Hilda and her cub continue to do well. We've been in with her several times now and she is now confident enough to let Mandy and I in the pen with them and approach her holt without getting into a panic or being aggressive towards us. She is eating well and looks to be in very good condition although I would expect a slight deterioration in her physical well being in the next week or two as the cub becomes more demanding on her. The cubs' coat is turning brown and it is beginning to look like a small version of its mum. It is around ten inches long (a guess, we aren't handling it at the moment) and its eyes are still closed; we expect them to open in ten to fourteen days when it reaches five weeks old. As you can see from the photo it isn't easy to gather information at this stage.
William is still in the pen with Hilda but has been using a separate holt for the past few weeks. He has been curious about her and her holt but hadn't dared to venture too close in case she attacked him. However, we've seen him coming out of her holt on several occasions in the last few days. On one instance she was outside the holt waiting to be fed and as we approached we saw him come out of her holt. We checked straight away and everything was fine but we didn't expect her to allow him access at such an early stage. I don't know of any examples of dog otters harming their cubs but it still makes us rather nervous. It may be that the recent cold spell has driven them together for warmth. If so, let's hope it warms up soon.
Posted by the otter Keeper.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Closed...
Another open season finishes, each year seems to go by even more quickly than the last. The weather was good over half term bringing the visitors in which was great to see before we close for the winter months.
We hope as we are sure you do that next year will be a lot drier than the wet summer we had this year!
Well the “closed season” started off in a very exciting way for us as Hilda our three year old British Otter has given birth to one cub. She had not been out for a few days although we knew she was in her box. So on Monday morning John had a peek just to check that all was well with her and had a glimpse of a small grey and brown cub. He immediately put the lid down as we did not want to upset them.
We have increased her food and moved the food box nearer the gate so that we will disturb them as little as possible. She has caught us all by surprise and William is still living in the pen although we had noticed he had been evicted from the main box and is in the other one in the enclosure. We have deliberated whether or not to remove him but feel that it may upset Hilda more if we start catching him up and she is a very feisty character and is definitely more dominant than poor William who has obviously been told to keep well away!
We know the cub is less than two weeks old as we cleaned out the boxes on the 23rd October.
It is early days so we have to keep our fingers crossed that all continues well for Hilda and her cub, we will keep you updated as things progress.
Biggy, Smalley, Cinnamon and Leap continue to do well and we are making sure that we still go in with them each day as they enjoy the interaction with the keepers almost as much as we do!
They were being a bit of a nuisance yesterday as we were changing the water in their pen and they insist on getting involved in whatever we are trying to do so everything takes a lot longer than with any of the otters at the centre.
Hansel our young buck has been trying to take control of the does as the rutting season is in full swing, he barks at them and tries to boss them around but does not have enough experience for the older ones to take him seriously.
We are settling into the new winter routine and drawing up the list of jobs to be done so we will not be idle over the months.
We will keep you updated on the centre and in particular the cubs over the next few months.
Posted by Mandy
We hope as we are sure you do that next year will be a lot drier than the wet summer we had this year!
Well the “closed season” started off in a very exciting way for us as Hilda our three year old British Otter has given birth to one cub. She had not been out for a few days although we knew she was in her box. So on Monday morning John had a peek just to check that all was well with her and had a glimpse of a small grey and brown cub. He immediately put the lid down as we did not want to upset them.
We have increased her food and moved the food box nearer the gate so that we will disturb them as little as possible. She has caught us all by surprise and William is still living in the pen although we had noticed he had been evicted from the main box and is in the other one in the enclosure. We have deliberated whether or not to remove him but feel that it may upset Hilda more if we start catching him up and she is a very feisty character and is definitely more dominant than poor William who has obviously been told to keep well away!
We know the cub is less than two weeks old as we cleaned out the boxes on the 23rd October.
It is early days so we have to keep our fingers crossed that all continues well for Hilda and her cub, we will keep you updated as things progress.
Biggy, Smalley, Cinnamon and Leap continue to do well and we are making sure that we still go in with them each day as they enjoy the interaction with the keepers almost as much as we do!
They were being a bit of a nuisance yesterday as we were changing the water in their pen and they insist on getting involved in whatever we are trying to do so everything takes a lot longer than with any of the otters at the centre.
Hansel our young buck has been trying to take control of the does as the rutting season is in full swing, he barks at them and tries to boss them around but does not have enough experience for the older ones to take him seriously.
We are settling into the new winter routine and drawing up the list of jobs to be done so we will not be idle over the months.
We will keep you updated on the centre and in particular the cubs over the next few months.
Posted by Mandy
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