I'm back and I know what I want to do!

cdog

New member
Feb 20, 2012
1,489
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Newbury Park, CA
Parrots
Sully-2 year old cinnamon and Bella-3 year old normal
breeding pair of gcc, Scooter & BeeBee-Sully and Bella's normal son's, Rosey- Bella and Sully's cinnamon daughter, Ella & Sunny-American budgies
Hi everybody, hope all is well! I havent been on here for what seems like to ever but Im back!
Some of the members on here may know that I was going to open my own bird store, but I changed my mind. I am going to do this program,Applying to the EATM Program - Teaching Zoo - Current Students - Moorpark College, (read the frequently asked questions section for more info) and then hopefully get a job at the San Diego zoo! The only problem is that the program is 21 months, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The hours are, two days a week:6:30am-9:00pm, and the rest of the days are from 8am-9pm. I'm just worried about all my birds and how they would handle it. Right now I'm home almost all day(homeschooled) and when I'm not here someone else is. But when I do this program, I won't be home hardly ever, my mom works odd hours so she will be home at random times, my dad works from 4:30am-5:30pm weekdays, and my sister will have moved out by then.
How do you think they will handle no one being home during the day? They will still come out everyday but no one will be home all day anymore.
This program is my dream program so opinions are welcomed.
Thanks, Chris.
 
Well, congrats on deciding what you want to do with your life! Sounds exciting. Looks like you have conures and budgies, right?, and they have birdie company, being each other? I'm not familiar with conures, except from what I read on the forum, so I'm not sure if they would miss human company as much as say,, a cockatoo. My 'toos would not do well, at all, if their life changed from me, or someone, being here most of the time, to being left alone for most of the day, every day.
 
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Hi mare, been a while since I talked to you, how's amigo doing?

All my birds have at least one other bird in their cage with them so I don't think they will mind too much, but I'm sure they will miss me seeing as how I'm the one who takes care of all of them. The ones I'm most concerned about are Sully and Bella because they are in my room while all the others are in the living room, and nobody besides me really goes in there. I just got a bearded dragon so they have something to keep them entertained while I'm not there but Bella is very needy. She loves attention and can't go to sleep until she goes for a ride on my shoulder. I have all kinds of nature films that myself and my fids love watching so I can play those for them too but I just hate to leave them alone for so long. I will have my parents check on them throughout the day but I'm the only one who can actually handle them. The programm is only for 21 months so it's not permanent(and I can get my dream job of working at a zoo after completing it) so I'm deftinetley going to do the program, but is there anything you can think of that will make it easier on them?
 
The fact that they have each other is a lot. I'm sure they will be fine but real happy to see you when you are home. The only thing I can think of that might help would be some quiet music left on for them during the day. Not too sure if it really helps them but let's me think it does! I do that for Sassy if I have to leave her alone for awhile.

Amigo is doing well. Living outside full time now, during the day he'll come knocking at the window to come in for awhile, especially during the afternoon heat. I'll put him in his indoor cage, in the living room where Sassy's cage is and he'll take his afternoon nap. Between 4 and 5pm, he'll be ready to head back outside. During the warm summer months, he likes to sleep in his hole in his tree. I'll see him standing on top of it at sunrise, stretching, before coming in for breakfast.

Wishing you luck with your schooling, cdog! Keep us posted on how the birds are handling it!
 
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Lol, Amigo sleeps in a tree hole, funny boy.

I'm so glad I found this program, it's perfect for me and gets me one step closer to my dream job of working at the San Diego zoo!
 
I wouldn't be worried too much about loneliness, I would be worried about out of cage time. Being cage bound for so long. Would you be able to come home from lunch maybe to get them out? Or a family member could do it?
 
Wishing you all the best........
I am sure the birds will be fine.

A suggestion :
I know this will be difficult .....Try have some routine for when they come out. Try make it the same time each day, birds thrive on routine.

I was at home for 4 years with Mishka 24/7. I worked from home.
I recently began working away from home.

Every morning I shower Mishka, and spend an hour with him before work.
Each day when returning home from work, I feed him, then clean his cage.
He is out his cage from 6pm till 8pm each night.

He adapted very well, better than what I did.

