Year: 2020

Toffee My Crested Gecko

Since Nero passed away a few weeks ago, I have been saving my money and waiting for Christmas to be over to go add a new friend to my zoo. I have been researching a lot about crested geckos and what amazing pets they make. This little guy is a tri-colored Dalmatian crested gecko. I named him Toffee. He is super friendly and very handleable.

  • Toffee
  • Look at those eye lashes! haha

Busch Gardens 4-H Camp

Mom saw an email with a Busch Gardens Camp for 4-H youth. It was hosted by Missouri 4-H but they allowed Florida youth to join their camp. E and I were the only two Florida youth. I was in the Zoo Apprentice program and E in the Jr. Apprentice program. My group got work tasks daily of working in various animal habitats. I worked with the tigers, reptiles, and rhinos areas. We had to clean habitats and stop some rather large animal droppings.

Each day we had a morning of work and then the afternoon and evening was fun in the park. We were able to go right to the front of the lines so got to ride all the rides in the parks. After dinner we would go back shower and have cabin games and discussions about our days work.

One day we got to take a trip to Sea World and had all the same luxuries there.

This was an excellent camp and taught me a lot about animal husbandry and what it takes to care for these exotic animals. We traveled in style in the Busch Gardens trucks. The food was great since we basically went to the park restaurants and had a waiver to get what we wanted at each meal.

We even got to spend News Years Eve at the park and watch the fireworks from the lodge parking area. I am sad to leave but know that this experience will forever help guide me on my journey of life.

  • My bunk
  • common room
  • more common room
  • learning about our schedule
  • seeing hippos
  • giraffes
  • cobras curse
  • cheetah hunt
  • feeding the giraffe because I was a “tall”
  • ready for work
  • ice skating show
  • Kumba
  • Sheekrah
  • tigris
  • work boots
  • early bus
  • fancy transportatioon
  • seaward fun
  • orcas
  • maku
  • penguins
  • atlantis
  • the crew
  • kraken
  • animal shows
  • work rotation
  • crew photo
  • final ride to the lodge
  • goodbye camp!