Tigerhomes.org - Bottle Feeding Exotics - 3
By: Jason Abels – Assistant Director www.tigerhomes.org Animal Sanctuary
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When necessary, David and I do interact
directly with almost all the Sanctuary
Residents including
the adult Dangerous
Predators. For this reason it is imperative
to never “Rough House” Baby Predators, especially
Large Cats. They are indeed extremely cute as babies and
it is so hard not to want to play with them on their level, “Rough”.
What we do is allow for them to get rough or to get their “Pounces
Out” on Inanimate Objects only such as toys, Stuffed
Animals, Palm Tree branches ect. Things tend to escalate
very fast with Big Cats! Calm gentle Play Behavior can
easily become aggressive in the Blink-Of-An-Eye. Large
Felines tend to get possessive of items in their mouth
or claws, so if this item happens to be your arm, you can
be in a bad way FAST. This is why we try to condition them
when young to only play aggressively with toys. We will
include a photograph of what I like to call the “Trophy
Wall”. During the upbringing of each Baby
Tiger or
Leopard
Cub about 15 to 30 stuffed animals are sacrificed.
The Wild Instincts these animals possess is amazing. At
5 weeks of age Tundra the Sanctuary’s 1st Baby White
Tiger Cub was instinctively ripping the throats out of
her stuffed toys. These stuffed Toy Animals were so expensive
that I would remove their heads and stuffing and allow
the Baby Wild Cats to continue playing with the hollowed
out cloth carcasses. I then would mount the heads on the
wall. Thus the “Trophy Wall” was established.
I still need to add about 30 more heads. My favorite is
the Scooby Doo head Loki took of at 7 weeks of age ;-)
Of course a vital part of any Baby
Lion,
Leopard, Tiger or Cougars development is practicing and
honing their Hunting Skills via pouncing, biting, clawing,
tripping and ripping things apart. It is fun when the Baby Cubs are a few
weeks or months old but deadly when they become adults!
While none of the Tiger Homes Animals
are used in performances or Live Entertainment, David and
I do interact with them directly on occasion when necessary
and want them as respectful as possible. For this reason
we raise them not to play with us directly in a “Rough
Manor” as infants. This is where my Golden Retriever,
Cody comes in. This is one of the most amazing dogs you
have ever seen and was raised herself amongst a wild assortment
of Baby Endangered Species. Cody has remarkable Maternal
Instincts and is invaluable in helping us raise Orphaned
Wildlife. We will include some shots of Cody with this
article caring for an assortment of Baby Cats including
Spock, Tundra, Loki and Midnight. With her thick fur, Cody
is more tolerant to the cub’s ruff play then delicate
Human Skin. She will also gently discipline an out of line
cub with a bark to the face when necessary that is always
understood loud and clear by a misbehaving cub.
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In order to slowly wean the cubs, at
about two and a half months of age I begin “flavoring” their
formula with Ground Turkey. This not only helps gets them
used to the flavor of meet but also insures the growing
cubs additional Protein
Requirements are met as well. This
slow addition of added protein allows for the Babies
Digestive Track to gradually acclimate digesting new nutrients. One
thing I have learned over many years of Hand
Rearing Big Cats and other Infant
Animals is that is extremely dangerous
to shock their bodies with quick formula changes and drastic
nutritional alterations. Many animals react very negatively
to such changes so it is imperative you start of with the
correct Milk Matrix for the specific species being reared.
Lucky for us, both David and I have years of direct on
hands experience Bottle Feeding Baby Animals of all kinds
and have had a phenomenal success rate. “Knock On
Wood!
I hope you found this piece interesting
and informative. We invite you all to continue learning
and exploring about natures most remarkable endangered
animals via our “Educational Center” or our 30 + “World
Famous Animal Cams” set up in the Animal Sanctuary’s large naturalistic
Tiger, Lion, Leopard and Lemur Habitats. To learn more about life behind the
scenes with Baby Felines check out the Tiger Homes last filmed “Educational
DVD” in a series of 3, titled, “POWER
CATS – LOCKED AND LOADED”,
available at the Sanctuary’s GIFT
SHOP. Follow David and me into the “Lions
Den” and even the Sanctuary’s White Tiger enclosure currently
housing both Loki and Tundra.
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