Conner's School Fieldtrip.

I am still trying to figure out how to get all my pictures all in order. Anyway, Today, Monday, Conner had a field trip with his class to the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter, Florida. I was able to sign up as a chaperon and take Brenna and Corby as well. It was very fun and interesting. Right after I dropped Conner off at school I went to get gas for the van and I thought that they would beat us there, but apparently the bus driver decided to stop for coffee and took them to a wildlife preserve in Hobe Sound instead. When they corrected him he went the long way to the Preserve in Jupiter. Needless to say I was worried when they didn't show up for an hour. But I got some cute pictures of Corby and Brenna on a painted panther, and we kept ourselves busy while we waited. We were able to see a real Florida Panther batting a blue ball around his enclosure. Very house cat like. Cute, but I am glad he was behind the fence and batting the ball and not me. I didn't think to take a movie of it. Maybe next time. We also saw some snakes, birds, (like the rosiette spoonbill, the white heron, a pelican, and others.), otters, alligators, crocodiles, and turtles. One of the turtles was chasing one of the others around trying to bite it. It was really funny. It made me think of a pesky sibling picking on another relentlessly, just to get a reaction.


We also were able to pet a few animals that they have there to show in programs for visitors. We petted a Red Ratsnake, a baby alligator, an opossum, and a skunk. They even showed us an owl, but we weren't able to pet her.
The 'Possum had been hit by a car and wasn't right in the head afterwards. The handler said that normally Opossums will drool, and growl when someone approaches them, even if they had been handled from birth, but this one didn't mind being handled and loved to snuggle in his blankie. She said because of Opossum's normal behavior they make terrible pets because they are always stinky, no matter how much you bathe them, and they will tear up your house, and they will growl at you, and probably bite. I guess they get a lot of opossums they have to rehabilitate from homes that had them as pets and decided they weren't so cute after all.
The skunk had been someone's pet, but when they discovered that it wasn't so much fun, they turned it over to the preserve. The handler said that they are terrible pets, because even though they are cute a cuddly in the day, at night they tear up your house and furniture looking for stuff to eat, and steal anything shiny and hide it. She also said that skunks use their spray only after much warning. They will first growl, then they will stamp their feet and wave it's tail around. If that doesn't scare off an intruder, then they will spray. Very interesting.
The Owl is named Ollie and was brought in when she was very little after something had attacked her and taken off one of her wings. We did not get to pet her, but she made some fun hooting noises for us. I will definitely have to take Maren and Sean there sometime. I think they would like it. I also saw advertised a water life sanctuary closer to US1. I think I'll try going there sometime.



Do you like the cool Florida Panther that Corby and Brenna got to sit on while waiting for Conner's school to get there? They had fun posing for the pictures.