Critter report: As the year draws to a close, the pace at Wildwoods slows, which we so welcome after this busy year. In the morning, I head to the basement and turn on the overhead light and the full spectrum light for the mourning doves, refresh their food and water, and give their aviary a quick clean. Then, Im off to turn on the garter snakes light and give him his every other day feeding of night crawlers, which I also dose with calcium. Hes lying partly in his food dish waiting for me, gazing out with expectation and hope. He gobbles down his worms as soon as they arrive, then looks at me hoping for more. If it were up to him, hed look like a kielbasa. Then, its off to care for the 2 big brown bats. First, I weigh each, and clean out their enclosures. The female weve had the longest is stable at 25g, and no longer needs to be hand-fed. She eats mealworms from her bowl when shes hungry, drinks when shes thirsty, and is happy to be left alone. The newest female (Larissa, in honor of Larry, who brought her in), has still been on hand-feedings. She gained 3g yesterday, and thats not surprising, given how shes eating. Shes now up to 21g, and not slowing down yet. Weve been working on teaching her to self-feed from a dish, but havent had any luck yet…until this morning. Finally, this morning, after days of working to teach her, she got it. I was elated, and immediately grabbed my phone to film her. In my head, the quotes and songs from My Fair Lady began--Shes got it! I think shes got it. By George, shes got it!. Her accomplishment will save us so much time! Hand-feeding a bat many, many mealworms a day, though fun in its own way, is a time-consuming chore. Then its outside to the sheds and outdoor enclosures to feed the 2 overwintering squirrels and the flock of soon-to-be-released pigeons. And then, lots of laundry to fold. And then, a note to all of you!
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:56:38 +0000
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