Animal Rentals Blog

If you have looked at any pictures of SAHARA the FENNEC FOX you will usually see her perched comfortably atop someone’s shoulder.  SAHARA calls it, “being on top of the world”. Or you may find her snuggling contentedly in the arms of a delighted and equally contented bystander.   “My happy place” she will tell you.  Wherever she is, SAHARA is happiest when she is with people.  But if people are not available, her friends at ANIMAL RENTALS are just as good.

People comment all the time about SAHARA’S sweet disposition and very laid back nature.  She will pose for pictures, be petted and handled with little resistance.  POKEY the PORCUPINE knows the true nature of the sly little fox, calling it her “Dr. Jekyll side.  All goodie two shoes and with a happy smile on her face. It’s when we return to ANIMAL RENTALS that the happy go lucky Dr. Jekyll turns into the crazy Mr. Hyde. She transforms into who she really is, a Fennec Fox.”

A noted animal behaviorist wrote that the Fennec Fox is active 15% of the time, cuddly 20% of the time and asleep the rest of the time.  Evidently, they never met SAHARA.   This party girl lives to play and entertain. While the other animals rest and wind down from the activities of the day, SAHARA is busy searching for rubber balls, rope toys and rubber squeaky toys.  Her shouts of “LETS PLAY” fill the building and are quickly answered with replies a bit too harsh to print. Unfazed, SAHARA spends the next hour playing fetch alone, chewing on rope toys and purposely walking by each animal’s pen while biting down hard on the hated rubber squeaky toy all the time thinking, “That will show them”.

Everyone tolerates SAHARA because they know that is her nature. And as all animals know, you can’t change your nature.  They won’t admit it, but her energetic and happy personality is contagious.  Even “SHERMAN” the stoic faced, slow moving RED FOOT TORTOISE steps it up a little bit when he sees her playing.  And was that a smile on his face?

"BUGSY" & SOME OF HIS FRIENDS

BUGSY, not his real name, is the self-appointed leader and spokesperson for the  gang of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches  that comprise the “insect only” members of  Mindy’s Menagerie. He says his name is taken from “that 1940′s gangster you see in all the old crime movies” and not because he in fact is a bug. That movie gangster  was portrayed as sneaky, underhanded and a bit of a ham, which just happens to fit the nature of BUGSY and his companions.

ANIMAL RENTALS very own “PIWACKETT” the SCARLET MACAW thoroughly enjoyed the Southern hospitality offered from the students of the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA in Mobile, AL on January 14, 2015. Along with Chi-Chi the Chinchilla, Sahara the Fennec Fox, Cuddles the Tarantula and other members of the renowned “Mindy’s Menagerie”, the afternoon was filled with fun, education and of course many “selfies”.

ANIMAL RENTALS is firm in their belief that only by offering people the extraordinary chance to interact with exotic animals in a personal manner, can they foster the caring for and the conservation of our world’s animal kingdom.

Loyola University was the last stop on our college entertainment tour for 2014. Our animal ambassadors, including Mindy the Monkey brought their hands-on animal show at the invitation of the Loyola University Pre-Vet Club. These future veterinarians shared in the fund with their fellow students as they experienced face to face interaction with members of Mindy’s Menagerie. An alligator,chinchilla,fennec fox, porcupine and skunk were just a few of our animal friends brought for the event. Check out our new “About Our Animals” page and read how well our pets are cared for.

HOLIDAYS are just around the corner and ANIMAL RENTALS has the special entertainment guaranteed to satisfy your guests.  Our Exotic Animal Show with such performers as Pokey the Porcupine, Casper the Python and Sahara the Fennec Fox will entertain and amuse audiences of all ages.  Your “hands-on” experience with our pets offers numerous photo opportunities.  Our handlers are professionals and are eager to answer all inquiries you may have.  We can design our show to your specifications, making it very popular with senior citizens and people with special needs.

Our indoor “farm petting zoo” is great for larger areas with an assortment of animals that will put a sparkle in anyone’s eyes.

Make your holiday event a day  everyone will remember.

If you like hugs, then you are going to LOVE my friend Sahara the Fennec Fox.  She gives the best hugs ever, and she loves to cuddle.  She is a great cuddler.  And she’s cute.  Cute, cuddly, and huggable…no wonder everyone at our different types of Exotic Animal Shows love her so much!

