Day 39: Half Day

Sunday, July 28

I normally do not come in on a Sunday, but today I wanted to work a half day since I will not have many days left to intern with summer ending much sooner than I would like. I started the day with a quick misting of the galliwasps, then fed them along with the Mountain Chicken frogs and the Hispaniolan Giant Anole. I cleaned four snake enclosures as well as the Prehensile-Tailed Skink enclosure. I hadn't worked with this skink personally before, so that was fun. It was also interesting to take a little time to just look at the animal and see how amazing they are. After the morning break, I got set up outside to work more on the off exhibit cages that I had weeded earlier in the summer. In one of them I got to design from scratch a habitat for an Arakan Forest Turtle. These turtles are very good climbers, so I had to provide enough ground coverage/rocks/branches that would provide good exercise for the turtle. Once I was done, my design was approved by the zookeeper who gave me the task! It was really fun to build an exhibit again and I am definitely looking forward to seeing the turtle enjoying its new habitat! Today was a great day to come in because there is no salad to prepare or collect, so I was able to start working on other things right away!

Day 38: High Demand

Saturday, July 27

This morning I cleaned up the giant tortoise exhibit and the tortoise Othello came up to me to get some attention. I still think it is so cute that these huge tortoises recognize how to get attention and 'ask' for it. I picked up salads from the building and then started working in the cricket/rodent room. After break, I started working on dishes, but then the whole staff was called to help unload new caging units. We were all outside ready to help right away, but the truck was not there, so we had to wait a little bit for them to arrive. Back inside, I finished dishes and the cricket/rodent room.

After lunch, I cleaned black worms and then cleaned out McCord's Box Turtle and Spotted Turtle tanks. I then got to go inside the Madagascar Ground Boa exhibit to take out pieces of shed that were in there. I was in there with two snakes, but they did not seem to care that I was in there and were just watching what I was doing. Another example that snakes are not out to bite/attack humans for no reason. Cleaning the turtle tubs and the snake shed were tasks assigned by one zookeeper and while I was working on that another keeper asked me if I could help with other tasks. As the only intern today and having keepers off, my time was in high demand. I then worked on cleaning newspaper substrate in off-exhibit enclosures for various lizards and a turtle. By then, it was time for the afternoon break. Since I helped cleaning the lizard enclosures, the zookeeper that was giving me a 'tour' of the building yesterday was able to finish showing me different animals. I got to look at some really awesome animals including a New Caladonian Giant Gecko (that I was totally bonding with (also, this is the largest extant species of gecko in the world!)), a Haitian Dwarf Boa, a Crocodile Skink, a Garrido's Crested Anole, and a New Caladonian Roux's Gecko.

Garrido's Crested Anole

Crocodile Skink

Haitian Dwarf Boa

New Caladonian Giant Gecko

Day 37: Snakes Alive Tour

Friday, July 26

This morning I started working on preparing salads. I was the only house intern today, but I still managed to have most of the house fed before the morning break! I took a short break in order to get a few more salads done before I went on a Snakes Alive Tour. I knew the people who signed up for the tour, so I was able to go along with them. It was really fun to be on the tour with people I knew and I actually learned more about some animals that I take care of! The tour lasted almost an hour, so I only had time to prepare a few more salads before lunch. 

After lunch, I prepared the giant tortoise salad and fed them. I then fed the turtles in the atrium of our building as well as the Fly River Turtles. Once salads were distributed, I cleaned the salad buckets, did the dishes, cleaned the cricket tubs, and swept. After break, a zookeeper and I tried to determine the sex of some salamanders we have. Let's just say that was easier said than done. The zookeeper then gave me an animal tour of the building. He showed me different animals that we have and told me facts about them. I got to look closely at a Black-Breasted Leaf Turtle as well as a Chinese Crocodile Lizard. I really enjoyed getting to learn more about animals that I might not work with often, as well as see new areas of the building. While I have learned so much already during this internship, this mini tour made me realize how much I still do not know about herpetology. There are so many interesting animals and so much to learn about each one. I hope to one day acquire enough knowledge to be able to share facts about all different types of reptiles and amphibians as well. I then helped another zookeeper by weighing some Asian Box Turtles, Arakan Forest Turtles, and a Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle before the end of the day.

