Spring, Summer, or Winter?

I can't tell WHAT season it is out there right now. This past week was beautiful spring/summer weather, cool in the morning - nice and warm during the day - and cooling off in the evening. On Friday it even got close to 80! I was able to take my goddaughter to the beach and play in the surf (though the water was cold...she had fun "stomping" the beach).

Then the very next day the temp dropped 30 degrees, and today the temp dropped even more and we had some hail and sleet mixed in with the rain.

I just hope that this is the last of the cold weather and spring/summer can finally move in. They say March roars in like a lion and out like a lamb. But I am thinking it is roared in like a lion and its going to roar out like a lion just as fast.

Just keep your fingers crossed that the rain and cold weather washes away all the spring pollen.

Presenting....

Okatee, an Okatee corn snake. Yes, not only did I get more practice handling snakes; we also took some over to the reptile house and presented them to the visitors. It was so much fun! As you can see I am holding the corn snake. He went through periods of just wrapping himself around my arm and chilling out, then he would get active agin.

You can see in the picture he started getting active, and I didn't freak out! I had so much fun handling him and presenting him to the public.

Next on the list....lizzards!

After we were done presenting and working with the snakes, I was able to observe our mentors/senior docents feed and present the red tail hawks.

Snakes

This weekend was the first weekend of not zoo training class but practical application. One of the mentors was kind enough to meet me today even though it wasn't her normal weekend to come in. But she did, and we worked on the 'beginning' level snakes. These include the corn snake, ball python, and a sand boa.

Overall I spent an hour working on getting comfortable holding 5 different snakes. By the end of the day I was definitely a little bit more comfortable but I still get nervous is they are very active or their head gets too close to my chin. But that's to be expected. :)

My neighbor Keri,has a ball python, JB, and when I got home she called me over because she had JB out of her enclosure. So I brought Harry Potter over (I'm reading it to her), and saw her snake. It was so funny just draped over her shoulders with its head resting on the table. It sat like that for a few minutes and even though I KNOW snakes can't hear (they feel vibrations) - I swear JB heard me. I was watching her rest her head on the table and said out loud "its OK if you come over this way, I'll say hi". And sure enough....she started moving across the table towards me.

Keri was very good in making sure I was comfortable when JB got close to me. I was good and as JB tried to get off the table I re-directed her and eventually picked her up. I was so proud of me, and I know Keri was proud of me too! First time she told me she had a snake I freaked out. But now, here I am handling them. Got to love it.