CMZ week 3

This week I have been doing a lot of the same procedures I was already introduced to. I think this is because with repetition comes confidence, and the keepers always will tell me that I should be more confident in my abilities and trust myself that I have the knowledge to know what to do and how to do it. So now they trust me to give me the keys to the reptile cages and feed them by myself. It took me a while the first time I fed out the food dishes only because some of the locks are hard to open. I also cleaned the barn three days in a row, and it still takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes, which I know I need to improve on.

Some new things I was introduced to this week was preparing out diets for the emu, Damien, and I was given a short talk on his enrichment schedule and all of the different items he can get. I was introduced to medical sheets, and unfortunately one of the goats needed to put one of the sheets to good use. She unexpectedly started limping badly one day, but she seems to be improving now. Another thing I was introduced to this week was snake handling. The keepers showed me into the downstairs reptile room and had me observe as they each picked up one of the non-venomous snakes and put it into a box on a scale to be weighed. The snakes are weighed before they eat, which can be either adult or young mice, depending on the individual.

As I prepare for my keeper talk at the end, I have been observing these talks more and learning about different styles of public speaking. Each of the three keepers has her own style of performing the gator talk, and they have been telling me to find my own that I feel comfortable with. Looks like I’ll have to get rid of this stage fright sooner or later.


-Tierni