Asian Box Turtle

Chinese Crocodile Lizard

Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle

Black-Breasted Leaf Turtle

Day 36: Inspection Day

Thursday, July 25

This morning I cleaned up the giant tortoise exhibit and then started on last minute cleaning for inspections in the afternoon. I was just doing spot cleaning on areas that might not have been covered before. Later, I was called over to another area of the building because I had small enough arms to reach into a tank and take out a drain cover. After break, I put the drain back, then worked more on cleaning the building.

After lunch, the other interns and I went on the tour of River's Edge. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go behind the scenes, but the zookeeper told us some information about different animals that they have in that area. Once back, the other intern and I processed the cricket shipment. I then cleaned the McCord's Box Turtle tubs before the afternoon break. Afterwards, I misted the galliwasps, cleaned the Spotted Turtle tanks and then gathered trash for the end of the day.

Some pictures from the tour:

One of the younger elephants taking a swim

Day 35: My Own Exhibit

Saturday, July 20

I started my day off by cleaning the giant tortoise exhibit. I really enjoy cleaning their exhibit because of giving the tortoises some attention, but also because it gives me a chance to answer questions and share my knowledge of these animals with the public. It is like a small taste of what I hope to be doing in the future with conservation education! I helped collect the remaining salad bowls, cleaned the black worms, moved some more newspaper to other areas of the building, and changed water bowls before break. I then did dishes and was able to help take out old bamboo from the King Cobra exhibit.

After lunch, I was told that this exhibit would be my own to remodel with another zookeeper. I was really happy that they trusted me to help remodel an exhibit that the public will see. We first added two more bags of mulch to the exhibit, then wet down the walls to scrub them and squeegee the glass. The other keeper and I then went outside to cut down bamboo to use in the exhibit. For the exhibit we wanted to put bamboo stalks from the floor to ceiling. We started bringing the stalks in the place and would go out in the house to check how the exhibit looked. We went back out a few times to cut more bamboo for the exhibit. We used some plain stalks and some stalks with leaves to have enough coverage but not too much that the snake could not be seen. After we got all the bamboo we wanted to be floor to ceiling, we then added some bamboo on diagonals, as if it had fallen over. The key to putting plants in an exhibit is to make it look as natural as possible. After everything was in place, I then scattered dried bamboo leaves on the ground to finish. The other keeper and I then went out in the house to watch the King Cobra get placed back in her exhibit. It was fun watching the snake explore her new area (the visitors seemed to enjoy it too!). When I was out there, a visitor asked me a question and then asked if I was Rachel from the blog! I never thought that this blog would be read by many people, but I can see now that it is attracting viewers from all over the world. So thank you to everyone who is reading this, supporting me, and to those interested in reptiles, amphibians, and conservation! (As a result of having a larger reading audience than expected, I will soon be adding articles that feature an animal or conservation topic. So stay tuned for those as well!).  The exhibit looked really great and it felt awesome looking at something that I helped put together and something that I was able to put my creative side into. After a short break, I cleaned up from our exhibit remodeling and worked on sweeping and cleaning our solarium. Today was another day at the zoo that was exhausting, but I still left with a huge smile on my face and excitement from the days activities.

Before (after we took out the old bamboo)

After!

Day 34: Alligator Feeding Time

Friday, July 19

This morning the other intern and I worked on preparing and delivering salads. After the morning break, all of us keepers helped to move a large crate for an alligator outside. It was definitely a group effort to move the large box to its new storage place. After finishing up salads, I helped to clean up the kitchen and cleaned the black worms before lunch.

