Mammal Room

This week's featured room is the mammal room as Zoe the Guinea Pig is the animal of the week. As you can imagine it only contains mammals oh and one flock of birds.

 

"Mammal Room - Home to lots of fluffies"

 

 

The mammal room houses all the cute and fluffy animals which I am particularly fond of. Yes it is my favourite of the three rooms. The mammal room is home to the following:

 

Five Rabbits plus Two: Benjy, Squeek, Snowball, Batch and Willow Jnr - plus the two staff room buns Peanut and Willow Snr.

Four Guinea Pigs: Zoe (Animal of the Week), Pimms, Boris and Teddy

Two Ferrets: Vinnie and Billie

Seven Chinchillas: Ash, Angelica, Frankie, Ellis, Tufty all in one enclosure and Max and Alfie in the other one.

One African Pygmy Hedgehog: Albert (see  Animal of the Week label)

One Ground Squirrel: Bill (see Animal of the week label) 

Two Russian Dwarf Hamsters: Starky and Hutch.

Two Syrian Hamsters: Trixie and Dino (not sure that I have this right)

Two Degus: Brothers with no names.

Three female rats and four male rats - no names.

Two gerbils I think but this does change.

Several mice but again this changes quite a bit.

Two Sugar Gliders - no names but very grumpy :)

Six or Seven Quails who are loud and a bit mad.  

"Another cuddle"

As it is OAP month this post would not feel right without another appearance from the "Matriach of the Mammal room" Peanut. Whilst she is not the oldest mammal we have she is the one that has been with us the longest. As mentioned in previous posts Peanut was born in May 2006 so is now over 8 years old. I have lots of memories of Peanut, quite the character. Always nuts about Peanut - x.   




Animal Of The Week - "Zoe The Guinea Pig"

Today see's the start of OAP fortnight. Most of the features will involve all of our older animals that we have at "MKC".


This week I thought it would be good to showcase Zoe the Guinea Pig as I have not featured a Guinea Pig yet and Zoe is quite remarkable.


Zoe was born amazingly back in July 2007. Anyone who knows anything about piggies will know that the average life span is around 5-6 years. Zoe is a month away from her 7th birthday which is quite something. Zoe has recently suffered some ill health but this is down to her age.


Over the years Zoe has seen many changes including the move from Horsted to Gillingham. She has outlived her own daughter Sparkette who died a couple of years ago. Zoe had a tumour removed a few years ago and developed dry skin on her back which all students notice when they do health checks on her.    

"Is this woman in every photo?!" 

Zoe is an albino which means she  lacks any colour pigmentation causing white fur and pink eyes. Zoe currently lives with another female Guinea Pig called "Pimms" and they have been together since the Autumn of 2012. Zoe previously lived with her daughter Sparkette and two other females called Badger and Amber who all sadly died during 2012. Zoe is popular with the students and is very friendly and cuddly as you can see from the photo.

"How many of these are you taking?"

Exotic Room Memories - Dougie the Milk Snake

Continuing the theme from yesterday another reptile that we lost in the last year was Dougie the Milk Snake - who may well have been a female. There are around 24 species of  Milk snakes but they are all quite small usually measuring around 20 to 60 inches - milk snakes are a species of King snake and are not venomous.

Dougie was a Red Milk Snake, with colours of red, black and white/pale yellow. One of the problems with Dougie is that he never really grew well and did not always feed properly. Milk snakes feed on insects and small rodents like mice. Dougie used to eat pinkies (day old mice) around once a week.

Around the end of last year Dougie caught an infection and would not eat properly. Trinity vets did all they could to help him but he died earlier this year.

"No I don't like milk"

     

Exotics Room Memories - Mr C

As we are focussing on the Exotics room this week I was reminded yesterday about one of my favourite characters from that room.

His name was Mr Chameleon and yes you guessed right he was a Chameleon. To be precise he was a Yemen Chameleon and yes again they are from Yemen and Saudi Arabia. He was generally known as Mr C as it was quicker to say and he was very popular with staff and students. Mr C arrived in 2009 as a baby but once he was fully grown I handled him more and more and decided to bring him in to the class room to be handled. He became a firm favourite with the students and enjoyed just resting on people's arms and hands. He was very laid back. Last summer I knew he was getting old as he was becoming quite frail and had trouble staying on his branches. The last time I saw him he put his paw up to the glass and I put my hand to the other side. A couple of weeks later when I came back after the summer I was told he had died. He was at the top end of his age around 5 years old and he had a good life. He is the one I miss most from the Exotics room. We now have a new Chameleon with the original name of Mrs C - she is very small at the moment but I hope she too will become a firm favourite.    


"Calm a Chameleon"

Exotics Room

For the next three weeks I will feature one of our rooms to tie in with the animal of the week.

As Hovis is the animal of the week, this week's feature will be the "Exotics Room".

"Home to Reptiles and Creepy Crawlies"

An exotic species is anything that is not native to the UK, however our exotic room is home to reptiles, spiders and insects. We do have a few exotic species in the mammal and Aquatic rooms as well.

The exotic room has a whole variety of species including:

• Six Snakes  - Ava, Allsorts, Chas, Ronnie and the two Royal Pythons.
• Tarantulas - Cutie, Sabbath, Aurora among others.
• Seven Tortoises - Trinity, Achilles, Morla, two Spur-thighs and two hinge-back
• Geckos - We have a variety of Geckos including Leopard, Crested, Madagascan Day and Dwarf Sand Geckos.
• Two Bearded Dragons - Hovis and Stump.
• Two Plated Lizards - Gilbert and an unnamed very unsociable one.
• Two Collared Lizards.
• Two Chinese Water Dragons - Shui and Long.
• Scorpions including Emperor and Tailless Whipped.
• Blue Tongue Skink called Harri.
• One Chameleon  - Mrs Chameleon who replaced my favourite Mr Chameleon when he died.
• One Uromastyx - Sahara who was called Uri until we realised she was a girl - I love Sahara. 
• African Giant Snails.
• Millipedes.
• Hundreds of Cockroaches who breed like mad and are often used as food for the lizards. 

