"winter in the aviary"

[urbpan]

frozen gobbets of mouse innards
a cold gloved hand
dipped in warm disinfectant
milky with bird shit
don't jump on me, owl

Comments

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming you're cleaning up the eviscerated (sp?) after-math of bird of prey mice feedings, yes? If so, have you ever noticed that they sometimes leave fetuses? Not pinkies, actual fetuses from the mice you feed out. Now, I'm used to cleaning up the organs they leave, but why leave the fetuses? From their perspective, isn't it an extra treat? This is a comment you can really only feel comfortable making to other keepers. It's shock content is pretty high for non-keepers too, so it can be a fun discussion at parties, too. :)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

The only time I've found fetal mice left over was in the Snapper tank--actually my boss found it, and asked me "did you try to feed the snapper pinkies?"

I figured the fetus was too small for the snapper to bother with. Why a raptor would leave it is a mystery. They gobbets I clean up are usually digestive organs, which the hawks leave uneaten.

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's most of what I get, too. But the fetuses are weird. I'll figure it out someday.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Maybe the fetuses are too fatty? Our birds don't like to eat the obese mice, but I'm not sure what the fat content of a fetal mouse would be.