After finishing dishes, I worked on preparing a new off exhibit enclosure for a Fiji Banded Iguana. I first had to clean the exhibit and clean rocks to fill the base of the exhibit with. I then found some branches to place inside for climbing space. Once the exhibit was put together, I then helped another zookeeper hang lights above some new turtle tanks. After break, I got to watch the Komodo Dragon get fed. A few of us went out to cover the alligator crate with a tarp and then our manager asked me to grab the thawed rats from inside. When I came back outside with the rodents, he had me come with him to feed the alligators! We fed the American Alligator first since he got most of the rats. It was really fun to be able to throw him food and watch him attack/eat it. We then fed the Chinese Alligator pair. These alligators are very intelligent, when my manger called the male's name, he swam right over! I fed the male while he fed the female alligator. Since we were feeding, it did bring some visitors over to watch and ask questions. Back inside, our manager said he was going to quarantine to check on our animals there. I asked if I could go along since I had never been to quarantine and he said I could! I was glad that I was able to go to because the walk to quarantine allowed my manager and I to talk about my future career plans and how he got to be where he is in his career. Every animal that comes into the zoo must go through a quarantine process to make sure that they are healthy and not carrying any illness before being introduced to the current population of animals. Most animals undergo a 30 day quarantine  period if they are healthy, but our venomous snakes go through a three month quarantine. This longer quarantine period is due to the animals having different seasonal cycles and being more prone to illness. After checking on the snakes and changing their water, we headed back to the herpetarium right as it was time to head out for the day.

Fiji Banded Iguana

Day 33: Double Tortoise Neck Rub

This morning I started cleaning the giant tortoise exhibit. Once I had collected all the old salad, one of the smaller male tortoises came over to where Othello was, so I then had a tortoise at each hand for a neck rub (it was pretty cute). I also got to talk to a visitor for a little bit who was asking questions and telling me about an animal story he had heard about recently. I helped to pick up the remaining salad trays and then processed the cricket shipment/cleaned the cricket tubs. After the morning break, I cleaned the black worms, cleaned the Alligator Snapping Turtle tanks, and changed water bowls in the same room. Before lunch I also misted the galliwasp enclosures.

In the afternoon, the other intern and I worked on cleaning the outside of enclosures in the two bunkers in the house and swept. Inspections are coming up, so everything is getting a deep cleaning! After a short break, we then worked on moving bundles of newspapers from our storage room to the different areas of the building. That also took a long time! We got close to finishing, but eventually we had to stop for the day in order to pick up trash and help close the building.

A fun part of the day: I got to touch a Caiman Lizard! It was his turn for a photo shoot for a new information board, so one of the keepers had him out. They are really beautiful animals: red head and a green body with some blue shades in it. They have slight ridges on their back and it was pointed out by a zookeeper that they have small dots on their upper lip. These dots are sensory cells that help when the animal is digging to sense if there are things/food sources around them.

Amphibian and Reptile Musings

When I tell people that I am working in the herpetarium, there are mixed reactions. Some people are very excited, but a few people have shuddered and said something like "I'm glad there are people like you in the world". These reactions have me pondering why reptiles and amphibians are so disliked by people. Is it because they are so different than us? For example, cold blood, no hair, they lay eggs. While they may be so different, I find the differences remarkable. If you look closer at anything, I believe that similarities can be found. While it is easier to see the similarities when looking an orangutan in the face, it is an amazing feeling to look at an iguana and see it looking right into your eyes too.

Are amphibians disliked because they are thought to be slimy? While they might be moist and slippery, I would not consider them to be slimy. Are snakes disliked because they are an animal without legs? Or rather, are they dislike because they have been turned into evil villains through media and verbal stories? I do think that there needs to be a healthy amount of caution when handling a venomous snake, but not to the point of fear. Every wild animal needs to be treated with a healthy amount of caution, a chimpanzee could get frightened and be dangerous too.

Are reptiles disliked because they have scales and shed their skin? While shedding skin might be something used in horror movies, it is not a scary thing. Yes, the reptile might look different when it is in the shedding process, but they should shed in a short period of time. While we don't shed all at once, we too are constantly replacing our own skin cells.

I have found that turtles and tortoises can still be disliked. Is it because of their shell? Stories that are passed down through generations? There are still reports of people purposely swerving to hit a turtle that is crossing a road. Why? Not only that, turtles and tortoises are all generalized as slow. Another stereotype that is horribly wrong. Gopher Tortoises move fast to get into their burrows and sea turtles have to be fast to escape predators.