"Crested Gecko - Stunned by Blue nail varnish"

Animal Of The Week - "Hovis The Bearded Dragon"

Meet Hovis who arrived as what we thought was a female on 27/9/12 and was bought from Strictly Reptiles as a baby.

About a month ago Hovis became ill and appeared to have some form of prolapse. When she was taken to the vets it became apparent that she is actually a he and his hemipenis (paired reproductive organ in male Snakes and Lizards) had been affected and the prolapse had died. This now means that Hovis only has one penis left but has fully recovered and is doing well.

"Whoever thought I was a girl? - Do I look like one?"

We have two beardies at "MKC", Hovis and Stump and as we now know both male. When I first started we had a great Beardie called "Monty" and he had been with us over 10 years when he finally died. Lizards lifespan varies from species to species but Bearded Dragons usually live anywhere between 7 - 10 years and sometimes as much as 12 years. Shows how well Monty did. Hovis will be two in September so is still quite young and can be hormonal. When he is upset or stressed his beard turns a dark colour and there is a lot of head bobbing going on. I usually take this as a sign that he should be put back in the enclosure.

Bearded Dragons are native to Australia and therefore like hot and arid conditions. It is essential that they have the right accommodation that is set to the correct temperature. They are omnivores so eat both plant and insects, however they can go a day or so without food but should have access to water at all times. Cold blooded creatures have lower metabolisms so do not need to eat as much as warm blooded species.

"This is my macho look"

   

RIP - "Little Harvest Mouse"

The techs staff room has become an animal sanctuary in its own right over the last year. It started off with Peanut and is now home to several different species.

One resident who arrived middle of last year became a keen favourite and was very sweet. El's own little Harvest Mouse - I don't think it had a name but I will check. Sadly he died last week as Harvest Mice do not have long lives and thought to live around 2 years in captivity but as little as 3 months in the wild. There are lots of conservation projects in the UK to help increase the Harvest Mouse population and they have also become quite popular to keep as pets. They are shyer than other rodents like Rats and Mice, however they do have a curious nature.

They are tiny and usually weight somewhere between 4-9 grams. However they like to climb o twigs and branches so a minimum height of 15 inches is recommended.  

"Is this a good camouflage?"

Animal of the Week - "Ava look at the size of this Snake"

Quite a lot has happened over the last couple of days in animal care so I intend to do a big update once I have sorted out the photos. I just want to say thank you to Natalie P who sent me a lovely email about the blog, it is good to hear that people enjoy it. If anyone would like to leave a comment you can create a google-mail or equivalent account and then you can register as a follower and post comments - it would be great to see some.

So I thought today I would post the animal of the week and give all the updates on Monday.

Ava is our largest resident weighing in at over 4.5 kg and is the length of 7.5 foot - which is quite funny when I am only 5 foot:). Female Boa's have been known to grow over 10 feet long and males up to 12 feet.  

Ava is a Boa Constrictor snake and came to us in 2008 at around one year of age, this species can live for around to 20-30 years so Ava is probably in her teenage years, which you can sometimes tell from the way she behaves :).

"Who's holding who?"

At least Ava looks good in the photo - shame about me! You can see that she is quite hard for a small person to handle so when I arrange for students to hold her I often suggest that a couple of students at a time have a go. Only really confident students should attempt holding her on their own and never attempt to put a snake around your neck. Snake's are pretty much pure muscle and it does not take long for them to constrict.

Constrictors use their muscle to squeeze their prey and suffocate them, so imagine how that could happen to you! Ava feeds usually on Guinea Pigs :( and her feeding tends to be erratic as she goes through stages of not wanting to eat and then wanting to eat quite a lot. Feeding usually takes place once a month and sometimes a little more. Thankfully due to welfare reasons we are not allowed to feed live prey so Ava only feeds on dead prey.

You should never handle a snake for at least 4 days after they have fed and should wait until they have been to the toilet. Snakes can get very stressed after feeding and it is easy for them to regurgitate their food. You should also look out for signs of glazed eyes before attempting to handle as this is a sign they are about to shed their skin.  

   

    

Animal Of The Week - "Albert the African Pygmy Hedgehog"

There has been a change of plan this week - I had hoped to showcase our largest animal, however I forgot to get the information today - so she can be next week. This week we are back to the mammal room with another more unusual animal.

Albert is our resident hedgehog and has been with us for around three years. Although known as the "African Pygmy" they were actually specially bred in captivity to keep as pets and are a hybrid of the Wild Hedgehog.

Albert is nocturnal so sleeps for most of the day, however I quite often get him out so he can have a wander around. He lives in a large cage and has an exercise wheel. Hedgehogs need plenty of exercise and wild ones are known to walk as much as 5 miles a night especially during mating season.  Albert is white but is not an albino (no colour pigmentation). He is much smaller than a standard hedgehog but can move quite quickly. Hedgehogs are also good climbers and if they fall will roll up in to a ball and cushion the fall.  


"I'm prickly and tickly!" 

You will see that gloves are being worn. Students are encouraged to identify and wear correct Personal Protective Equipment when handling an animal. This helps keep both the animal and the student safe during handling and cleaning animals out.

"Don't mess with me! - I eat worms n' stuff"

Just found this link on the BBC website about pet hedgehogs - how funny.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27675727