Animals I Work With - Coyote

That must be really fun. Even if Lucius is such a pretty creature, my favorite is Fussy. I love animals that are constantly exploring their surroundings. Maybe it is because I also used to be like that. Now I feel more like an arthritic snake.

Such cuties, all of them! These are such nice photos of such beautiful animals. Thank you so much for sharing them with us!

Thanks everyone! I love these legless children!

George wrote:

Oh they're great, I like rat snakes and love corn snakes - nothing against the vipers but I tend to rank my favourites by how nice their scales feel to handle (with number one being the sunbeam snake - so velvety!)

I've never interacted with a sunbeam in person, they are gorgeous animals, I'd love to someday! To me the vipers also look velvety, thanks to the keeled scales.

pipsxlch wrote:

My sister will be happy to hear about Pop living to be 23- she dreads the day her Worm passes. That is a well loved snake.

Aw, lovely! I certainly hope they have many many years together!

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Besides corns, we have yellow rats here. They have a nervous snippy reputation, but a big wild one had me trained when I worked for a rat breeder. As I was up on a stepladder cleaning/feeding the tubs of rats (or mice), it would come out on a beam and follow me around, getting within a couple feet of me. Never acted aggressive, just attentive. I started offering it a rat, and it would take it in a slow almost gentle manner, not striking out like it was frightened. After 2 or 3 rats, it would wander away to be seen next week. What a cool and lovely creature it was, made me feel honored.

Hahaha what a smart friend, that's so funny. They are surprisingly good learners, you just have to find exactly the right thing to teach them - and when to come out and beg for rats is a good one. The only yellow rat I've personally worked with was a VERY temperamental animal, very different than all the black rats I've known. She had to be hook and glove handled. Yellow rats don't live here, though, so I've never met a wild one.

When we were at college, we had a practical animal handling exam - giving a narrated demonstration on how to handle each animal for normal day-to-day duties, the reasons why it was approached and held that way, and also how they'd be positioned/restrained for a vet to give different treatments. To decide which two species/types we'd be handling, we picked paper tickets from a bucket telling us what animals we had to use, but then we got to choose which individuals we wanted to get out.
One of mine said 'Snake', and where most people would then pick their favourite friendly snake, which would behave perfectly, I deliberately picked the black rat snake, who was blind and had a reputation (well deserved!) for striking and drawing blood, especially students but even his normal staff keeper.

My thinking was that anyone could handle an easy snake, but if I could handle him, without him getting upset and striking, I'd be able to explain all about how to approach and catch and manoeuver one which would otherwise be scared and aggressive and trying to attack, and get better marks. It worked, I got the highest mark possible, but I did have a bit of a reputation myself, afterwards, as the mad one who willingly chose the 'evil snake' for an exam

Nice! Critical skill! After all, like we tell anyone who asks "Does it bite" - anything with a mouth can bite. I just got bit only yesterday by a disgruntled pine snake. Knowing how to work with the cantankerous ones is extremely beneficial.

Well, today is World Snake Day, so only fitting I introduce the last of the snakes in our collection.

Speaking of getting bitten, here's the lady herself. Pistol is called a Northern Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) on her signage, but a genetic test revealed the truth - she's actually a cross between a Pine Snake and a Gopher Snake. These snakes are extremely closely related. Some consider them the same species, or subspecies of each other. So taxonomically, we're still confident calling her a Pine Snake.

