Today was our first day working with the actual prairie dogs - starting our daily routine. Goes a little something like this:
4:00 AM - Wake up to be out driving to the plots by 4:30 (sunrise is at about 4:50)
5:00 AM - Start opening traps and laying bait on the plots
6:00-8:30 AM - Sit around and wait. Sleep, read, take a walk, etc.
8:30 AM - check the first round of plots. Process the dogs we find. This involves putting them under isopropol to sedate them, combing off and collecting fleas, ear tagging them (or checking the ear tags they are wearing, which can be difficult b/c they are quite dirty), taking a blood sample, and weighing them.
After this, we lay second rounds of bait and repeat, usually until about 1 or 2 PM. Today we were out until 4:30 PM, but hopefully that won't be every day.
Interesting events of today:
I got bit by a prairie dog. Bled a little, but it wasn't too bad. Taking them out of the cages can be difficult, and so I guess I've learned my lesson quick that work gloves, not rubber gloves, should be worn for that. Let's hope I don't catch plague...
We went into Wall to explore. Went to Wall Drug again and back to the Cactus Cafe...not much new, as expected. On the way home, we noticed two of the guys we work with along the side of the road...apparently the radiator of Jordan's car was overheated because he turned off the fan when he wanted to use his laptop in the car. So we waited there for a bit while the radiator cooled down. While waiting we got to see the prairie dog dance! They have this cute little circular dance that they do when they are happy. These little guys are adorable :)
Now I guess I will be off to bed soon, as while it is only 8:30, I need to shower and get to bed early. As early as I am usually able to wake up, this 4AM on a daily basis thing will take a bit of getting used to...
Erin
5 comments:
So how did these prairie dogs get the plague in the first place? Did they just catch it naturally?
You'll have to see some of Montana during one of the times you have off! I could meet you somewhere :)
They get it from the fleas. Actually, that's where people usually get it from too - by handling rodents with the fleas. I am not sure if it is passed through rodent bites or not (I'm hoping not).
I really want to go to Montana! I was looking on a map, and Missoula is kind of far from where I am, lol, but I would really love to see you at some point! Maybe we could find a point in between to meet. I have two four day breaks during July, so hopefully we can work something out, because that would be really awesome. :)
Yeah, it would be a pretty long drive if one of us went a whole way. I've been thinking of places that would be good for you to see and doable for both of us. If it takes you 1.5 hours to get to Rapid City it would be about 5.5 hours to Billings, probably an hour less to get to the Custer Battlefield. They have the cemetery from the Battle of the Little Bighorn and info about Custer and stuff. Also by Billings is Pompey's Pillar, a beautiful standing cliff in the middle of the prairie where Lewis and Clark signed their names. Billings is still in the foothills, though. Bozeman is about 2 hours further on and has lots of beautiful mountains. Of course I could meet you in Billings and we could drive to other places too. And obviously other people you work with could come so you wouldn't be driving by yourself on the way there. Ooh, also sort of by Billings is the Pryor Mountain Range! I went there when I was little - it's a wild horse preserve and herds of them roam free. The mountains there are pretty. There's also Yellowstone. The drive from Billings to Yellowstone is supposed to be the most beautiful in America (I'd agree with that!). I can't remember how long it takes, probably an hour at the least, two and a half at most. There are things to see in Yellowstone even if for just a day. So, lol, there are a lot of possibilities.
Ooh, all of those places sound wonderful! I would LOVE to get a chance to go to Yellowstone, although I think it might be a bit far for us to go and get back since I only get 4 days off at a time. Getting to Billings would be really doable though, so maybe we could see the sights around there. Yay, I'm excited!
My next couple sets of days off are July 3 - July 6 and July 17 - 20. Do any of those days work for you?
July 17-20 would probably work fine. I might be starting job at the bank next week so would have to take the Thursday and Friday off, but I don't think that would be a problem since they seem pretty flexible.
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