Update on Butterscotch (WITH PICS!!) and other random pics (DUW!)

Today was cleaning day for Butterscotch. It's been three weeks since she bit me ( http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=101115 ) and I hadn't handled her at all since then. The first week back, she was tracking me way close, and I was still feeling a bit nervy. Then last week, she was going into shed, and obviously feeling a bit cheeky. So cleaning was done with a "shield" and was not as thorough as I would have liked.

Today, I was hoping she had completed her shed...but such was not the case. She'd gone through her blue phase and cleared up nicely...but no shed. I went ahead and decided to see what I could do with her...and reached in to pick her up. She came out of her enclosure very nicely. :D I held her for a couple of minutes, then set her in her holding tub so I could give her enclosure a serious cleaning.

When I finished and opened the tub, I saw that she had split the skin and started to slough it off. So I left her in the tub, hoping she would finish before I put her back into her nice, pristine cage. In the meantime, I went and fed the bears (FUN!) and fed the mccaw and helped Debbie herd some goats from one part of the zoo to another. Eventually, I ran out of time and had to put Butterscotch away. She was only about half-done with her shed. So, I got to help her shed while putting her back into her enclosure. She didn't seem to mind. She's got some nasty scarring from old injuries though, and the shed was not coming off easily along those areas. I only got about 2/3's of it off before she'd had enough and I left her alone.

Anyhow...long-story-short....I handled her today just fine. Can't wait to reward her with a nice big bunny on Sunday! :D

Here are some pictures of her, her enclosure, and some random animals from the zoo. Some I can remember their names, but most I cannot. I'm terrible with names! :rolleyes:

Butterscotch in all her glory!
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...terscotch1.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...terscotch2.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...terscotch3.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...terscotch4.jpg

The inside of the snake-house. You can see how narrow the workspace is between the rows of enclosures...and how high up her enclosure is set.
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...ake-house1.jpg

I labeled where Butterscotch and Tattoo are located...all the rest of the enclosures are empty.
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...ake-house2.jpg

This is the top of Butterscotch's enclosure...two halves that unscrew and lift off. Coming at her from above is the only way to access the enclosure.
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...ake-house3.jpg

And here are some other pics of a few random animals. I didn't have time to get many pics...and they're not very good ones. I'll try to do better! And I'll make a new thread for some Tattoo pics in the Colubrid forum.

Racoon and albino racoon
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Zoo/coons1.jpg

Lemurs
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...oo/lemurs1.jpg

A pair of foxes. The orange one is male and he's very skittish and shy. The white one is female. She's bold and sort of friendly, but won't hesitate to bite if given the opportunity to reach your fingers. I'd never seen a white fox like this...she's really pretty.
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Zoo/foxes1.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Zoo/foxes2.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Zoo/foxes3.jpg

Albert the bear. (I posted this one in my other thread, but it's too cute not to share again! He's finished shedding now, and his coat is very sleek and handsome now.)
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Albert1-1.jpg

Timber wolf (I believe these are hybrids)
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...0Zoo/wolf1.jpg

Levi the lion (he's only two years old and is very full of himself!)
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...0Zoo/levi1.jpg

A pair of white tigers (sisters)...I can't tell them apart...
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Zoo/tiger1.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Zoo/tiger2.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Zoo/tiger3.jpg

That's it for now...thanks for putting up with my rambling! :D

OMG I would LOVE to work with those tigers and lion! And the bear is so cute! I also love the little white fox!

Awesome!! Congrats on handling her again! The other animals are amazing too...that white fox is so pretty. ^_^

you rock... you totally rock!!!

Hehe...not so cool...just very blessed!

The tigers are gorgeous! As are the lions. I haven't touched any of them yet...but someday. :D

thank you for sharing your pics with us .:D They are so neat.

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Originally Posted by JLC

....and I'm anything but "cool".

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Originally Posted by Jyson

I beg to differ. ;)

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

you rock... you totally rock!!!

