Celia the Cuban

I wrote about the smaller crocs being moved to their new enclosure at Tenerife Sur Zoo but thought l would tell the story of Celia the Cuban crocodile and her move to the same enclosure…. Once the fence was made higher and croc proof.
Paco had built the new enclosure as he felt the smaller Niles were now at a size they were less likely to get eaten by Celia. Both sets of crocs enclosures had only been temporary ones, true for a few years but only “short term”

Celia had been at the zoo for a number of years. She is a very rare croc being a Cuban and her arrival was different to the normal sort of arrival.
A container ship had docked at Santa Cruz in Tenerife to off and reload cargo. The sailors had been in Cuba and South America on one leg of their trip and had acquired quite a few creatures, mainly parrots. They decided that they would sell the creatures in Tenerife to earn some extra cash.
They had sold most of the animals except Celia, sensibly the citizens of Santa Cruz decided that they would not buy her but stuck to the parrots and few smaller creatures.

At the end of the day when the ship was refreshed and due to sail the crew went back to the ship leaving poor Celia to walk around the streets looking for food and security. The zoo was called and they rescued her. She had been there growing since, and was now around about 7ft and happy in her home.

The trouble with moving her was she spent a lot of time in her pond. It was muddy and impossible to see into, and though only narrow it was deep and Paco insisted she had to be caught not trapped.
This “simple” job was accomplished by pushing a broom handle down into the muddy water and pinning her to the floor. As she reared up in anger a noose was to be dropped over her jaws and pulled shut, then she was hauled out, hogtied and carried to her new home.

No matter how Marco or l said it was a crazy scheme, your hands ended up in the water as the pond was deep, It stressed her out, it stressed us out, we risked injuring her, we risked her injuring us, we got no place he was adamant.
After 2 hours Paco had got bored of supervising, you notice “supervising” he was not putting his hands in there and wandered off but my hub had arrived by now and joined in.
We continued to push the handle down while one of us waited with the noose, every so often we would swop to give a broom pushers a break. You could feel her wizz under the handle as it brushed her. At times she would surface, grab a look and breath and go down again it was crazy. A couple of times we got her to rear up but never managed to get her noosed as she was always at the opposite end to where l was or to far away.

It took about 4 hours before they succeeded in getting her back end pinned, and on cue she reared up by me and l managed to get the noose over her jaws and pull tight.
She slammed around but l held on the other 2 leaping over to help. We got her part way out and more ropes onto her then pulled her out and tied to a plank and immobilised her tail and body.

We carried her over to the new enclosure with the smaller Niles. We were all barefoot, normal for me but not for hub or Marco. Hub cried out as he stood on something but kept going. When we checked his foot later there was just a small hole.

Celia settled quickly into her new home seeming to enjoy it but hubs foot didn’t get better. Finally after about 5 months of limping he allowed me to have a proper look. A dig with a needle and a hard squeeze and out popped a chunk of plastic, it must have gone in deep and the hole closed over it, once out the foot healed.
Celia had her revenge on at least one of us for the indignities of being caught as she was.

A Wind Up

Well l am off for the weekend l will probably be back Monday for 2 days then off again till the following Monday so not deserted life just having a break. It is the Rhodie/Zim groups big yearly bash about 1000+ people expected. This weekend is put up and next weekend is the braai.

So l will be back just not sure of when over the next week. In the mean time a bit more about Tenerife Zoo.

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Back in Tenerife and l was at Tenerife Zoo having a quiet amble around when l stopped to chat to the 4 Macaws. They were put out daily under a small thatch covered shade and the visitors could stroke them, feed them and take a chance on having fingers ripped off if the birds felt in the mood.
Have to admit l do not recall hearing they had ever ripped a finger off just that being a parrot they are perverse enough to do it if they take a want to.

I had a pocket of peanuts and was standing there chatting and feeding peanuts to them when one started to itch his head on my hand. I should have guessed there was something up as the others stood back almost whistling in innocence. Without warning the setup was sprung my head rubbing friend leant forward and grabbed the side of my watch and ripped the winder out. I stared in disbelief. That huge beak and my tiny winder from my lovely almost new only 6month old sekonda waterproof watch.