Pistol came to live with us when her home facility was looking to send her somewhere with a better habitat. These snakes are one of the largest North American colubrids, and Pistol is around six feet long (no exact measurement, as she is difficult to handle). They are also known for being reactive species. She's not aggressive, only nervous and very food-focused, and I have worked very hard for years to get her more accustomed to people working around her and also to lessen the intensity of feeding time. It's been, overall, a success, and I hadn't been bitten in a long time. We've done some very peaceful vet exams even! Unfortunately, this week's incident involved application of medication to the face (on a feed day no less!), which is understandably not fun for the animal. Pistol is one of my favorite animals here, even though she is hands down the one that has bitten me the most. Thankfully, never with much force - mostly just trying to get me to back off. We're working on her habitat to rebuild it into something better suited to managing her stress-free.
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On the other end of the size scale, we have Gary the Eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis). He's been a bit of a challenge to care for because of his diet. In the wild, garters are typically amphibian and fish eaters (as well as some small mammals). It's hard to get amphibians to feed, so recently we started offering some live fish fry in a water dish. He took to hunting live fish immediately! He's 10 years old.
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And last but not least, our tiniest snakes, Spazz and Stubs the rough green snakes (Opheodrys aestivus). These guys are insectivores and hunt using eyesight more than many snakes - which is why they have such beautiful googly eyes. Spazz got his name like you would expect - he is an absolute spazz when he has to be handled for vet exams, etc. These snakes don't bite in defense. Most snakes, these guys included, will musk instead, which just means they release a really horrible smelling secretion from their cloaca. That's Spazz's go-to. Stubs is a little better, but both are quite jumpy little guys and we don't handle them much. Stubs got his name because he's missing the very tip of his tail.
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All of them are beautiful, but I love Spazz and Stubs the most! Sorry about the bite, it must be rough go handle some of these animals sometimes. But its gotta be stressful to be the snake too, from their perspective.

Oh absolutely, it's more stressful on the animals than the keeper in this situation, which is the main problem! A snake bite isn't too bad (if it's not venomous and not a giant), and I sure don't blame her for biting me when I was having to restrain her to put medication on her face. I no doubt deserved it, in the balance of the universe, ha!

That is a great attitude to have! I always discuss this with people about animals, the only way that most animals really have to communicate that you need to leave them alone is with their mouth/a bite. Buck, my dog, hates nail trims and while he doesn't bite me he will mouth me when he gets too anxious and I know I need to give him a break so he can settle down. But, hopefully you have better luck handling her next time! She is a truly gorgeous snake, and so cool you found out she is a hybrid!

It must be such a wonderful and satisfying job to work with a snake like Pistol, bringing her on to trust humans more and seeing her improve year by year, I definitely admire you for it, especially after being bitten- such a fulfilling job! Spazz, Stubs and Gary are all fantastic too- each with their own personalities!

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That is a great attitude to have! I always discuss this with people about animals, the only way that most animals really have to communicate that you need to leave them alone is with their mouth/a bite. Buck, my dog, hates nail trims and while he doesn't bite me he will mouth me when he gets too anxious and I know I need to give him a break so he can settle down. But, hopefully you have better luck handling her next time! She is a truly gorgeous snake, and so cool you found out she is a hybrid!

Agreed, yeah! I always tell my interns that she's not aggressive or "mean" - but if you do something wrong, she will teach you fast. She just has a much larger bubble than our rat snakes, and you have to enter it very carefully. Thankfully, the literal years of adjusting her management really do seem to have helped. We no longer feed her on tongs but on a station (she was coming up out of the habitat whenever it was opened, mouth open and ready to eat whatever moved), and we no longer handle her unless absolutely necessary. I can actually usually put meds on her just fine by reaching it and applying them by hand, but this time was just much more invasive, the poor thing.

I'd rather get bitten by a snake than a dog any day! I saw you mention I think over on the pet board (I was going to comment and then forgot until this moment) about training your betta, which I think is awesome. I always tell people anything is trainable, if you know what they want. I think target training could help Pistol a lot, and once her habitat is revamped and it's a little easier to maneuver, I'd like to do that.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] thank you, it is often very fulfilling!

What a nice way to tribute snakes today and such different ones. Oh, I'd probably prefer to be bitten by a Pistol than sprayed by a skunk snake.
By the way, have your ever worked with crocodiles? They also only bite to show they're stressed. If you ever have the chance of seeing a croc deep inside, you'll find that they're good creatures.

Roger wrote:

What a nice way to tribute snakes today and such different ones. Oh, I'd probably prefer to be bitten by a Pistol than sprayed by a skunk snake.
By the way, have your ever worked with crocodiles? They also only bite to show they're stressed. If you ever have the chance of seeing a croc deep inside, you'll find that they're good creatures.  

I'd love to work with crocs, but not that close.

This thread is great! I'd love to meet a black rat someday, we don't have them here that I've ever seen/ heard of. We do have indigos though. And lots of black racers, which are spazzes that have nailed me several times- but they're still beauties. Pistol is beautiful; we do have pines (and gophers) but I've never interacted with one. All the sandhill/upland species are in decline due to overdevelopment. I remember catching grass (green) snakes as a child, but haven't seen one in many years.