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Told ya so. ;) Congrats on charming Butterscotch. I love that white fox, looks like a luecistic. And of course the lion and tigers are always irresistable.

Judy, thanks for sharing those pic's. The white fox is awsome and I have never seen an albino raccoon. Too cool.:gj:

Is it me or is that bear in human sitting position? :D

Congrats on your work with Butterscotch. You should definitely ask the zoo manager to hire a carpenter to put some back doors on her cage. It looks like just plywood to me so I doubt it would be a very difficult job.

Also, the albino raccoon is wild. Never seen one before, and our wildlife center had plenty of orphan raccoons.

Glad to hear that you got back in the saddle with Butterscotch! She's a pretty girl. Thanks for that bear pic:) You are very determined, and I think that those animals will certainly be better off having you there to help care for them.

Thanks for sharing the awesome pics! You have a very cool job there!

Wow, cool place to work!

I've found that sitting down to draw an animal's portrait is a good way to get to know them, and differentiate them from one another. You don't have to be a great artist, but trying to place, for instance, the stripes and spots on a tigress' face in their proper location may help you get to know her.

~Bruce

Oh and I just love that albino racoon this is the first time I have ever seen one . :D:gj:

The tigers are extremely beautiful, I would love to work with them.

Just incase nobody else said anything about it, with what happened with Butterscotch. You should pickup a little bottle of mouth wash, just incase an incident like that ever happens again. I have used the mouthwash trick on 2 of my friends when their snakes bit them. One was a 7' RTB, other was a 6' Retic.

Ahhh Judy, such beautiful animlas to work with. Congrats on a safe handling of Butterscotch! How's the hand BTW?

Where is the zoo located that you're working at? Is it open to the public? I would love to see some of those gorgeous animals in person!

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Originally Posted by icygirl

Is it me or is that bear in human sitting position? :D

Congrats on your work with Butterscotch. You should definitely ask the zoo manager to hire a carpenter to put some back doors on her cage. It looks like just plywood to me so I doubt it would be a very difficult job.

Also, the albino raccoon is wild. Never seen one before, and our wildlife center had plenty of orphan raccoons.

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Haha...yes, he is! Albert is a real ham. Getting them to hire a carpenter, unfortunately, is a highly unlikely scenario. There is a mountain of work that should be/could be done around the zoo, and the snakes are at the bottom of that pile. I'm gonna have to figure this one out on my own...which I will...just maybe not overnight.

The albino 'coon is very interesting. Not very attractive, though. Kind of pathetic looking. LOL We also have her mother in a different enclosure. I tried to get a picture of her, but she's extremely shy and it wouldn't turn out. She has the traditional raccoon markings, but they are very pale shades of tan and darker tan. She's gorgeous. I'm guessing "het for albino" produces the paler markings that she has. No idea who the father of the albino is, though.

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Originally Posted by Alice

Ahhh Judy, such beautiful animlas to work with. Congrats on a safe handling of Butterscotch! How's the hand BTW?

Where is the zoo located that you're working at? Is it open to the public? I would love to see some of those gorgeous animals in person!

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The hand is almost all better. Some soreness in the tendons behind my knuckles, but that's it. Thanks for asking! The zoo is about 6 miles east of Crestview, FL on hwy 90. It's open to the public 9-4 Wed-Sun. It's called the Sasquatch Zoo. If you ever make it out this way, let me know and I'd be happy to meet up with ya!

In the other thread about this bite, there was a lot of discussion about how to make the enclosure so that you could enter from the side instead of the top.

How hard would it be to use a sawzall (reciprocating saw) to make an large opening into the back (like, practically as big as the backside itself, maybe leaving about 3 inches around the perimeter to attach the hinges to), and just attach another piece of plywood to the opening with hinges and locks? It seems like it would be pretty simple, at least from my limited-woodworking-experience point of view. From my estimation, this would be about an hour project at very minimal costs.