But don’t let her quiet moments fool you.  Sahara is also an absolute bundle of energy when it is play time.  She and I have so much fun running and playing catch and jumping and wrestling around together!  She is only a year old so she still loves to play just as much as I do.   And she’d rather play with one of us than by herself.   That makes her a great friend and one of my favorites to travel with around the country doing our College Entertainment shows.

Fennec Foxes are really cute small animals with great big ears.  Their ears are like ten times the size of their heads.  Ok, not really, but they are really big.  And believe it or not those big ears aren’t just for hearing – which is so good that they can hear other animals moving around underground.  They actually act like air conditioners in a way, radiating their body heat away from them to keep them cooler in the desert heat.  Sahara and her relatives are actually from the Sahara desert and other very hot areas in North Africa.  But the desert can get pretty cold at night, so Fennec Foxes have a thick coat of fur to keep them warm.  So when the rest of us exotic animals are arguing about whether to turn on the air conditioner or the heater, Sahara is happy either way.

Sahara is one of the most popular animals at all of the parties, carnivals, college shows, corporate events, grand openings and all the other types of events our traveling zoo full of friends go to.  If you look at the pictures on my Facebook page, you’ll see lots of pictures of her cuddling with and hugging all the new people we are so lucky to meet all over the country.  Dad says that Sahara is all “sweetness and light”.  I’m not sure exactly what that means, but people sure do love her!   What do you think?

My friend Ruby the African Grey Parrot is the smartest bird in the world.  Well, at least she thinks that she is.  Dad says that African Greys are geniuses.  They understand what they are saying and can even put ideas and sentences together.  Some birds simply repeat words that they hear just to get attention, but Ruby and her relatives can ask for things and tell humans what they feel and think.  Dad even says that some African Grey Parrots are smarter than some monkeys.  But I’m sure he wasn’t talking about me!

I think Ruby is definitely smart, but she’s also kind of a party pooper.  I mean, many of my exotic animal friends here at Animal Rentals are much more fun.  I like to run and jump and get excited about everything.  Piwackett the Scarlet Macaw likes to talk and yell and dance.  Sahara the Fennec Fox likes to chase the ball and roll around and wrestle.  But Ruby thinks it is silly to be loud and wild and spend too much time playing.  All she likes to do is learn and think.  She says that is that is called being an intellectual.  Ruby likes to use big words that most of the rest of us don’t understand.   I say that is called being annoying!  Ha!

Even though Ruby doesn’t play much, she can actually still be fun to be around.  She teaches us new words sometimes, and she once made up a trick that is really funny…she does an impersonation of a Thanksgiving turkey where she lies perfectly still on her back – like she is going to be served for dinner.  She can lay there without moving for a really long time!  She still does that trick, and the people that meet Ruby at our Animal Shows or College Entertainment events love it.

So who do you think is smarter, monkeys or African Grey Parrots?  You know what my vote is!  What is the smartest animal you’ve ever met?  What kinds of things did they do to make you think they were so smart?  What kind of animal do your friends think is the smartest?  Let us know in the comments below!

What an exciting and exhausting Spring it has been!  Dad and I have been busier than a centipede at a shoe store, and loving every minute of it.  I just made up the centipede at a shoe store line…I thought it was hilarious but dad just rolled his eyes.

Anyway, this has really been an action-packed season for us.  We have done more College Entertainment shows this year than ever before…26 colleges from January through April!  We have been in or driven through practically every state east of the Mississippi, and some to the west of it too.  My exotic animal friends and I have also done several Animal Shows and private parties in the Chicago area.  But the big news is the all the new things that dad and I are working on, including my very own “Mindy the Monkey’s IQ Zoo”.

My IQ Zoo will soon be on our website – which dad and I have been working furiously on updating over the past several weeks. At the IQ Zoo you’ll have a chance to online-meet and learn about all of the different exotic animals that I live and work and travel with.  It’s a great way to learn more about me and some of my Animal Rentals friends that you may have already met at a fair, festival, convention or trade show, or to discover which animals you’d like to meet in person when you book an animal show, display or petting zoo for your next party or event.   It’s also a great way to learn about animals you may never have even heard of before – like a Fennec Fox or a Geoffroy Cat.

Stay tuned for more updates and the exciting grand opening of my “Mindy the Monkey’s IQ Zoo” on our website, animalrentals.com.  I’ll keep you updated as we go along.  I’ve got to get back to work now!