Having been bitten by a dog (not a bad one luckily) I can vouch that it sucks! And yes I am in the research period of maybe training my bettas... at least the Koi Glorfindel is SUPER food motivated and seems to learn quickly! My blue Ulmo seems a little slower on the uptake and not interested in food (though he may just be adjusting still). If you have tips on target training I would love some!

pipsxlch wrote:

This thread is great! I'd love to meet a black rat someday, we don't have them here that I've ever seen/ heard of. We do have indigos though.  And lots of black racers, which are spazzes that have nailed me several times- but they're still beauties. Pistol is beautiful; we do have pines (and gophers) but I've never interacted with one. All the sandhill/upland species are in decline due to overdevelopment. I remember catching grass (green) snakes as a child, but haven't seen one in many years.

Oh man, indigos are one of my absolute favorites, I'm so jealous. I wish so badly they were considered natives up here, so we could incorporate them. Not that we have an enclosure large enough . . . the one currently housing four rat snakes would be large enough for one indigo. Racers are wonderful, too! Not . . . not brilliant, but wonderful. Fast enough to be scary to work with only because they can get past you and away SO quickly! I love their giant eyeballs, though!

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Having been bitten by a dog (not a bad one luckily) I can vouch that it sucks! And yes I am in the research period of maybe training my bettas... at least the Koi Glorfindel is SUPER food motivated and seems to learn quickly! My blue Ulmo seems a little slower on the uptake and not interested in food (though he may just be adjusting still). If you have tips on target training I would love some!

Well, I've never trained a fish! But I can tell you how I did it with a snapping turtle, and no doubt if you're already familiar with the concepts, you'll find a good way to transition it to the personalities of your guys. With Hazel, our common snapper (photos later!), I first introduced the target pole alongside her feeding tongs, touching, so that she had to touch her nose to the target as she grabbed the food. I put it directly over her head, there was no work involved for her at this stage, she just had to eat and learn to associate the blue and white target with food. When she was consistently eating from the tongs while touching the target pole, I started putting the target in first, still right in front of her. She would investigate, associating it with food, bump it with her nose, and I immediately offered her food. Once she got to where she bumped the target quickly and then looked for food, I started increasing the distance of the target from her so she had to move a few inches, and then a few feet, to get to it, always offering the food immediately after she touched it. Long term planning was to eventually make it a variable reward schedule, so she might touch the target pole twice in two different places before receiving the reward. However, before we got that far, she was introduced into her permanent pond and forgot everything she learned. It's best to think of "training" with animals like reptiles (and maybe fish) more as conditioning, a little less exact than with a mammal and lacking true cues and bridges. With a fish, I'd think you could choose a target (I'm not sure if betta can see in color or if you need to focus on shape), and then stick it in the water with the food so the fish first gets used to it being there while he's eating. Then you could gradually move to introducing the target and rewarding him for coming that direction even if he doesn't touch it, and then start rewarding him only for getting very close, and then touching it, etc. I imagine it wouldn't take long for him to see the target, swim to it, touch it, and then get rewarded. You could take it from there where ever you wanted, maybe moving him around the tank a little before feeding, etc. Hope that made some kind of sense! I'd be interested to hear about your progress if you decide to try!

Also, we did always feed her this way, so that might be key as well. If you feed in multiple ways, it might be confusing.

Your tips are solid, and if I decide to try it with Finny then I will for sure share photos at least! Bettas can see color but from what I have read it may take time to decide what color to use for the target, as some more aggressive fish will just attack any color they percieve as another rival fish. We are still in the planning stage so I will see if I go through with it.

I can't wait to see more of your friends! Hazel sounds like a great animal.

Best of luck!!