The bloody bird added insult to injury by playing with it in his beak. He rotated it like a redneck chewing on a toothpick, stuck it gently upright under his tongue and moved it round delicately. Pushed it flat and lent to his feed bowl took a sunflower seed out, shredded the skin and ate the seed. Pushed the winder out at me and cackled.
Went back to playing and took it out in his claws daring me to reach for it and making the evil heavy duty beak somehow prominent without trying. Ate some more food and shoved the winder back. Then ate food and held the winder under his tongue.
I tried blackmail, l tried to swop some nuts for the winder. He got the nuts l did not get the winder. His cohorts and dodgy macaw friends sat in smug silence watching this interplay nibbling on the odd treat from the food bowls and delicately scratching their heads as the mood took them.

Finally after 5mins l gave up and after a good swear went to walk away. With a harsh grawwk the bird delicately spat the winder out into the sand and gazed at me with the look that said “got you bitch now go grovel at my feet and look for your bloody winder”

I took the watch in for repair and it was, Tenerife fashion. I have the winder back in the hole, can not change the time, nor is it waterproof. I did use the watch for another couple of years getting into confusion at time changes till my own body clock readjusted. Now the battery is dead and the watch sits gathering dust in my draw till l get it repaired, one day.

"Mouth Rot"

Back in Tenerife at the Tenerife sur zoo, Marco and Claudio had gone on a collecting trip and left a friend Sam (*not his real name) in charge of the reptilarium, their separate private owned snake section housed in the grounds, the same friend that got bitten on the thumb by the cape cobra.

In this instance Sam* trotted whistling round the corner which made me suspicious. He was too cheerful. You know that false happy, someone has when they are going to ask you to do something nasty, that no one else is stupid enough to do.

“I have just been looking at the python and she has mouth rot” (stomatitis).
“And?...” l glared just knowing what was coming but may as well make him say it.
“Need your help to handle her so that l can treat her” he grinned
“She is a more bad tempered bitch than l am and a damm site bigger and stronger as well”
“Awww don’t be mean she is only about 13ft and well yes she is bad tempered but not that bad, and she does need treating, you don’t want it getting worse” he tried to blackmail me.
I muttered she could rot for all l cared.
“Well you know that no one else here will handle her” he tried again
“In other words they are sane and l am bloody stupid, you do know that Marco and Claudio who know what they are doing won’t handle her unless they really really… really have to.” l tried again but knew it was a lost cause, sod it l should have meant it when l said she could rot.

So we went to the off display area she was kept in, a quiet section away from the public. The bitches housing unit was a huge glass fronted display built for some reason on a trailer. The python in question was bad tempered on good days and totally evil on bad days. As l said Marco and Claudio avoided handling her unless absolutely necessary because of her temperament and strength.

Medication at the ready l told cheerful Sam* he was making the first contact with her. He was fine about that. He thought (hoped) he could do the medicating without taking her out.
He opened the door and climbed up, half leant in, ready to get her head....no chance she started to slide out and he had to catch fast before she was out the door.
He fell off the step with her push forwards and had to scramble upright holding her tightly. I grabbed the tail end as it slammed out to try and wrap around whoever it could.

Sam managed to get the mouth swabbed with the medicinal mix without getting grabbed by the mouth, or so he informed me. I was to busy with being tossed around like a boat on a wild sea by the tail end as she writhed while trying to avoid the odd loop she started to throw.
“ok he gasped let’s get her back”
If l thought the first part was hard l had a lesson to learn on getting her back in. The trailer was raised so it was an up to get in as opposed to a down slide out. Added to that the door did not want to stay open and no safe way could we jam it open, whoever was nearest it had to try and fling it open as we stumbled past.

She threw loops on us. She threw us all over the place with her writhing twists, as we unwound or shrugged off a loop another descended. She had us both looped several times. Her mouth was trying to grab whatever it could to aid the constriction.
We slammed into and tripped over the trailer with her writhing but did not dare let go.
Paco the zoo owner appeared and l gasped for him to give us a hand, gasped because l was trying to get a loop off my throat.
“Not a chance she is Diablo” he said and after watching wide eyed at our struggles he disappeared.
It took us 10 minutes to get her back in. We were exhausted battered and bruised from banging into her trailer, falling over and out of breath from loop squeezes.

