A Normal Day in Teen TRIBE

You may wonder, what is a normal day like as a Teen TRIBE member? Truth is, there is no such thing as a “normal day”.

Everyday starts with roll call, but then it is off to start working. As an animal handler, I have a lot of differ

ent options to choose from each day. I go through our list of available animals on the computer, and choose what animal I would like to take out. Depending on who comes to work, usually you have a partner to work with as well.

In the morning while it is still cooler, we like to take out one of furry friends, such as guinea pigs or rabbits. Today, I had a bin of guinea pigs while Grace and Emily had out a Kenyan Sand Boa.

Everytime we take an animal out, we have to check the heat index, or the “feels like” temperature. There are limits on how hot it can be before an animal cannot be handled. Today it got hot really fast! It was already in the upper 80′s before lunch time. That meant for the rest of the day we had to take the animals to the Children’s Zoo Gift Shop where there was air conditioning. After taking out Pearl, an Angolan Python, Grace and I wondered what we should do while Emily was on lunch break. Turns out, we ended up getting our training on Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, talk about some big bugs! They don’t get their names for nothing– these cockroaches exhale air through their breathing holes and produce a cat or snake-like hiss!

Following my lunch, I had to go find Emily who was walking Blakely! Blakely is the adorable Australian Shepard mix puppy who will eventually be part of Blakely’s Barnyard Bonanza show. He loves to walk around and meet the zoo visitors. Emily and I also got to play frisbee and fetch with Blakely, which was a lot of fun. Later, once we wore Blakely out, we made one last trip to the Children’s Zoo Gift Shop with Disco, a Ball Python.

Finally, we finished our day helping out in other part of the Children’s Zoo.  No day is ever the same, and it makes everyday I work one I look forward too.

Rich Text Area Toolbar Bold (Ctrl / Alt + Shift + B) Italic (Ctrl / Alt + Shift + I) Strikethrough (Alt + Shift + D) Unordered list (Alt + Shift + U) Ordered list (Alt + Shift + O) Blockquote (Alt + Shift + Q) Align Left (Alt + Shift + L) Align Center (Alt + Shift + C) Align Right (Alt + Shift + R) Insert/edit link (Alt + Shift + A) Unlink (Alt + Shift + S) Insert More Tag (Alt + Shift + T) Toggle spellchecker (Alt + Shift + N) ▼ Toggle fullscreen mode (Alt + Shift + G) Show/Hide Kitchen Sink (Alt + Shift + Z) Insert Poll Insert Subscribe2 Token Format Paragraph ▼ Underline Align Full (Alt + Shift + J) Select text color ▼ Paste as Plain Text Paste from Word Remove formatting Insert custom character Outdent Indent Undo (Ctrl + Z) Redo (Ctrl + Y) Help (Alt + Shift + H) You may wonder, what is a normal day like as a Teen TRIBE member? Truth is, there is no such thing as a “normal day”. Everyday starts with roll call, but then it is off to start working. As an animal handler, I have a lot of different options to choose from each day. I go through our list of available animals on the computer, and choose what animal I would like to take out. Depending on who comes to work, usually you have a partner to work with as well. In the morning while it is still cooler, we like to take out one of furry friends, such as guinea pigs or rabbits. Today, I had a bin of guinea pigs while Grace and Emily had out a Kenyan Sand Boa. Everytime we take an animal out, we have to check the heat index, or the “feels like” temperature. There are limits on how hot it can be before an animal cannot be handled. Today it got hot really fast! It was already in the upper 80′s before lunch time. That meant for the rest of the day we had to take the animals to the Children’s Zoo Gift Shop where there was air conditioning. After taking out Pearl, an Angolan Python, Grace and I wondered what we should do while Emily was on lunch break. Turns out, we ended up getting our training on Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, talk about some big bugs! They don’t get their names for nothing– these cockroaches exhale air through their breathing holes and produce a cat or snake-like hiss! Following my lunch, I had to go find Emily who was walking Blakely! Blakely is the adorable Australian Shepard mix puppy who will eventually be part of Blakely’s Barnyard Bonanza show. He loves to walk around and meet the zoo visitors. Emily and I also got to play frisbee and fetch with Blakely, which was a lot of fun. Later, once we wore Blakely out, we made one last trip to the Children’s Zoo Gift Shop with Disco, a Ball Python. Finally, we finished our day helping out in other part of the Children’s Zoo.  No day is ever the same, and it makes everyday I work one I look forward too.   Path : p