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Yes, whenever my mom is home, she will let them out. They also already have a routine of coming out at 2pm-4pm and then again from 8pm-9:30pm(late, I know, but they don't like to go to sleep until 10pm.
I'm not sure if I can come home at lunch or not, I'm in high school still so I don't have to worry too much about this right now.
I am going to test out of high school in October, take math,English, biology, public speaking, and first aid classes at moorpark college(all required classes to take to be able to take the program) in jan and then hopefully if all goes well, I will start the program in August of next year!
 
Have you had zoo-keeping experience? I haven't looked at their application but I'd be surprised if they don't require similar experience to be considered for admission. It's a lot of grunt work for pretty little money and almost 2 years more than full time is a big commitment if you haven't already tried it out. Remember that most of the work is hosing out enclosures, shoveling poop, and composing diets (which often includes handling dead animals like rats, mice, fish, rabbits, etc, and amalgamations of ground-up carcasses such as Bird of Prey diet [mostly horse meat]). An important aspect of zoo-keeping IS paying attention to be behavior (but often done while delivering diets or some other work), but the interaction with the animals themselves is likely to be relatively limited.

Recall that, with that schedule, not only are you gone most of the time, but when you get home, you'll be very worn down and probably won't have the energy to do more than have a quick dinner, a shower, and head to bed. Simply taking care of your pets, not to mention socializing with them, is going to be tough.

I realize this is the second time I've posted a less-encouraging-than-average reply to a thread of yours, but again, I'm not trying to be negative or crush your dreams, I'm just being realistic- and this time I have experience with exactly what you hope to be doing. I see that you have at least a year before you can start this program, so if you haven't already done this sort of work, you have time to find a volunteer position or internship (which, of course, will only help you with your career!)
 
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I don't really care what part I do at the zoo, I'm completely fine with shoveling poop, making the food and cleaning enclosers. That's the good stuff, your the one taking care of the animal then.
And no you don't have to take the program to work at a zoo but thats like saying you don't have to go to college to get a job, you will still get a job, but it won't be a good one. With the program you can work for many major zoos, train animals for tv, be an animal trainer at a zoo. It opens up a lot more possibilities if you take it, rather than just shoveling poop your whole life.
I'm not in it for the money, I want to do it because I love to work with animals. Animals are my passion , they always have been, and they always will. Plus the starting salary after completing the program is $12-19 an hour, that's great for a first job! And it says that 80% of the people who complete the program find work within 8 months, the other 20% continue their education.
By completing the program you get an AA and a degree for completing the animal training coarce, so that opens up a lot of opportunities just from that.
 
I don't really care what part I do at the zoo, I'm completely fine with shoveling poop, making the food and cleaning enclosers. That's the good stuff, your the one taking care of the animal then.
And no you don't have to take the program to work at a zoo but thats like saying you don't have to go to college to get a job, you will still get a job, but it won't be a good one. With the program you can work for many major zoos, train animals for tv, be an animal trainer at a zoo. It opens up a lot more possibilities if you take it, rather than just shoveling poop your whole life.
I'm not in it for the money, I want to do it because I love to work with animals. Animals are my passion , they always have been, and they always will. Plus the starting salary after completing the program is $12-19 an hour, that's great for a first job! And it says that 80% of the people who complete the program find work within 8 months, the other 20% continue their education.
By completing the program you get an AA and a degree for completing the animal training coarce, so that opens up a lot of opportunities just from that.

It seems like you misunderstood me. I said you should get some experience before entering the program, and frankly I would consider them irresponsible to allow someone to enter the program without considerable experience. Trust me, pet care is not at all comparable to zoo-keeping, and expectations often fail to match reality. Maybe grunt work sounds fine now, but after a few weeks or so you might realize it wouldn't actually be a fulfilling career even at a zoo. Fact of the matter is, if you haven't done it, you don't know for sure.

Also, in reality, an AA is almost worthless these days. If you decide to pursue something outside zoo work after all, the main benefit of that degree will be that it'll only take 2 more years to get a bachelors.
 
