Day 5: Busy, Busy, Busy

This morning I went to hellbenders and was about to wash the first foot bath but was then told that I would be in the Herpetarium house today!!! Today was a salad day so I learned how to make salads for the whole house. It might sound easy but there are different types of salad for different types of animals, different sizes of bowls, and lots of animals!!! Salads took all morning... It normally takes a while because of the specifics but we also had 5th-8th graders touring behind the scenes. Since there were constant groups of tours heading into the kitchen work had to be halted for a little bit.

Common Misunderstanding: That the dangerous snakes are poisonous. They are venomous!!! Venom is injected (as in snakes and spiders). Poison is secreted (like in the Poison Dart Frogs).

On top of the field trip tours, there was a tour for the giant tortoises. We had the state herpetologist in as well as a person who is an expert on snake bites. He works closely with the zoo but is also called from all over the country when doctors need advice on how to treat a patient who was bitten by a venomous snake. He was getting shown around the building while an electrician was also there working on things. So there was a lot of commotion.

I did get to watch salad get delivered to some turtles in the basement. There was a Fly River Turtle (aka Pig-Nosed Turtle) as well as two other types of turtles. The Fly River Turtle (which is normally adorable) was even more adorable catching a piece of food and then using its flippers to brush away the food from its mouth that it was not currently chewing.

Everyone in the herpetarium ate together today along with the state herpetologist, the snake bite expert, and our curator. We played the game of how many zookeepers can you fit around a table...for the record, we can fit quite a lot!

After lunch we went to listen to a talk by the snake bite expert about snake bites, treatment, and anti venom. It included many pictures of gross after effects, but it was quite interesting. I don't work with venomous animals as an intern, but I sure hope to never get bitten at some point in my life... After that presentation was over he gave a presentation about his work in Sri Lanka with snakes. That was really fascinating and it was fun to hear some of his stories. I was able to talk with him briefly this morning and found out that he also does work in Costa Rica. I wish I could have talked with him after the talk, but since it was already well into the afternoon and the animals still hadn't been fed, we had to go. Once back I had to quickly finish cutting all of the fruits and veggies for the giant tortoises. There was a lot so it took a little bit to get through. Once that was done, it was combined with a mixture of different greens and then it was feeding time! We did a quick cleaning of the giant tortoise exhibit and then started putting out salads. It was really cute seeing them head toward the salads and start eating. In a way it was slightly amusing because some of them were moving soooooo slow. I was cheering them on in my head a little bit. These tortoises are definitely slow, but not all tortoises are! (Another common misconception!) Gopher Tortoises are actually quite fast and will dart into their burrows when they see you coming.

Afterwards, we added fish to a tank with turtles (had some interaction with the public, which was fun). In the tank, the other zookeeper saw a penny. He then had to fish the penny out with a net without covering it with sand. A turtle could accidentally eat a penny which can cause serious health issues. So please, please, please do not throw money into the tanks at the herpetarium. Or any animal tank anywhere for that matter. Save the coins for a real wishing well.

We had just a little bit of time left to do dishes and the end of day cleaning. There were so many different activities going on today it was hard to get the work we needed to do done. Regardless, it was a fun day and I am really glad that I got to hear the talks.

To top off the business: It was Zoo Friends Night. So people who are zoo friends were able to come to the zoo at night (which was staying open later) to see exhibits. So instead of closing like normal we had to make sure everyone in the house was a zoo friend and was suppose to still be in the zoo. I was also asked a few questions by the public and got a little time to talk to people which was fun as well.