I glared at Sam*, and just how often are we meant to do this merry little fucking dance before she kills us?” l asked. Not amused, and totally exhausted knowing how much of a miracle it was that she had not got free and none of us got seriously hurt.

“We aren’t, she is to dangerous sod it the lads will have to do her when they come back, l will just keep an eye and see it doesn’t get worse” Sam panted back.

When Marco and Claudio arrived back they had horrified hysterics when informed of our little jaunt. You never got her out, just 2 of you? Followed by more laughter from the pair.
“She has a slightly deformed mouth” said Marco when he recovered from laughing. “It was damaged when she was young by a person that did not know how to handle her. We took her on to fix her and kept her"
“Deformed be beggared she damm near ate us and squeezed us into a nice mush while she was about it” l said.
“Yes she just has lip damage to show for things now” said Marco. “No trouble with anything else, as you noticed.” He carried on chuckling.

I glared at Sam but before l gave in to the urge to shovel him back in with ‘the bitch’ and lock the door. l snarled “Get medical histories next time before you take over care of anything.” l stalked off.

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Some facts and why these big constrictor snakes are not pets.

The large pythons can get vicious as they get bigger. Pythons up to 30 ft reported in the wild. The biggest captive snake is 27ft and 183kg. Pythons are as wide as telegraph poles when adult, and it is all muscle.

They are carnivorous. Attacks on handlers, sometimes deadly, are not uncommon.

It is recommended for these snakes you should always have a second person available to help with handling and feeding. And defiantly 2 people when it is over 8 feet long. In fact it is a good idea to have a person present for for each 4 feet of snake. So 3 people to handle a 12 foot snake and 4 people for a 16 foot snake.

Jaguars and Kids

When people go on holiday with kids they often leave them in children’s clubs. They feel safe in the knowledge that the kids will receive the best care with sensible chaperones. The safe feeling should never be believed.

I was at Tenerife zoo doing a general check around before l started feeding. There was a children’s holiday club group having a look round with their minder. I had seen them having an ohh and ahh but largely ignored them.

Until l was walking back towards the big cats, one kid was holding onto the jaguar’s enclosure wire. The second was walking towards the wire and the third was being lifted over the barrier by the minder. The rest were asking to be next [over the barrier]

I froze for a fraction of a second in disbelief. Life went into slow motion. Luckily the jaguars were also disbelieving, but one was crouched and thinking about an attack, l saw his body position change in readiness, the two other were wheeling about ready to sprint, they had a child each if they wanted.
I bellowed to get those **** kids the hell out of there, NOW NOW they stared at me and backed off scared. The Jaguar’s settled back a fraction confused at the sudden clamour and my run and shouting.
The cretin in charge pulled the one child she was lifting over back and l grabbed the other one and hauled it out somehow. The third half climbed out when l hauled it the rest of the way.

l was incandescent with rage. I could not believe that anyone could be so stupid. The kids had almost been shredded and killed. The jaguars would have been destroyed; the zoo would have been in huge trouble.
The cretin said well they could not see clearly you have those stupid barriers there.
I think l went from incandescent to out of earth orbit. She got such a ripping off from me she just stood and stared in shock. She really had no idea until l let loose just how close things came to exploding into death. To her they were cute big cats.
I followed it up by booting her and the kids out of the zoo. Paco spoke to her bosses and she came back to apologise. Paco allowed her and future kids back but she had learnt her lesson.

I still shudder at how close it came to a real disaster. So if you go on holiday and use a holiday club, just be warned.

A Croc in the Hand

New year made me think of when l was at Tenerife Sur zoo and new enclosures. Paco who owns the zoo decided to build a couple of new crocodile ponds, one for the 7 or so Nile crocs only about 3 to 4ft long at that point.

