A Day in the Life 2 (not as cool as the Transporter 2)

The request was made for me to prepare a similar "A Day in the Life" post, so here it is. Please note that I am limited as to what I can take/post pictures of while at work. I can only show you things a normal guest can see.

All right, my day starts off with me waking up. My bed is obviously not as awesome as Dan's (who's is?)

This is what I look like when I wake up (I put on a shirt and some pants since this is generally a family-friendly blog).

This is what I look like after I get ready.

I go out to my car. I wouldn't have included this, but we have been having a cold spell in Florida. Notice the frost on the top of my car!

I drive about 15 minutes to work where I enter "backstage" to the park. I get to go through these high security gates that were put in after 9-11.

My coworkers and I meet in our office and then head out to conquer the day. We work with the animals located around the Tree of Life, so we are in the park, faced with guests all day long. There are usually 4-6 people working and we each are responsible for different groups of animals. This week I am working with the lemurs (3, two collared lemurs and one ring-tiled lemur), cotton-top tamarins (3), white storks (2), and abdim storks (2).

Me carrying some animal diets, with the Tree of Life

The day starts by checking on all my animals to see that they are all still alive, ok, etc.

I go out into the tamarin exhibit to collect fecal samples from them, feed them, give them new water, and check to make sure their nest box is at an appropriate temperature/still working. They are fed four times throughout the day.

Next I tend to the lemurs. They are usually locked into the lemur building at night so that we know they are safe and secure. If they are locked inside, I will go out into their exhibit and collect the prior day's enrichment, put out new enrichment, food, and clean up any poop the wild ducks didn't eat (yes you read that correctly; we affectionately call them Hoover, Bissell, Dyson, Oryk, etc). I will also collect anything guests may have dropped into the moat that surrounds the lemur exhibit. The most common things I find are coins, chewed gum, and batteries.

Lemur holding

Ring-tailed lemur on exhibit

When the outdoor lemur exhibit is clean and ready, I let the lemurs out and clean their indoor holding. This entails lots of hosing, scrubbing, and me spraying myself with the hose.

My team meets together again mid-morning to discuss how the day is going and to bring up any questions or issues of concern.

The animals are fed again and then we usually take lunch.

After lunch we feed the animals again and prepare for the animals to come in for the evening. For the lemurs, this involves preparing their evening meal, putting fun things to play with in their night holding, and getting bedding and water set out for them.

When it is time for the animals to come it, usually about an hour before sundown, I set the lemur's food around their indoor holding and let them in. Usually they are hungry so the come in right away, but sometimes this takes awhile or they don't come in at all.

At the end of the day I feed the storks. They eat a variety of meats: fish, ground horse-meat, and baby mice. This can be a daunting task due to the wildlife. There are only 4 storks being fed, but on any day anywhere from 20-40 wild birds will show up wanting to be fed. Lately we have been feeding at different times during the day to prevent this, but it doesn't always fix the situation. Why don't we do something about the wild birds you ask? Well for one thing it is against federal law to touch them, so we have to make due with better aim while throwing the food.

One white stork, 5 wild birds (Ibis)

After my animals are secure for the night, I head toward my team's main animal holding area to see if anybody needs help with their animals or anything else. Then it is time to leave.

Tree of Life main holding

When I get home I take a shower, check e-mail, and cook some dinner. Usually dinner will be pizza, hot dogs, or soup.

In this picture you can see LA208 on a computer, on a computer, on your computer!

I prepare my lunch for the next day in the evening so I can hit the snooze button an extra time the next morning.

My day usually ends with me watching TV, watching a movie, or reading a book. I go to sleepby 10, so I can start it all again the next day.!

Sunday I start working with axis deer, kangaroos, lappet-faced vultures, and Galapagos tortoises!

In other news, in the next 9 days I should be going to 6 different Less Than Jake shows! They are playing smaller venues and a different album, all the way through, each night. I am really excited.