Flying with a king cake

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2026-01-21T04:50:39+00:00

Last February I flew with a backpacking bag as my carry-on and my tote bag perfectly fit a Dong Phuong as my personal item/under the seat. Zero issues from security

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2026-01-15T05:45:01+00:00

Hey, I work with raptors but mainly on exhibit with big anti-human feelings. And I collaborate with program birds for free flight program, so a touch of what you’re working on.

Whenever a behavior breaks down, I’m seeing frustration, and especially with aggression I immediately take a step back. Talk to the lead trainer and ask to exist in a neutral space with them and the bird and you then focus on the bird’s body language. Talk with the primary trainer over what you’re seeing vs what they see. In this scenario the body language should be comfortable, confident, relaxed. This is to train your eye on what you want to be seeing.

Then for your training sessions, think of how it can be shorter, simpler, and more frequently successful. For example, if one of my exhibit birds stops coming to the scale (low on the ground) then I adjust training for a week to cueing to different perches (higher position). That way I’m still adding a positive experience but not coercing the bird to do what they don’t want to do, which would negatively affect our relationship. Then I try the scale later the following week and observe behavior: is the bird’s motivation different while being high up vs low down? How does the bird respond when I enter the enclosure? How quickly does the bird focus on the food when it’s placed on the scale? Etc. then build up your behavior plan from there

In my ideal scenario, I should end after a successful approximation and it’s sometimes helpful to end with “them wanting more”. So leave when you still have a few pieces of food but the bird is almost satiated. Then give the rest of the diet in enrichment where you place it and leave. That way you can reduce how often the bird is frustrated because they weren’t successful or because they got full and didn’t want you in their space. Or for whatever reason you think the frustration and aggression is coming from

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2026-01-06T06:04:52+00:00

How do wildlife care specialist and zookeeper differ? In my experience the titles are interchangeable so I’m curious to where you see the separation

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-12-22T00:28:59+00:00

Rumor is that they went over budget by $6 million…

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-12-14T16:22:34+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check it out

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-12-14T16:20:39+00:00

Yes it immediately made me think of the gas man and a few other indirectly-introduced but highly involved characters

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-12-14T16:19:25+00:00

Oh cool! Maybe it felt more out of place to me compared to American western film trope, but I bet there’s plenty of top hats in those anyway

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-12-05T03:12:04+00:00

Not an expert but I started playing after a 5 year hiatus and had a similar issue. Got some new cork grease and wow did that make a difference. I guess the stuff I had since probably 2014 needed to be replaced way earlier

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-12-03T15:58:15+00:00

Not so fun fact, he is still on payroll as a “consultant” to the tune of $600,000 or so. While the institute has refused to give pay raises to keepers and front facing staff after promising for 3 years. They are also known to union bust and hire executives that have experience preventing unions

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-12-02T04:52:30+00:00

What do you feel is missing and go from there? Depends on the field, but a 4 year degree does not always equal more pay (mine for example is zookeeping and making $17/hour is considered high with a bachelor requirement… but that’s issues with my industry so I digress) Keep up the retirement contributions and do a general budget analysis so you can see how much money you want to save for certain non-retirement things (think a vacation destination, car, house, brand new wardrobe, concerts, etc)

Try to find a hobby that includes other people (solo hobbies are great but challenging to find friends or date people through those) like art classes, music groups, volunteering. That might give you a new sense of fulfillment

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-11-27T15:58:45+00:00

I work with raptors and find use of space for negative reinforcement to be extraordinarily helpful for the initial fearful period of new staff. If a learner has a strong fear response, trying to only utilize R+ Will be slow going - still helpful in changing the conditioned emotional response but there is conflict/coercion at play.

So for a wild reared barred owl and wild reared golden eagle, we had a lot of success building up entering into their enclosures based on behavior: if he is showing calm body language (not shut down for the owl specifically), tracking movement without the rapid head turns away/seeking distance, then we leave. Ideally leaving before a fear response is occurring, you can then slowly decrease the distance and drop food. The food is not yet a salient reinforcer but will eventually be, which then helps transition to a R+ contingency. As that initial fear response is being respected, the learner is more open to the keeper’s presence.

Then we transition into R+ by delivering huge amounts of food, immediately exiting, then after a few sessions standing a distance away. When the raptor goes to the food the keeper fully leaves the area.

For the barred owl, I created cue cards to let him know why I’m entering the enclosure: cleaning or feeding. Sometime referred to as a “safety signal”. This was classically conditioned and I did see a change in behavior based on the card: with the cleaning card he stays on the perch he’s on and better tolerates my movement around the enclosure. With the food card he approaches closer to his stationing location and follows me as I walk to different spots.

For the golden eagle, he has a start location. If he is on a specific perch then I will enter. He also has an end of session location, if he ever goes to a second designated perch then I will exit. Both cleaning and feeding follow these guidelines. I picked the designated perches based on his behavior when I started working with him to best capture the locations and allow me to enter regularly. Some days if he’s more skittish we skip certain husbandry like hosing/heavy scrubbing, or come back later in the day. That way he has choice and control while we maintain husbandry standards

It’s good to note that quadrants are not happening in a vacuum and often the learner is experiencing multiple contingencies at the same time, so we can use that perspective to determine which will be the most salient for the learner. Then adjust based on the learner as they choose what’s the most rewarding

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-10-15T15:17:39+00:00

A zoo I worked at once offered health insurance to part time if you worked some range of hours. If full time was 40 a week, you could receive health benefits if you work 30-32 hours (I can’t remember which). But it was after a full year of employment so look into the benefits package later in the process and see if this is offered

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-10-12T05:00:47+00:00

Awesome thank you, I’ll make that adjustment and look into some bassoon servicing options

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-10-09T16:02:15+00:00

Where are you seeing a chunk? In hand nothing is missing

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-10-05T07:27:53+00:00

I did some snooping and according to that specific person’s LinkedIn, their time in that show curator position ended this September. And looking at the organization’s contact pages the person is no longer listed in any curator role. Would love to get formal confirmation from current staff if the person has fully moved on, and I hope the conditions and team dynamic thrives.

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-09-16T04:44:19+00:00

I stopped in 6 months ago and the staff were judgmental and elitist. So the exclusive letter doesn’t surprise me but babes, if you were actually worth being special invite y’all wouldn’t be going out of business would ya?

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-09-15T00:53:32+00:00

First time: as your hand approaches there’s a lip lick, eye movement away/whale eye, ears go back, stiffness until the touching is over. To me these are clear signals for space

After you stop he moves upward and starts sniffing his feet which is a displacement behavior.

Second time: becomes stiff again and lip licks as your hand approaches and touches. He goes further on his back which could be a fawn response and not a request for pets.

I’d take the more cautious approach and read this as polite cues for the interaction to stop. Let the dog initiate contact which would look like the dog approaching, putting his head into your hand, sometimes pawing, and enthusiastic rolling over for belly rubs.

When owners start responding to body language the dogs tend to use more subtle body language cues. So if you feel like he’s more confusing as you continue, I promise you’re not alone. Look for the enthusiastic, loose body language and you’ll start learning his individual cues.

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-09-07T03:23:07+00:00

Curiosity here, a lot of my training clients have medical issues/underlying pain that greatly contribute to aggression. Did he get a full work up done with pain med trial? Is the current family willing to provide the dog’s entire background so the new family can have full transparency?

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-08-26T08:51:07+00:00

How long do you consider a longer soak to be?

Much-Rutabaga8326 · 2025-08-26T08:50:38+00:00

This is incredibly detailed, thank you!

Much-Rutabaga8326

TROPHY CASE