It was a lovely area and he worked bloody hard on the landscaping and habitat. When he had finally completed the building and the move l was sitting with Marco who owned the reptilarium within the zoo grounds. We were sprawled out having a coffee looking at the crocs.
“Crocs climb well” l said looking at the new home.
“Yes” mumbled Marco
Did you not sort of mention it to Paco, l tried but he told me to bug off, he knew that and that it was too nice an enclosure for them to try and get out from” l said
“Well l tried to warn him but he told me similar” replied Marco.

We slurped our coffees watching the crocs having a “new house explore”. They approached the low fence, about 2 or 3 ft high mesh, very different from the solid brick and concrete 4 or 5ft high wall of their old home.
“What’s the betting they climb out soon as they get to the fence” l asked Marco.
Marco’s English was not too good (he was Italian) but he got the gist of what l asked and said that he was not going to loose money by saying they wouldn’t climb out.

Croc one got to the fence and set up it like a monkey up a tree, 4 more followed in quick succession. We sat and drank our coffees, trying to decide how far they would get before Paco discovered them. It was a very quiet day no public were in the zoo. It was a Friday which is a big change over day for holidaymakers, hence the lack of concern on our part.
The escapees set off with different ideas. A couple headed for the main entrance to do some sightseeing around the area, one went back towards his old home and a couple sunbathed on the warm concrete pathway.

The ones heading for the exit were spotted by Paco who was doing the gate that day. He came out of there like a scalded cat and was off like a weasel on steroids to catch them. We sat and drank our coffees and munching on some peanuts l found in my pocket.
As fast as Paco got one miscreant rounded up and back in the new house area and went to grab another one of the others made a break up the wire climbing to freedom. By now all crocs were at some stage of being repatriated, climbing out or walking nonchalantly around the zoo. We pointed out helpfully where the escapees were and had a very entertaining half hour trying to guess who would head in what direction. In the end Paco "dumped" them all back into theor old housing unit till he arranged and carried out a redesign and rebuilt the surrounding mesh.

He marched up to us and asked what the hell we were doing just sitting watching him, why hadn’t we come and told him and helped him. Marco told him that we had warned him some weeks before about what would happen and as he had told us to piss off and do something useful we felt it was our duty to not interfere.

You did not have to speak Spanish to understand what he said to us before he stormed off back to the gate. We finished our coffees and ambled back to work. We had work to do and no time like some to go and play with crocodiles all morning.

Llama and Suds

When l was at Tenerife Sur zoo on one particular day the male llama had a skin problem that needed a check. Bidel, one of the male keepers and l had to hold the llama for the vet to examine.

At some point my other half turned up as he was having as quiet day and was standing chatting to Paco (zoo owner and manager). Bidel and l cornered and grabbed the llama and the vet examined him, muttering under his breath. When he had done he moved out of the way to talk to Paco. At this point, the idea was that Bidel and l would push the llama sideways and run like hell out of spitting range.

All went to plan, we pushed and l got half way through my initial leap when Paco shouted my name. Paco and everyone else denied he said anything, l have always called them liars. I KNOW what l heard, and there is no other reason l would have done what l did.
I stopped, thinking OMG what has happened, l spun round and said “Yes?”
The llama was waiting just for that moment, it was only about 3 feet away and it could not miss. he spat and got me full face.

The thing about llamas is that they are members of the camelid family (camel), if you upset said member they spit at you. Spit is actually to neutral a term. The stomach contents l am sure, are especially rotted into a fetid mess that is stored for moments such as this. I can not believe anything would actually want to let that lot go through it’s intestines.

The putrid mess was blasted into my nose, mouth and hair. It rolled down my face. More was sucked into my nose and mouth as l choked and at the same time tried to stop breathing. The fetid journey continued down my top. I tried to brush it off but this just ground it into me. Gravity sucked at the mess and it travelled down my legs to the ground.

By now Paco, hub, vet and Bidel were rolling hysterically and complaining about the smell. I turned and headed for the animal kitchen, snatched the bottle of washing up liquid, hurdled a hedge to get to Maria the gardener who looked wide eyed at the stinking choking female, who was trying not to throw up. I grabbed the hose, pouring washing up liquid and water over me.

