animals. I’m always happy to answer questions or talk about the training I do at all the institutions with which I work. And usually, people ask really interestingRead more
Henry the Great
Henry is our resident Woodchuck in Carolina Wildlife. Below are pictures of him getting some exercise time on the Keeper Hall. Keeper Katy found it a great opportunity to get him on the scale. We weigh our animals on schedules, some may be once a week, some may be once a month. In addition, anytime we have an opportunity to weigh an animal -we take it! Keeping a good record of animal weights is very important and can help decideRead more
Ring-Tailed Lemur training update
It’s been awhile since I’ve updated and we’ve seen a lot of progress. My last post was about Cassandra exploring the vet room. We allowed her to do this once more and it went about the same as the first time. I believe the second time, she took longer to come down, seemed like she was enjoying exploring too much. Before that I wrote about crate training, which has been my biggest goal with the ring-tailed lemurs. (now it’s ourRead more
QuikPic: a college memory
When I left home for college (more than 25 years ago) my parents (my mom) had towels made for me with my name on it- one blue and one yellow, each with a script “Sherry” embroidered on it. Old towels never die, they just get re-purposed. Read more