The Lemurs, Ginger and Lilly

The volunteers put up brand new enrichment for Lilly (Common Marmoset) today, which she really enjoyed.  I bought more shade netting today, which will go up tomorrow so that Dude and Suki will not be able to see the neighbours any more.

Nina (Ruffed Lemur) refused to take her medication this afternoon even though we tried it in a marshmellow and several other combinations of yummy stuff - she was just not going to have it.

Noah (Ruffed Lemur) has been under observation today as he has now finished his course of antiboitics and we need to know how he is doing - all seems well with him.

Ginger is still looking down - we dont know why.  He is still eating, but is not his usual cheeky self.

We have a new local volunteer starting tomorrow.  She will be a great help during December when we have very few international volunteers.

Today, l organised for the vet to meet us at the quarantine station to sedate the four Barbary Macaques - they are coming home on Friday.  We are all very excited about their arrival and plan to spend the day giving them lots of yummy treats.

A few glum monkeys

Shapken (Mona monkey - above) has been under observation all day after it was noticed that he had diahhorea this morning (he spilt his watery content in the water bowl and on Sarah's arm !!).  Emma, who was doing the observations did not notice any more diahhorea, but said that Ginger (his cage mate) also looked a little down today.  I went to visit them, and Ginger did look very glum, but they were both eating, so we will keep an eye on them. 

It was reported that Lilly (Common Marmoset) is also down.  Her foster parents, Dudi and Suki are too distracted with the neighbours and not taking very much notice of her.  Tomorrow, we will put shade netting up to block their view.

Flea and Sonko - determined to be the most mentioned primates on our blog, are also being watched closely.  Sonko has become and little nervous of his foster dad (Flea) and it may be the beginning of a rejection, esspecially now that Abbette has joined them. 

An unusual day

Today was unusual – because it was quiet.  This morning two perspective local volunteers came to have a look around and find out more.

The Ruffed Lemurs were wonderfully playful this morning – and very noisy.  They started shouting at about 5:30am – great alarm clock.

This afternoon we received a call from a Marmoset owner who wants to come and visit the sanctuary.  We believe that she wants to bring her three Marmosets here, but time will tell.  They asked for directions but did not set a date for the visit.

Later l went to get some more medication for Noah (Ruffed Lemur)

Jackie said that Lilly (Common Marmoset) was a little quiet today

Puma was still under observation today, but was feeling better – so we will not have to take him to the vet.

Next week will be busy – the Macaques (and two more Marmosets) are due to come out of quarantine on Thursday or Friday

Other than that nothing interesting to report.

A baby vervet monkey arrives at the sanctuary

Sarah and l did the morning feed together this morning, which included giving Papi his insulin injection (he was such a good boy), then Nina explained the Lemur medication to us.

Sarah and Jackie went up to do the monkey supplements, while l settled into some admin work.  I was just planning my day when Sarah came running down from the Marmoset enclosures with the sanctuary phone and handed it to me saying “there is a lady on the phone who wants to us to collect a baby vervet monkey”.  The whole days plans were about to change.  I quickly jotted down the address of where the baby monkey was, we prepared some milk in a hurry, grabbed a blanket and Sarah and l jumped in the car and raced off to collect the baby monkey.  Jackie continued with the sanctuary supplements and medications.

In about an hour, we had arrived at our destination and a lady came out holding a tiny baby in her arms.  We quickly fed her some milk and set off to take the baby back to the sanctuary.  The baby had not been fed all night so she was very hungry and stressed, calling for her mom (who died when she was hit by a car) until she fell asleep in Sarah’s arms.  Then she woke and decided that it was play time, so she bit Sarah’s nose and deposited a smelly pooop on Sarah clean T Shirt.

Once home, the volunteers enjoyed the company of this delightfully cute little creature while l phoned Bambelela (vervet monkey sanctuary) to collect the baby.  For those of you who don’t know – its our policy to send indigenous animals on to sanctuaries who will release them back into the wild.  We only keep exotic primates at our sanctuary, but will get involved in the rescue of just about any animal who needs us.

This afternoon, l took Kate and Nina (volunteers) to the airport, leaving the baby monkey in the very capable hands of the volunteers.  On the way back, l stopped to do some shopping and Bambelela phoned to say that they would collect the baby vervet monkey this evening.  I was anxious to get back to the sanctuary to prepare Sarah for the collection of the baby.

When l arrived back at the sanctuary the little baby girl was sleeping comfortably in Sarah’s arms and l was told that she had been drinking well all afternoon.  Bambelela arrived around 7:30pm to collect her.

Although it was difficult to part with this beautiful little creature, she now has the chance to go back to the wild one day, instead of being captive so we all knew that it was the right decision for her.

Fortunately, our own monkeys behaved well today.  Puma took his supplement and his monkey pellets, so he is feeling better.

  

Sarah's drug abuse problem

I was up at 4am to start the morning feed with Mike.  When l returned, l found this note from Sarah on my computer “Done Papi’s insulin and then stabbed myself in the finger with the needle afterwards.  If l am not awake by 9am, you know why”.  I was a little concerned that Sarah had accidentally given herself a dose of insulin and that her blood sugar may have fallen to a dangerous level.  I considered how l could ensure the good health of my valuable volunteer.  I thought that if she was sleeping with her mouth open l could drop a few sweets down her throat to bring her blood sugar up, but decided against it in case she bit me !!.  Fortunately Sarah survived her little incident and was ready for the days duties on time.

Flea and Sonko’s testicles have returned to their normal size – hope they are not too disappointed that they don’t look as well endowed any more.

Puma is a little better, but still not right.  We have had him under observation all day.  He still seems too lethargic. 