I took at least an hour to get the bulk of it off. I did not care about water waste (normally l am fussy about water) or that people were looking in bemusement at me, under a hose, surrounded by soap suds, while a group of people now including Maria passed helpful advice while trying to stop laughing. Several members of the public stayed and joined in with the group.

It took about a week or so for me to stop getting wiffs of the smell. I don’t know if it was real, or just a memory of the smell. I do know that the dogs were not keen on coming near me for the first couple of days. I slept on the settee as l did not want to ruin the bed and bedding.

If you ever upset a member of the camelid family, get the hell out of there and do not look back, no matter what.

Snakes and Racks

Had a pigeon in on Saturday. Usually they are put down unless they are ringed racing pigeons or for sure unharmed wild ones. This one had been in overnight and seemed ok. I went to take it outside and release it, to see if it would fly.
My grip was a bit loose and l was also trying to check it as l walked. It took off and nearly smacked a couple of staff in their heads as it raced down the corridor and then met the wall. Luckily he just slid down that. I grabbed him and held tight till l threw him into the air and he flew off as fast as he could, outside.

I mentioned a small crossbreed a few blogs ago in "From Floppy Dogs to a Rant" whose owner had a mental breakdown. Well no family could be traced but the little dog has been found a new home.
If the owner recovers enough to look after him then he will go back, if not there he has a home for life, always nice to have good news.

Speaking of which, it was with great joy that l consigned the shower rack where l am staying to the dustbin today. It was on one of those expending poles like a shower curtain and went between the side of the bath and the ceiling.
I would give it a pull it would be solid. Climb into the bath and soak, reading and 5minutes later…it was still solid. Then without warning it would leap off the side and smack down on my head.
The first 2 times it also threw all the shampoos, deodorants etc on me. I removed those for subsequent baths. It was not practicable to remove the rack as it was held together with tie wraps and l did not want to break it.
It turned out a nurse that used to live in bought it. I was told l was welcome to throw it away. The horrible item was in the bin by the time the permission to dispose had been fully voiced.

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When l was in Tenerife l spent 8 months or so as head keeper at Tenerife Sur zoo. Fancy title but there were only about 500 animals and 3 of us keepers.

A small reptilarium was situated in the zoo grounds owned by a couple of Italians. I had nothing to do with it just used to have coffee and a chat, usually with Marco who spoke better English than Claudio did.
The pair went on a collecting trip to Africa and had a young English lad in to look after their animals. He was experienced in reptiles and had been through Gerald Durrell’s Training Programme at Jersey Trust. The problem was he had only dealt with non-venomous snakes and there was a mixed bag at the reptile house.

One day he came round the corner white faced holding his hand. “Are Cape Cobras venomous he asked clenching his thumb”

“Yes all Cobras are, why”? looking at his face l knew what was coming.

“Cause the Cape Cobra just bit me, he ate a live mouse yesterday so l think he used his poison then. He only managed to get one fang in my thumb, l pulled it out so fast l don’t think he had anything left for me”

I tried to keep things light hearted. “Well you are screwed then” l told him “cause the lads do not carry antivenom. It has to short a shelf life, is to expensive and they have to many nasty snakes in the exhibit to cover them all, those who have any produced that is”

He turned paler, l helped him sit down. “Look you can do a couple of things. The most sensible is to be on the safe side and get you to hospital now. If you feel ok, and he fed yesterday, and he only just got you with one fang and you want to you can wait. If you feel funny in any way you can go then.”

He chose to wait, l knew he would, macho man. I watched him closer than a starving hawk on a mouse. Luckily he was fine, just shaken. He also learnt a lesson about snakes, when you have got blasé after dealing with non-lethal reptiles, then you are in trouble.

Naja Nivea - Cape Cobra, Geelkapel, Koperkapel.

The colour varies from black through to buttermilk with an almost infinite number of variation in-between. It can be speckled or uniform in colour. Juveniles have a broad black band on the throat, which fades with age.

Cape Cobra’s have a neuro toxic venom. It is as potent as a Black Mamba's - but it injects less of it. Be prepared to support breathing. You should have at least an hour before dangerous symptoms begin to manifest them selves.