Camper Chronicles: Week 7/ Day 1

Camper Chronicles is back! After a brief hiatus, a new group of summer campers are back as guest bloggers. This week’s theme is Animal Keepers, which focuses on teaching the children how the Aquarium takes care of our animals. Here is what they had to say. Enjoy!

Jacob, “At keepers camp on August 3rd, 2009 I learned about quarantining and curing reptiles. We watched them tag a female turtle, and give a snake medicine for internal parasites. We also learned about designing a tank, David, another worker, explained about his job as a cage designer.”

Hannah, “My name is Hannah, and on Monday at camp I learned how to feed fish and how to design a cage. I actually got to feed fish in an exhibit, how cool!! The workers fed seahorses, and said they were sea monkeys. I never knew that! Thank you!”

Remy, “My group learned how the aquarists fed the animals and how they make their food. The Bur fish looked a lot like Porcupine fish. The baby seahorses had to be put in different tanks, oldest to youngest.”

Mady, “Being an aquarist is a hard job; you have to make sure the animals have enough food and not too much food. You have to feed fish and help release them. We also got to go crabbing at the salt marsh.”

Haley, “As we helped out the aquarists with the animals, we fed the fish in the Raven Rock tank chopped fish and a special vitamin food. The Sturgeons, Shiners, and Catfish had the smaller chunks. Sturgeons can actually live up to 70 years in age. “

Gabrielle, “I learned that if you are an Aquarist you have to feed the fish called zoo plankton. Also we fed the fish menhaden and stuff that looked like little shrimp. That’s what I learned about being an Aquarist. “

Kirstyn, “When you are an aquarist you have to know about the animal you are caring for. Being an aquarist takes hard work, but it can be fun. It is a huge responsibility. Even though being an aquarist is hard work, it is really cool to go behind the scenes. This is an awesome privilege.”

Shelby, “While helping the aquarist we had the opportunity to feed the fish in the Raven Rock tank and also prepare the food. We fed them cut fish and specialized gel.”

Jacob, “Today I learned being an Aquarist is not easy. You have to find the animals and give them special tags that you read with a cool machine. “

Chase, “I learned that you have to go through a training camp to handle venomous snakes (that would not be my preferred career choice).”

Conner, “I got to work with the seahorses today. There were babies and adults. We chopped up fish and squid to feed the fish, and a puffer fish and a turtle ate from our fingers. We went crabbing and caught sea life to put in a tank. “

Alex, “I learned how to feed fish. “

Sarah, “I learned that different seahorses eat different food. Smaller seahorses eat smaller stuff and bigger seahorses get bigger stuff. “