Today, Sarah went in with Totsy and Mr Black and hand fed them nuts, which they enjoyed.

Carte Blanche was filming for a few hours.  They interviewed Nina (who bought the Lemurs to us), and filmed Noah and Nina (Ruffed Lemurs), Mr Black and Totsy (Black and Brown Lemur) and some of the Marmosets.  They said that it would be screened some time in December.  Will let you all know.

Lady (Black eared Marmoset) vomited after pellets.  I went up to see her, she was gobbling down some food when l arrived, but the moment she saw me, she flew like a little furry missile against the wire, shouting at me.  She did not look sick to me, she probably vomited because she ate too much.

The Ruffed Lemurs were very playful (and noisy) this afternoon.  They both look very happy.  

Puma was not feel well today

 Flea and Sonko (Common Marmosets) have been taking their medication and the good news is that the swelling is coming down.

Puma (Common Marmoset), did not take his protein supplement this morning and looked a bit down, so he was put under observation.  Later in the day, he vomited – could be that he ate something that did not agree with him. He drank some glucose water from the teaspoon and by this evening he looked a little better.  He will be under observation again and if he is no better, he will visit the vet.

Carte Blanche arrived and spent about an hour at the sanctuary.  The will be back tomorrow.

Today, we offered Mr Black (Black Lemur) and Totsy (Brown Lemur) a millipede to eat, which is part of their natural diet.  According to our research, they salivate on millipedes, then roll them between the hands for 5 – 6 minutes before eating.  It was fascinating to watch their natural behaviours come out.  They got it right – except the eating part.  Totsy eventually took a bite and then dropped it a ran off.  We are trying to find ways to keep Mr Black busy as he runs in little circles and still appears quite stressed.

The Ruffed Lemurs have settled very well.  Noah is on an antibiotic and took all of his medication in peach purity.  Both of them love the large trees in their enclosure and were playful this afternoon.

Flea and Sonko's embarrassing problem

Yesterday, poor old Flea and Sonko (Common Marmosets) went off to the vet with a rather embarrassing problem.  They both had swollen testicles.  Flea and Sonko both had vasectomies 3 weeks ago and suddenly there testicles have swollen up again.  The vet is not sure why this has happened, but they are both being treated with antibiotics and, of course, pain killers for a week.  Hopefully this will bring their condition under control, but it will be reviewed again in a week.

In the meantime, Flea and Sonko are acting normally and eating well (could be that they don’t want anyone to know about this embarrassing problem)

Flea arrived at the sanctuary in 2003 after a concerned member of public saw him being sold at a market place.  Sonko is his foster son.  They both currently live with Abbette, who arrived at the sanctuary last month.

The Lemurs first day at the sanctuary

Yesterday was an exciting day for the sanctuary.  I left for the airport at 10am to collect four rescued Lemurs and one Marmoset.  We checked all the traveling boxes at the airport before transporting the five primates, Brown Lemur (Totsy), Black Lemur (Mr Black), Ruffed Lemurs (Noah and Nina) and Common Marmoset (Fossy) to the sanctuary.

We were anxious to settle the two blind Lemurs into their new enclosure.  First out of the traveling box to investigate was the brown lemur, Totsy.  She is elderly, in very poor condition and blind in the one eye.  The black lemur, Mr Black was still to afraid to come out of his traveling box when we left to settle Fossy into an indoor enclosure.  He came out of the traveling box and started complaining right away.

The Ruffed Lemurs, Noah and Nina were soon investigating their new accommodation and seemed relaxed as they enjoyed a meal after their long flight.

Today, we took the Lemurs off to the vet.  Noah was put on an antibiotic, Mr Black and Totsy have to go back for a full day for testing.  Hopefully something can be done to restore some vision for Mr Black, who is blind.  We decided to wait until they are a little more settled before taking them back as they are finding all the changes very stressful.  In the meantime, we a giving them plenty of good quality food so that they will start putting on weight.  By this evening Mr Black and Totsy were responding to our voices and looked relaxed.

While we were at the vet, one of the carers send a text message that Flea (Common Marmoset) has a swollen testicle.  He is booked in to see the vet tomorrow at 11:30am

The labourers started planting the poles for the outdoor area of the Macaque enclosure today.  We are looking very forward to collecting them from quarantine early in December.

We heard today that Carte Blanche will be here to film on Wednesday

Volunteers prepare to receive rescued Lemurs at the sanctuary

This morning volunteers continued to work on enrichment f or the Lemurs who will be flying in from Cape Town tomorrow.  Elliot did the trap door and feeding hatch, while Kate and George put up some heavy logs for the Lemurs to run along. 

Jackie went up to give the monkeys their supplements and medications.  She finally managed to get a blood test reading for Papi, our diabetic Mona monkey.  Just as she was about to draw blood earlier this morning, a light air-craft flew over, which frightened poor old Papi and he ran away from her.

The rest of the volunteers prepared the monkey food.

Just after lunch, we received notification that two more Lemurs had been rescued and are due to fly to the sanctuary with the planned Ruffed Lemurs tomorrow.  The two additional Lemurs are one brown and one black, both are blind and will need special care.  So, now due to arrive at the sanctuary tomorrow are Nina (female Ruffed Lemur), Noah (male Ruffed Lemur), Mr Black (Black Lemur) and Totsy (Brown Lemur) and one very special little Marmoset, Fossy, who up until now has been too unwell to travel to the sanctuary.

Additional transport has to be hired to carry all the boxes of new arrivals

This afternoon, work continued on the Lemur enclosure, with Elliot and George making a little pond for them to enjoy.  We still have to clean out an enclosure for the suprize additions to our intake tomorrow.

To volunteer at our sanctuary, contact Sue s.a@iprescue.org