We Went To The Capital Of Texas Zoo!

Yesterday was my birthday. We all went to the “Capitol Of Texas Zoo”. It’s not really in the capitol of Texas, Austin. It’s about 15 miles East of Austin in Cedar Creek, Texas.

We entered the zoo through a small building. In the building we saw several animals in small cages and bought food for the petting zoo. In the cages there were African Horned Frogs, Snakes (Rattlers, Copper Heads, Water Moccasins, Python), Sugar Gliders, a Blue-tongued Skink, a Cotton-Top Tamarin, and a little Alligator (it was only about 2 feet long).

When we left the building there was a large Wallaby enclosure. They had several Wallabies bouncing around, eating, or lying on the ground. I noticed some of them had little heads sticking out of their pouches. They were cute little Joeys! One of them had two little feet sticking out of its pouch! Alex spilled some of his food on the ground and a little Goat came running over to clean it up. We picked up a lot of the food so the Goat wouldn’t eat it all! That Goat followed us around the rest of the zoo.

Next we went to the petting zoo. We got to feed Goats, Turkeys, Geese, a Llama, a Pony named Cocoa, and four Pot Bellied Pigs. There were two adult Pigs and two cute little baby Piglets that we fed! There were Goats, Turkeys, Peafowl, Guinea fowl, and Fallow Deer running around that followed us. We got to hand feed the deer! :) We got to feed the Emus, and the Rheas, too! Rheas are sort of like Emus, but their calmer.

There were wild cats - African Servals, a Lion named Bamboo, Bobcats, and a Puma. When we went to look at the Lion, he growled at us. I got scared and left.One of the Bobcats hissed and the other one made a wierd growling sound.

The zoo also had a big enclosure for Guinea Pigs. The Guinea Pigs were so cute! There were even some little babies! :) They had a little house for them to go into at night. They must have at least 20 or 30 guinea pigs, Maybe More!

There was a family of Ringtail Lemurs. We saw the mother with a very cute little baby on her back. Last year’s baby was in there too, all grown up. While we were watching them, another Lemur came out of the nest box. It was the father. It's eyes looked all gooey and it was sneezing a lot. It looked like he had a cold. :( I found out later that he is 36 years old! He’s the oldest captive Ringtail Lemur on record! The baby Lemur climbed down and went over too the sick one. Then it climbed back up to it's mother to nurse.

There were also some Maras. They look sort of like a mix of kangaroos and deer. They walk around like deer but when they sit, they look more kangaroo-like.

We saw some Turtles, Tortoises and Iguanas. There was even a Soft Shelled Turtle, and a Crocodile, too.

A Marmot was curled up inside its cave asleep, so we didn’t get to see it very well. There was also a Monkey called a Spot-Nosed Guenon. It kept jumping on the bars & shaking them to try to scare us away.

There was one Nene Goose in a pen too. It was very quiet for a Nene Goose.

The zoo was nice and shady almost everywhere. Nice for us & the animals! I had a really good time at the zoo! :)

The First Cute Little Fawn Of The Year!

We were driving up the driveway yesterday and we saw a very tiny, cute, newborn fawn with it's mother in the middle of the driveway! We had to stop the car and wait for a while, because they weren't going anywhere. While we were waiting and whatching, the fawn started to nurse. We waited untill it was done and then started slowly edging up the driveway. The mother jumped into the woods and the fawn tried to too. But it didn't get very far. It stayed in a little clump of plants next to the driveway. It's legs just aren't long enough or strong enough to get through that tall stuff yet! I sure hope I get to see it again soon!

What a cute little puppy! uh I mean fox!

Peanuts! Yummy!

Here's He is again!

Here's the cute little fox that came to my backyard today.

A Fox! A Fox!

We spread out some peanuts in the backyard for the Deer and Squirrels this morning, but little did we know a pretty little Gray Fox would come and eat them! It came down the hill and sat down and started eating the peanuts. It was so cute! It stayed for a long time. We took lots of pictures & video of it. We use to see foxes all the time in Virginia. But this is the first fox I've seen since we've lived here in Austin. Gray foxes are also known as tree foxes because they build their nests in trees.

Baby backyard birds.

I have a wren-bird nesting box outside the house. Last year some Carolina Wrens came to nest in it. I had been waiting and waiting and then, one day I saw something sticking out of the box! It was a little beak. I was watching, and then, an adult Wren came with a sunflower seed! :) I kept watching and the Wren kept coming back with more food. Another Wren was siting in a nearby tree singing. A Squirrel climbed up the tree and the Wren chased it away! The next day, I didn't see any Wrens near the nest box, not even the babies! I never saw them again! :(.

This year, I saw a Bewick's Wren going in and out of the nest box! Also this year, I've seen fledgling Black-crested Titmice, House Finches, and Carolina Chickadees at our bird feeders! They're so cute sitting on the tree branches, fluttering their wings waiting to be fed! :).

Here's Hermini in her new BIG yellow shell messing with her little old green shell. 

More About Crabs.

Hermini has been rubbing her claws and legs on the gravel and her shell a lot lately. She has been eating the coral and the cuttle fish bone and the gravel and her shells! I think she's getting ready to moult (shed her exoskeleten.) She had been changing shells a lot too.

Hermini has lived in a small, green shell since I got her three years ago. I got her some other shells in case she wanted to change to a different one. She has a white shell that is a little bigger than her green shell. And a yellow shell that is a little bigger than the white shell.

Two weeks ago Hermini changed to the white shell and stayed in it for two days! Then She changed back to the green shell. Five days later, She changed back to the white shell! Six days later, She changed to the big yellow shell! I'm pretty sure she's going to moult soon!

My Backyard Birds.

• Carolina Chickadee.
• Northern Cardinal.
• Black-Crested Titmouse.
• Eastern Kingbird.
• Northern Mocking Bird.
• Lesser Gold-Finch.
• Black-Chin and Ruby Throat Hummingbirds.
• Blue-Gray GnatCatcher.
• Blue Jay.
• Painted Bunting.
• Field Sparrow.
• White-Throated Sparrow.
• House Finch.
• House Sparrow.
• Scott's Oriole.
• Common Grackle.
• Robin.
• Carolina and Bewick's Wrens.
• Greater-Crested Flycatcher.
• Downy, Red-Bellied, and Ladder-Back Woodpeckers.
• Mourning and White-Winged Doves.
• Wood Duck.
• Great Blue Heron.
• Red-Tailed Hawk.
• Turkey.