News From The Mews

During Aldo's annual vet visit this week, Dr. Annette turned off the lights and checked his eyes. She confirmed that the 10-year-old American Kestrel had small cataracts. They were not yet obstructing his vision, but she said that he may need medicated eye drops in the future. Suddenly I had a new training goal: teach Aldo to accept voluntary eye drops. It may sound impossible, but I found this great example of an eagle at the National Eagle Center taking eye drops on glove. It's time for Aldo and I to work on this behavior so that he is ready if he ever needs medications! "Here we see eagle ambassador Was'aka receiving his daily eye drops which he requires for his left eye which is blind as the result of a tumor growth as a young eagle." National Eagle Center Facebook post .

I noticed that Digger the hognose snake was spending more time visible in her habitat and was moving around more often. Compared to several days of being completely hidden under her bedding, this new level of activity made me wonder if she was getting hungry. Our new behavior-based feeding strategy needs to factor in more than just behavior. According to our notes, it had been just over one week since her last meal, a reasonable time gap between feedings. And she had pooped, too, meaning that she was done processing her last mouse. It looked like a good time to feed her! I was excited because that meant another chance to practice target training . Last time, Digger seemed eager to approach the blue target. Would she move farther across her habitat to reach the target this time? Yes! Digger seemed to spring to life when she saw the blue target. She oriented to the target, then moved about 2 feet away to touch it! She paused in front of it, and started searching for the mouse as soon as...

With the right training plan, behavior multiplies. If change isn't happening quickly, you need to change something about your plan. I try to keep this idea from behavior analyst Mary Hunter  in mind while I work with Otto the Great Horned Owl. We make progress, then get stuck in a rut. When I notice that change isn't happening, I start brainstorming how I can change our approach.  Our current goal is for Otto to walk into his crate so I can move him out of the mew. He would eagerly enter the crate and let me close the door. But then we got stuck when I tried to move the crate. He stopped going in it at all. What could I change?  What if I elevated the crate on two bricks? He might feel safer slightly off the ground. He might feel the crate wobble a bit and get used to little bits of movement. I might be able to lift the crate more smoothly.  Will we see behavior multiplying with this plan? We'll see!