I wanted to introduce everyone to two of my favorite friends here, but unfortunately, this update has become partially a memorial. Over the weekend, one of our American toads (Anaxyrus americanus) passed suddenly. We don't yet know the reason, but we will have a necropsy preformed, so hopefully that will provide answers. Amphibians are delicate creatures and not well studied, medically, which means results are often "undetermined," which is frustrating for a caretaker seeking to know if it was something in the husbandry that needs to be altered or not. This is, without a doubt, the worst part of the job. Whether the animal passes due to unpreventable and expected causes (age related illness, etc.) or if it happens suddenly and unexpectedly, it's always a blow. And when your area consists of 40+ individuals, the percentage of loss per year is higher than in an area with large mammals that might have 6-8 animals.

Thankfully, Silver did lead a fairly long and I hope happy life. She was an estimated 8 years old, which isn't ancient for a toad, but also is a far cry from young. Wild toads usually live to maybe a couple years if they reach adulthood, while toads under human care might reach 10-12 years. Silver was with us because she suffered an injury in the wild that cost her the lower half one hind leg. She was full of personality, loved chasing worms in feeder balls and finding wax worms in mazes. She was completely unbothered by humans in general and would sit by the glass to stare down guests. She was a big personality, and already missed.
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She was survived by Neville, the male that shared her home, a very good lad. Male toads are significantly smaller than the females (like most anurans). He lives with us because he was rescued with a broken leg. It healed, but never was quite the same. Neville is a little more shy than Silver was, and very much enjoys hiding under plants and digging holes in the mud. He's pretty good at finding wax worms in mazes, too, though.
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Firstly, my condolences go to you for the loss of your amphibian friend. Silver looks and sounds like she was an amazing animal, and it IS amazing that she survived her injury and flourished. I am quite sure she lived a happy life.

Your photos are fun! The Lego mazes are a great idea. Neville is a charming toad.

I am so sorry about the loss of Silver, it must be so awful because as you say. each animal has their own personality and I can imagine you must become very attached to them being with them each day! And I can understand how it must be hard with at least 40 animals, because it increases the chances of something so sad as this happening- but then I guess you could say that a positive is more animals to love in the first place!  
What a fantastic pair Neville and Silver are though, like Paige I'm sure they've had a wonderful life with you it's so nice that they were rescued from their injuries!

Yes, I am also so sorry for your toad friend. When I was a boy I cried when I've found dead a toad I took home, my Mother didn't want these creatures at home and I let it for a while in the yard. After a little time it was dead and I still feel guilty today because it was my fault. Though, it was a lesson for me because we should not take animals home and since then I enjoyed just watching them. I was really a small boy but I always loved these crreatures, thus, I cannot immagine how it is with a friend that you assisted for all these years.
I really love toads, I don't even know how to explain it, I look at the picture below and i could easily award it as Miss Virginia 2021. Anyone from virginia on forum?
Now that you know toads are among my favorite animals, let's go for a silly joke.
Do you know which is toad's favorite animal?
... a croackodile.  

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Aww, I'm so sorry Jill! Silver was really lovely (I have a thing for toads also), I remember the pic you posted of her unimpressed by her maze. She sounds like she was a gem! Losing a friend always hurts, but you must have made her life about as happy as a toad's could be.
Love that pic of Neville peeking over the wall.

Thank you all very much! It's been a rough week at work for sure. We lost an elderly coyote yesterday. Some weeks are harder than others.

I'm delighted that toads have plenty of fans. I hear many guests say they are "ugly" or "gross" and of course, that makes me sad! But I also hear people who are very impressed by them, so there's a balance. :)

Roger wrote:

Yes, I am also so sorry for your toad friend. When I was a boy I cried when I've found dead a toad I took home, my Mother didn't want these creatures at home and I let it for a while in the yard. After a little time it was dead and I still feel guilty today because it was my fault. Though, it was a lesson for me because we should not take animals home and since then I enjoyed just watching them. I was really a small boy but I always loved these crreatures, thus, I cannot immagine how it is with a friend that you assisted for all these years.

That's such a sad and hard lesson that I think a lot of animal lovers learn. :'( I have a similar story with a young box turtle. It's hard not to feel guilty!

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I really love toads, I don't even know how to explain it, I look at the picture below and i could easily award it as Miss Virginia 2021.

I understand.  

pipsxlch wrote:

I remember the pic you posted of her unimpressed by her maze.

Yes that was her! What a legend.

I am so sorry for your coyote too. I am sure those animals your rescued would not have such a great life if it was not your work. You're doing your best and it worth a lot!