Augusto and I are headed to Peru for a 3 week vacation. We're going to visit Augusto's family in Lima and hopefully make a trip up to Cajamarca as well. We will miss the animals very much, but hey are in great hands thanks to our wonderful volunteers. We hope to see many amazing sights and have an adventure every day. We'll see everyone when get home!

We have 2 new residents to welcome to Animal Wonders, Wilbur the Hognose snake, and Shelby the Gopher snake. Both are settling in nicely and enjoying their new spacious enclosures. Wilbur and Shelby are both beautiful and healthy and we look forward to educating the kids of Montana about these two native species.

Animal Wonders is building a new Animal Compound! Thanks to the generosity of Rick and Sue Knudsen, the animal residents will soon be living in style. The compound will have separate temperature controlled rooms for the reptiles, birds, and mammals. It will have a built in backup heating system for power outages which will bring us all piece of mind. This is quite the undertaking and huge kudos go out to Rick and Jake who have volunteered many hours to helping the project come to fruition.

A quick update on Charlie, the dog. He is doing great and will have his liver enzymes checked tomorrow. We are thinking it was just a bout of food poisoning from getting into something he shouldn't have. We're keeping our fingers crossed he continues to stay healthy and happy.

And we're off to the wonderful event of a friend of Animal Wonders'
3 birthday party! It will be a fun and educational experience for all. Happy Birthday Oliver!

Charlie came home yesterday evening after the vet was able to get a few bites of food in him. When he got home he was a ball of energy. He was so happy to be home and his best friend Molly couldn't contain her joy. They sprinted around for and hour. Charlie ate a full meal and had a good bowel movement. These two things were very welcome sights. He is on some meds and if he continues to eat as well as he has the last 3 feedings he might be in the clear. He will go back to the vet to have his liver enzymes checked in a few weeks. Keep your fingers crossed that he continues on this track.

Charlie, the dog, is at the doctors today. He stopped eating and was feeling pretty down. We checked him into the vet with a 104 degree temperature and slightly dehydrated. He got some fluids and antibiotics and stayed the night hoping that they would get him eating again. The blood work came back with signs pointing to a problem with his liver, more detailed results will come in today. We're hoping Charlie eats today so he can come on home to his nice warm bed and friends to love him. Get Well Soon Charlie.

When we say BE we're talking about Behavioral Enrichment. All animals (and people) need BE to stay healthy. Exotic animals needs more BE than other animals because they have not been domesticated and still need a lot of mental and physical stimulation. BE can be anything that initiates a response in an animal. Most people think of BE as toys but it can be anything from visual to vocal interaction or new foods or other animals.

Today was a rainy day. Most of the animals stayed inside including me. I gave myself some BE by making toys for the animals. It was mentally and physically stimulating for me to make them and then the animals were mentally and physically stimulated when they received them. The birds actually enjoyed watching me make the toys as much as getting to play with them. So even for a rainy day we made some accomplishments.