I think the main reason that amphibians and reptiles are disliked is because they are misunderstood. Unfortunately, it seems to be human nature to dislike things that we do not understand. Most of the misunderstanding could be solved by educating others about these animals. As I imagine my future, I have a big task ahead of me. I want to do pubic speaking tours about the importance of conservation of animals, especially turtles. Yet, it is hard to convince someone to care about and conserve an animal if they do not like or appreciate the animal to begin with. I think if people knew more about these animals, there would be a greater understanding and appreciation for their uniqueness. I understand that some people will never want to hold a snake, but if those people can at least appreciate the lives of those animals, then conservation efforts can take hold.

Honestly, I think that amphibians and reptiles are amazing creatures. There are frogs that can go dormant for the whole winter to emerge when the weather warms up. Male Hellbender salamanders are the ones to protect the eggs. Frogs and toads can make brilliant calls to attract mates. Giant tortoises can easily live for over 100 years. Snakes are animals that don't have to worry about legs to move (something pretty amazing in itself!). Lizards come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and (like snakes as well), they can smell with their tongue! There are so many amazing fun facts about amphibians and reptiles, I find it hard not to love these animals.



One last note: I met Charlie H. Hoessle yesterday. He is the man that our herpetarium is named for. He started as a pet shop owner, became a zookeeper in the herpetarium, became zoo director, and is now director emeritus. He said something that I full-heartedly believe: Do what you love, love what you do and you'll always be happy.

Day 32: Beak Trimmings

This morning I went to clean the giant tortoise exhibit and for the first time, Othello did not come over to say hi. He was sitting in the water and must have been enjoying it too much to come out. I helped gather salad bowls, cleaned the black worms, and did the dishes before break. Afterwards, I helped two other zookeepers start trimming tortoise beaks. In the wild, a tortoise will naturally grind down its beak by foraging and eating food. In captivity, good diets increase beak growth, but then they do need to be trimmed if they get too long. Figuring out the best way to go about trimming their beaks took a little time, but it still took three of us to hold the tortoise/trim the beak.

After lunch I cut flowers/leaves off of a brach that they were stapled to look nice, but the plants were drying out. Once I started soaking the plants, I returned to help with the tortoise beak trimming process. Once all the tortoises that needed a beak trimming were done, we trimmed the nails of three Arakan Forest Turtles. After break (since the yellow jackets were gone), one of the zookeepers and I organized the water tubs outside. We then moved one of the large water tubs from inside to stack on a tub outside. To wrap up the day, we cleaned the floors where the large tubs had been.

Hermann's Tortoise
(a tortoise that needed a beak trimming today)

Arakan Forest Turtle

Egyptian Tortoise
(another tortoise that needed a beak trimming)

Day 31: Yellow Jacket Surprise

Friday, July 12

This morning I started cutting produce and preparing the giant tortoise salad. I got to bring the food out to the giant tortoises which was quite fun. Usually there is a good amount of people looking at the giant tortoises, but when I am out there feeding even more people are crowded around the fence. When putting out the salads, I make a few different piles in the exhibit, but of course, most of the tortoises wanted to eat at the same pile. That led to a little bit of tortoise pushing in order to lay on the most salad. I finally learned that my tortoise friend that always wants a neck rub is named Othello! Today was no different, even with the salads being put out, Othello still wanted some attention. Back inside, I helped prepare more salads before and after the morning break. After all the salads were prepared, I cleaned out the salad bins and cleaned the black worms.

After lunch, I did the dishes and then was able to practice my snake hook skills by moving snakes to clean out their enclosures. Most of the snakes were very easy to work with, only one of them was a little more squirmy. I felt really accomplished when I moved a snake in and out of its enclosure without a problem! While I was working with the snakes another zookeeper was working with a Prehensile-tailed Skink (also known as a Solomon Islands Skink). These are really amazing animals! Their tail is fully prehensile, so as the zookeeper was holding it, the skink had its tail wrapped around the keeper's arm. What also makes these animal unique is that the baby is connected to the mother with a placenta during the gestation period. Normally a reptile produces an egg, leaving the baby with a source of nutrients through the yolk of the egg. They are also the largest extant species of skinks! I got to watch as the keeper brought the skink outside to be photographed for a new information board. As if the skink knew what was going on, it posed perfectly! Afterwards, the keeper and I went outside to organize large water tubs. When we turned one of the tubs over insects started coming out and flying all over. We both quickly moved away from the nest and waited for a insectarium keeper to come over. He said that they were yellow jackets and that we were lucky that neither of us got stung. So, needless to say, we did not do any more tub rearrangement. After break, we plugged the one remaining large water tub inside and I also did water changes on two larger Alligator Snapping Turtle tubs. While I was working on that, there was a call over the radio that one of the giant tortoises was eating a map. By the time I got outside, another keeper was already in the exhibit picking up the pieces of the zoo map. I hope this goes without saying, but please do not through anything into an animal exhibit. The animal might not realize that it should not be eating it, and if they do eat something unnatural, it could cause serious health issues. After finishing up the water changes, it was time to head home.