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The whole point o the program is to teach you how to take care of animals. Of coarce they let people in because it is a program that is used to learn how to take care of and train animals.
I know this is what I want to do and I'm going to do it. I'm not going to back out of it, I don't care how hard it is, I'm going to do it because it's what I love.
It may not be your perfect job, and you may not be able to understand why I want to do it, but that doesn't matter because your not the one doing it. I'm the one who loves animal, all animals, and I love taking care of them so I'm going to be the one taking the program and graduating from it. I will get my dream job of working with animals at a zoo and I will love it, unlike some people who are stuck behind a desk all day and hate their job.
If I start out shoveling poop so be it, but I will work my way up to a zoo keeper and I will love my job and what I do.
There's no way I would ever back out of a program that teaches me how to better care for animals, it's what I want to do until the day I die. It may be hard but it only lasts for 21 months and then I get a job with animals. Plus the program is working with animals so it may be hard, but I will love every minute of it knowing that I cared for an animal and learned something new about caring for them.
I have cared for animals all my live, I know how hard it is, but if you love doing it, it's a lot easier.
I have had 5 dogs, 2 cats, 3 hamsters, 10 fish, 1 turtle, 1 bearded dragon and 9 parrots. I have taken care of all of them, everyday, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I know how to care for animals and how big of a commitment it is but I love doing it so I keep doing it.
I currently volunteer at a petstore and a community center, and I have for 5 years. I know how to work hard, but it's not bad work if you love doing it. I would never think of quiting on my animals, I love them so I keep doing it.
It's not something I have to do, it's something I want to do.
 
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The whole point o the program is to teach you how to take care of animals. Of coarce they let people in because it is a program that is used to learn how to take care of and train animals.
I know this is what I want to do and I'm going to do it. I'm not going to back out of it, I don't care how hard it is, I'm going to do it because it's what I love.
It may not be your perfect job, and you may not be able to understand why I want to do it, but that doesn't matter because your not the one doing it. I'm the one who loves animal, all animals, and I love taking care of them so I'm going to be the one taking the program and graduating from it. I will get my dream job of working with animals at a zoo and I will love it, unlike some people who are stuck behind a desk all day and hate their job.
If I start out shoveling poop so be it, but I will work my way up to a zoo keeper and I will love my job and what I do.
There's no way I would ever back out of a program that teaches me how to better care for animals, it's what I want to do until the day I die. It may be hard but it only lasts for 21 months and then I get a job with animals. Plus the program is working with animals so it may be hard, but I will love every minute of it knowing that I cared for an animal and learned something new about caring for them.
I have cared for animals all my live, I know how hard it is, but if you love doing it, it's a lot easier.
I have had 5 dogs, 2 cats, 3 hamsters, 10 fish, 1 turtle, 1 bearded dragon and 9 parrots. I have taken care of all of them, everyday, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I know how to care for animals and how big of a commitment it is but I love doing it so I keep doing it.
I currently volunteer at a petstore and a community center, and I have for 5 years. I know how to work hard, but it's not bad work if you love doing it. I would never think of quiting on my animals, I love them so I keep doing it.
It's not something I have to do, it's something I want to do.

I don't even begin to understand why you are against the idea of getting actual zoo work prior to beginning the program. In addition to my own various pets, I have worked in a veterinary clinic caring for up to several dozen animals at a time (2 years), I currently volunteer at a zoo doing animal care (nearly 250 hours logged, 2+ years), I have worked in 2 facilities rehabilitating and caring for both recovering wild animals and permanent display residents (about 5 months), and I have worked (2.5 years) in a lab managing the care of over 900 individual birds. I have the experience to tell you that these are all extremely different occupations, and it doesn't sound like your experience is comparable to zookeeping.

It is extremely wise to get such experience before committing time and money to an intensive program. And again, why would you balk at the idea? Are you not aware that experience is more important than education in the zookeeping industry, that more = better? I thought you wanted to do this- why would you hesitate to begin as soon as possible?

Also, you missed something: Shoveling poop IS the job of a zookeeper. That's something you will be doing throughout your career. The very fact that you made that statement ("start out shoveling... work my way up to zookeeper") is kind of a red-flag that maybe you have unrealistic expectations of what a zookeeper does.
 
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No no, I'm not saying that I'm against getting prior work at a zoo. I'm just saying that the program is to teach you how to work at a zoo so why would it be necessary to work at a zoo prior to doing it. It seems counterintuitive to work at the job first and then actually learn how to do it.
The program teaches you how to take care of animals, how to train them, and overall how to work with them. The program also has regular school classes too so you get your education at the same time. This program is made to set people up that are serious about animals, to work with them. It's a training coarce to teach you so what would be the point of getting a zoo job before I know how to do it right or have the education to do so.
Everyday during the coarce you take care of the animals at zoos and other programs so it's like you are working at the zoo already while learning about it.
 

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