The House of Horrors

On the edge of the ghetto lies a little house.

A house made of wood and odd colors.

A house with many doors, many locked, many unable to lock.

Within this house lies the Area of the Forbidden.

All who enter will sound an alarm and the Landbitch will come running.

Beside the Forbidden is the Land of Horrors.

On the first level the Quiet Asian lurks.

She is waiting for nightfall to make grudge worthy sounds that give goosebumps to all.

In her room she stays all day, only emerging briefly to eat or to enter the Lockless Sanitarium.

The Lockless Sanitarium is a room to be avoided, but impossible to avoid.

This is the room in which the body is cleansed.

This is the room in which personal moments occur.

This is the room in which the blinds are always open.

This is the room which will never lock.

But this is only the beginning of the tour of the House of Horrors.

Beyond a mysterious door is the Staircase of Death.

This Staircase is is narrow.

This Staircase is steep.

This Staircase will unleash even the tiniest peep.

Above the Staircase of Death dwells two entities.

Choose the door to the right and will encounter the Dirty One.

This creature from the seas lives in a Floorless Room.

Clothes giving off the odor of deceased fish and dry sweat create the foundation of its chamber.

In the pit of the night the devil yells.

In the pit of the night the devil cackles.

In the pit of the night the devil speaks its native language.

This may seem the worst of the choices, but go the left and it may be regretful.

Choose the door to the left and encounter The Raccoon.

This is the one that never sleeps, yet sleeps the day away.

This is the one who will snatch your meals before they are prepared.

This is the one who will hoard your earnings without a tinge of guilt.

This is the one who will make sure you never hear anything else but its own creations.

Close all the doors, make it down the Staircase, sneak past the Asian, and avoid the Sanitarium.

The journey through the House of Horrors is now over.

Drive away and never look back.

A Day in the Life

Working with animals there is no such thing as a "typical day", but I will give a basic rundown of what I am doing every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

5:30 wake up

7:00 leave

7:30-9 soda ash, bicarb (if needed), foot baths, clean the weir, sweep the beach, western quat the beach, rinse the beach, get rid of puddles, get rid of pine cones, clean windows (if it has not been done already), help out in the kitchen (if needed)

9:15ish plan the board (go through each feeding session and decide who is going to work what whale and what they will do with them), put vitamins in fish, cut Kela's fish (if needed)

9:30 Feeding session #1, when it is over the buckets, lids, and toys get cleaned and the fish bin gets "flipped". The buckets for the next session are already set (the fish prep person has already done this) so the buckets for the following session need to be filled-the fish are already weighed out and in a bin ready to be put in the freshly cleaned buckets. Enrichment follows this, it has already been planned for the day.

10:15ish Break=Beanery!!!

10:45ish clean fish for the next session

11:15 Feeding session #2, repeat

12:15 Lunch

1:00 Observation period for my research project

1:30 Feeding session #3, repeat

2:30 clean fish

3:00 Feeding session #4, repeat-the AC side of the kitchen now gets cleaned from top to bottom

4:00ish Enter my data into the computer

4:30 clean fish

5:00 Feeding session #5, repeat-the PI side of the kitchen now gets cleaned from top to bottom, I also usually check that all pool gates are open if no one has already has

6:00ish leave:(

My First Behavior!!!!!

Life at the aquarium has been above and beyond fantastic. Everyday is a new day that always comes with fun, learning, research, and surprises. These past two days I went in early to learn how to do fish prep. All of the diets for the whales gets weighed out in the morning and then cleaned and sorted throughout the day. Sunday I watched Kelly as she did it and yesterday Lindsey had me doing it pretty much on my own. Both Amanda and I are doing this so we will be ready to do it on our own at 6 am tomorrow (I will talk all about that in my next post). Fish prep seemed overwhelming at first, but once I got a rhythm down it was pretty easy and kinda fun!!

I also got to do new things with the whales yesterday. During some of the feedings the trainers will do window sessions. This is when one trainer is down by the window asking for behaviors from the whales, this gives the public an up-close look at the whales. Then there is another trainer sending, receiving, and reinforcing the whale. I got to play this role with Naku. She is such a smart and solid whale, she anticipated what I wanted her do do with the first tap on the lip (I almost didnt get a chance to finish the sD!!). I also got my first behavior today, a high five!!! I got to practice it a few times with Kela. I can do it with both her pecs and I ask her with my opposite hand. It is the coolest thing ever!!! Kela gives the best high fives in the world, I cannot wait to try it out with Naku!

Naku and Kela are not the only whales that are teaching me. Juno, our younger whale, provides countless amounts of entertainment and learning opportunities. I love sitting in on his sessions (even though I dont do anything hands on with him). There is so much to learn training wise as they are constantly training new behaviors and desensitizing with him. I have also been in the lip a few times with him so eventually one day he will participate in the beluga encounters program. You can tell that he wants to learn and do the right thing. He is such a funny whale and I cannot wait to watch him progress throughout the summer!