Prehensile-Tailed Skink

Day 30: Primate House Tour

Thursday, July 11

Today I cleaned the giant tortoise exhibit and was able to answer some questions for an older gentleman who stopped to chat about the tortoises. Afterwards, I helped pick up remaining salad trays and cleaned out cricket tubs before break. I cleaned the baby Alligator Snapping Turtle tanks, filled up water bowls, changed the paper towel substrate in three baby McCord's Box Turtle enclosures, and misted the galliwasps before lunch.

After lunch the others interns and I went on a behind the scenes tour of the primate house. The zoo has weekly tours for us interns to see and learn about other areas of the zoo. I have really been enjoying them! For today's tour we did not actually get to go behind the scenes, but the zoological manager that gave the tour stopped at each animal exhibit and told us about the animals inside. It was a really interesting tour that was also fun because some of the animals recognized the zookeeper and would either get excited or territorial. The zoo has some baby primates that were quite cute as well. One primate even had a stuffed animal monkey that it was playing with and grooming! Once back in the herpetarium, I sifted sand in some skink enclosures and was able to handle the Frilled Lizard again to clean her cage. After break I cleaned the galliwasp water bowls, swept the floor, and started to pick up trash bags. When I got to the rodent/insect room I found that we had completely forgotten the cricket shipment that came in during our tour. So the other intern and I made record time when we processed the shipment in about ten minutes. After that we helped close the building and then headed home.

Day 29: Another Hospital Visit

Saturday, July 6

This morning I had a nice surprise when one of the zookeepers brought in a whole stack of Turtle Survival Alliance yearly publications for me to borrow! I am definitely looking forward to reading them! I started off cleaning the giant tortoise exhibit and actually was able to give two of the smaller male tortoises some attention in addition to my regular tortoise friend. The visitors this morning were asking a lot of questions which was fun as well. Back inside, I helped pick up a few more salad trays, cleaned the black worms, and changed out water for some animals downstairs. After the morning break, I cleaned the baby Alligator Snapping Turtle tanks and then got to watch the Caiman Lizards get fed! They were given snails still in the shell. I definitely would not want to get bitten by one of these because they crush the shell of the snail with no struggle at all! It was really fun being able to watch them get fed and learn more about them in the process! I then worked on dishes until lunch.

After lunch I finished the dishes and then worked on a partial water change on two feeder fish tanks. While working in that room, I got to watch one of our Komodo Dragons get fed. The Komodo quickly ate its food and then was licking the bowl at the end. When I was finishing the fish tank water change, our manager phoned me over the intercom system and told me to meet him in the kitchen in five minutes. I finished what I was working on and once I got to the kitchen I was asked by my manager if I wanted to go with him to bring an anole to the hospital. Of course I wanted to go! The anole had some swelling in its legs so when we got to the hospital the vet got an x-ray. It was hard to tell, but there might have been a problem with one of the wrists, but the size x-rays did not come out clear enough to tell. My manager got the anole to lay on its back on a bag of rice and the anole just stayed there curled up just looking around after the x-ray, it was so cute! One of the vets was trying to get a picture of it all curled up. After a blood sample, some liquids, and an anti-inflamitory shot we were sent back with a medicine regimen and prescribed rest for the anole. It was fun to go and see a medical visit again! Once back in the house, I helped a zookeeper get some things together for a new enclosure and then went on break. After break I worked with the zookeeper on the turtle rearrangement project again. We did some PVC pipe rerouting, drained a large water tub, and moved a turtle into its new water tub before it was time to leave.

