Winterfest 2014

On By Wildlife Education by BernieIn ExhibitionsLeave a comment

Once again Grafton Lakes State Park asked me to provide an exhibit for them at their winter festival on January 25, 2014 among other wildlife educators and organizations. It was an honor and pleasure. Liz Wagner, Park Naturalist had a last-minute design change for my exhibit and it turned out to be perfect. My hides and furs were on the front table while Muffin Chinchilla and ferrets Willy Weasel and Pansy were set on the table behind. Shortly after arriving and putting the animals in their exhibit cages, Muffin escaped by squeezing through the back bars. I had to use packing tape to keep her from wiggling through but it only made her try to escape out the front (see photo). I am amazed that she squeezed her body through those couple inches!

Many children and adults had never seen an albino chinchilla. Muffin was a big hit with her soft touchable fur. At one moment she got a bit overheated with one ear turning dark pink but she cooled off and returned to normal. Muffin has been an educational animal ambassador for nearly six years touching the lives of hundreds of children. She was purchased at an exotic animal auction early 2008. Her age is unknown and she has had health issues for the past 3 years. Last year her heart murmur had become worse and she was put on heart medication to accompany her pain medication for sore gums. Recently, she once again stopped drinking water and eating regular pellet food. We have her back on a herbivore mush. It seems like a cycle. She’s active and her weight is healthy, so we are not worrying too much. Willy Weasel was another hit as he’s a year and a half old but weighs 3 pounds! Yes, Willy is overweight and tends to “hoover” the food while Pansy is underweight and a picky eater. I guess I’ll be walking the weasel come Spring!

I must admit that the highlight of the festival for me was getting up close to a Harris Hawk. They are not found locally and I was just mesmerized by this beautiful creature. She is two years old.

Here are just a few photos.

It’s a Girl!

On By Wildlife Education by BernieIn ParrotLeave a comment

Barnyard, also known as Burt is now known as Burta! Yes, she has shown her sex. We found an egg in her cage on November 29. She had been screaming and carrying on for days. I didn’t know what was going on with her. The egg was cracked so I removed it. Two days later she laid another egg which was absolutely beautiful. Once again, I removed it. Did some reading only to find that I should have left the eggs with her but hard-boil them a bit. Then she would sit on them until she figured nothing would happen. I placed Burta on a 12 hour schedule of day and night to de-stress. So things were going pretty well. Her behavior was better and she was getting the correct amount of sleep. Then, this morning she laid an egg in her nesting box. The box is not in her cage but in the living room where she can play in and out of it. The last couple days she had been inside shredding blocks of wood and would come out for company, food or to play with her toys. I never thought she would go about laying more eggs. I did, however, pick up two wooden eggs which are close to the size of a parrot’s and placed them in the box this morning after removing the real egg. She’s been sitting on them for most of the day. I’m hoping this will deter her from laying a second egg in a few days. Fingers crossed.