Who said playing with toys and learning my ABC's was child's play?

So this week was busy in the world of whale training training. Now that I am solid at doing both targets and point follows Lindsey has brought new things into my sessions. Sunday and Monday was all about learning how to do A to B's. That is when someone sends the whale to someone else who then has to receive the whale. I learned how to both send and receive. I was successfully able to do this with both Kela and Naku. After one of my Kela sessions on Monday she stayed with me for tongue rubs longer than she ever has!!!

Today I was introduced to toy play in the sessions. Toy play involves various props that can be used in different ways: they can be held in front of the whale to target, it can be placed on the head, it can be used to feed with, etc. I had alot of fun figuring out different ways to use the toys. With Naku I used a hollow cone, a ball with a hole in it, and a mirror. I used to the hollow cone to feed her and I put it on her head, I used the ball to feed her, and I held the mirror in front of her while feeding her. I used all of these for her to target in front of me. With Kela I used a more solid cone, the same ball as with Naku, and a small pipe. I used all of these to feed and target and I put the cone on her head. She seemed to really enjoy the session and made vocalizations that I have not heard from her before (Lindsey said they meant she was having fun). I also got to do a trainer interaction with her which involved me just going out on the beach and rubbing her tongue. It was really cool because no food or signals were used, she came to me on her own accord, and made the decision to stick with me:)

Living in CT

Its different here. I have never spent such an extended amount of time in a city before. There are ALWAYS sirens, children screaming, music blaring, tires screeching, the night sky has no stars and a vivid moon. I never realized how spoiled I was. I now know more than anything that as soon as I can afford it I will buy small house on a quiet road with at least 3 acres of land for a couple of horses and a multitude of chickens. Dare to dream. I still find it odd how people are nice, its actually rubbing off on me, I am actually smiling at strangers...weird I know. The weather is very unpredictable. It will go from stormy, to hot, to perfect with a breeze all in one day. I was not expecting much of a weather difference being only 3 1/2 hours from wonderful Jersey. I cannot wait to go to the aquarium tomorrow. I love how I have a job in which days off suck more than anything.

Seagulls, Feedings, and Squirmy Creatures!!!

So things are going beyond amazing at the aquarium!!! I think I might have to take time to update these blogs more so they are not so long!! So on Sunday (I think, I lose track of the days) I was feeding Kela, everything was going great until a seagull tried to steal her fish-twice. She spooked and swam away, but luckily came back:) Evil little birds. It happened again today during a point follow. I was feeding her fish at one of the gates, dropped in the water (slippery little bastards they are) and a seagull grabbed it out of the water (i was hoping he would choke on it) but Kela was a trouper and stayed with me this time.

Aside from kicken it with the whales other activities go down at the AC. Today I was cleaning the weir (the drain connected to the marsh) when I noticed that the "algae" that was everywhere was moving. What I thought was algae was actually a disgusting amount of mosquito larvae. It was the most disgusting living entity I have ever encountered in my entire life. There was literally an inch thick wall of these things. Anyway Sasha stepped in and 3 clothing changes later the weir is currently green maggot free (way to go Sasha!!!!) I also met the new intern, Amanda, yesterday. She is, like everyone else at the aquarium, super nice and I cannot wait to work with her more.

So of course everyone is reading this to find out what I am doing with the whales. The past two days have been awesome. Lindsey has been teaching me point follows and targets. Point follows are when the whales follow you around the beach. During point follows you have to stop at every gate you pass and reinforce, I also learned how to bring the whales through the gates. There is alot of right and left deciphering however so far I have been able to do it without a slip (haha actually that is a lie since during a point follow with Kela yesterday I tripped and fell on the beach scaring the poor whale....poor Kela! Now I am checking my shoe laces before every session since apparently I am a 5 year old who walks around with untied shoes all the time). Other than that all is well!!! I also learned how to target both high and low. The low ones are a good way to kill some time during sessions since I can hold the whales there for up to 10 seconds-with Naku I can even rub her melon during that time. The high ones are also fun because the whales pop out of the water for it.

I have also taken 3 very difficult quizzes on daily routines, enrichment, and the individual animals. I didnt think I could do it but I managed to pass all of them (i really wish they would invent a sarcasm font). Today I also got to get in the lip with Kate, Kristine, and Juno!! Kristine is currently training Juno to do the encounters program so it is very beneficial for him to have "guests". It was so cool to watch the process of teaching a young whale...not to mention I just about melted inside when I got to give him a tongue rub, melon rub, AND I GOT A KISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So things are still going well. With each feeding session that I do, participate in, and observe I learn more and more. It is so amazing to watch the individual trainers with the different whales, there is so much to gain by just watching what everyone does in different situations. Being able to actually apply what Lindsey is teaching me and what I have been observing is such a fantastic thing, I cannot wait to see what the rest of my time here has in store for me.