Caiman Lizard

Komodo Dragon

Day 28: Feeding Day

Friday, July 5

This morning I started cutting up produce, preparing and delivering salads. After break, the other intern and I finished preparing salads and then cleaned up before lunch. I then cleaned the black worms, did the dishes, and started thawing fish for feeding some Alligator Snapping Turtles later. This afternoon I got to gather crickets to feed the Giant Haitian Galliwasps, Mountain Chicken frog, and the Hispaniolan Giant Anole. It was fun feeding the animals and watching them eat! After break I fed smelt to five relatively small Alligator Snapping Turtles. I had never fed these turtles before so it was fun to be able to do something new and watch them come out of their hiding spots to eat. After all the feeding was done, I helped one of the zookeepers on the big rearrangement project from last week. I helped move two water/land tubs and filled them up with mulch and water on the respective sides. What was super exciting is that I got to pick up and move two Alligator Snapping Turtles into their new enclosures!

Now as I'm getting more opportunities in my internship, I am loving it even more. I want to go to work everyday and when I am not there, I feel like I am missing out. I know I am in the right place when I don't even want to get sick because that would mean not being at the zoo. Today was one of those reminders that it is important to do something you love and love what you do, whether that is with animals or anything else. If you love what you are doing, it doesn't feel like work!

Day 27: Animal Hospital

Thursday, July 4

This morning I went out to clean up the old salad in the giant tortoise exhibit. Every time I give the tortoises a little attention, there seems to be a comment from a visitor who is surprised by the fact that I am rubbing their neck. Afterwards, I helped pick up the remaining salad trays from the building and cleaned the cricket tubs. After break I cleaned black worms. While I was filling up a land/water tub for a turtle I found that there were about 12 eggs that had been laid in the water. The eggs should have been laid in the sand, but sometimes for water turtles the eggs can still grow if they are pulled out of the water in time (it is possible that some of the eggs could be infertile as well). One egg was deformed but the others were generally the correct oval shape. I changed out the water in some water bowls and then it was time for lunch.

Afterwards, I cleaned the baby Alligator Snapping Turtle tanks and finished changing water bowls in the same room. I started changing the water bowls for the Pancake Tortoises when the other intern found that one of the Utila Island Iguanas was not doing well. It appeared to be gasping for breath and was not moving much. Our zoological manager called the vet to let him know we had a sick animal that needed to be looked at right away. I asked if I could go along to the hospital and our manager said that I  could! Once we got to the animal hospital, the vet checked the iguana's throat to see if there was any obstruction. The vet said that there was nothing in the passageway so we ruled out the idea that maybe it was choking on something. The iguana did appear to have a distended abdomen, which the vet felt had eggs in it. While the vet was setting up the x-ray machine, the iguana stopped breathing. When a heart-rate machine was used, no heart beat was found. In a more solemn state than entering, my manager and I then left the hospital. We had barely gotten halfway back when we got a call from the vet to come back to the hospital, the iguana was actually still alive! (Evidently, there are many stories about reptiles who were pronounced dead that were found to be alive later!) The vet performed an ultrasound to make sure that there was no egg fluid in her body cavity. The iguana got a few shots and then x-rays were taken. The x-rays were really cool because you could see all the eggs that she was carrying! On the x-rays her lungs looked really clear, so we could definitely rule out any airway obstruction. The shots it had gotten earlier must have started working, because the iguana was taking good deep breaths again and was keeping its eyes open more. After taking a small blood sample for analysis and getting shots, we took the iguana back to the herpetarium. It was so exciting to be able to go to the hospital and observe the procedures! My manager was also proud of me that I took the initiative to ask if I could go and watch.

After break, the other intern and I worked on misting the galliwasps and changing their water bowls. While we were working, a drain overflowed, so we then had to take care of that before finishing. I cleaned some of our baby McCord's Box Turtle tanks and gathered trash from the building. Before leaving, I checked on our iguana and it was breathing well, had its eyes open, but still hadn't moved much. At least it was still alive!

Utila Island Iguana