So here ends
my fifth week here at CMZ. It’s hard to believe I have one full week left. A
lot has happened this week, namely lots and lots of practice for my final
keeper talk. I have been presenting in front of a live group of guests almost
every day in preparation for the official day, which is still yet to be
decided. Each and every single time I do this I realize I am slightly less
nervous than the time before, and though there is not much time left I hope
that will make some sort of difference.
Other than
that, this week the lot of us had to make do without mice, rats, or fuzzies for
the snakes and the alligators. We had to work around that, so we gave the
gators chicken and gator gel, and we fed pinkies to some of the snakes. It was
a difficult week for that because we were also afraid we would run out of
pinkies before a new supply of mice would show up. Luckily that didn’t happen.
One of the
keepers and I cleaned Wally’s tank this week for the first time. Wally is a
three-year-old runt alligator that is kept in the reptile house (called Scutes
Family Gallery) basement. She lives in this large, hard plastic tub filled with
water and rocks, so the water had to be drained and refilled and the rocks
cleaned and put back in…not while Wally is in there, of course.
I watched our
Rio Grande turkey named Laredo get his medicine for the first time this week,
in addition to working on chicken identifications. There sure are a whole bunch
of them.
It seems to me like the joeys have already
doubled in size since I have started working here. I suppose that is to be
expected. Babies grow up so fast, and I have definitely become attached to
them. I know I will really miss them.
-Tierni
