Day 4: A Special Surprise

The day started off with the usual cleaning of the exhibit glass and foot baths in the hellbender area. After feeding the fish, I was shown where the frozen fish are kept (as well as the frozen mice and rats. As well as mice that were still living..). I had a new experience this morning by learning how to clean an off exhibit enclosure. I got to go in a cage with three larger lizards to take away their salad bowls from the day before. There were also a lot of turtles in the room, so I was happy :) I gathered the salad bowls from the turtle enclosures and even had to move a turtle out of its water so we could change the bowl of water. There were a few different types of turtles in there, including some baby alligator snapping turtles! I then went back to hellbenders and tested the pH and TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of water samples.

I then got to help clean the giant tortoise exhibit again! I think the turtles know how to get attention because they will lay right on the hose and will not stand up unless you rub their neck. So there was a lot of neck rubbing to get them off the hose and just to give them some attention. It's funny how giant tortoises are almost like a dog when you rub their neck: they'll stand up and stretch their neck all the way out in a "that's the spot" type of way. Tortoises also have cute personalities, the other zookeeper I was working with was hosing down the floor leaning down and one of the largest tortoises came over and put his face right by his, almost to say hi. The keeper do not know exactly, but the largest tortoises in the exhibit are probably around 120 years old! They came over as adults in the 1930s and are still at the zoo! After that we went outside to the alligator snapping turtle enclosures. (These enclosures were some of the original exhibits when the zoo first opened). Since I had boots on I went in the water to clean away leaves from the water grate. There were some kids watching and asking questions as we went in, so the other zookeeper brought over one of the turtles to show the kids and talk to them about it. Right as we were leaving the enclosure it started  raining really hard so we both got a little wet. I started dishes but was not able to finish before lunch.

For lunch we went to Lakeside Cafe and I got to officially eat in the employee only section! After lunch us hellbender keepers went to the sea lion arena thinking that we were going to get a behind the scenes tour. One of the externs last day was today so in celebration of her new job/time here, we were all surprised by getting a personal interaction session with my favorite sea lion, Benny! I met Benny before when I did the Sea Lion Trainer For a Day program in high school. It was a cool full-cirlce moment. The first time I met Benny, I was pretending to be a zookeeper and now I'm back in the official khakis as an intern at the zoo! We all got turns to interact with Benny. I gave him the command to open his mouth and he added to that some sea lion groaning/barking noise. I then did the same picture pose I got to do before where you stand close to him and then he puts his head on yours. Benny was being very cute and it was fun seeing him interact with the keeper.

After the fun surprise, it was back to dishes. This afternoon three adult hellbenders that were on display were loaded up to be taken to another zoo. Afterwards I spent a long time working on cleaning out old food and feeding black worms and mysis (a small crustacean) to a system of hellbender tanks. For the last few minutes of the day I helped to label some tanks.

The day went quite well and was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I pulled a 'stupid intern' at the end of the day. In order to get a house key for the day you have to turn in your car keys as collateral. I turned in the house key, recorded my hours, walked out the locked door....and then realized I never had my car keys.... So like a dog with its tail between its legs, I had to call one of the zookeepers so they could come back and let me in the building so I could get my keys and come home.. Oops! Well, needless to say I won't ever forget my keys again!

 Benny!!!

:D