Animal Rentals Blog

What a great summer it’s been so far!  Even though dad and I are taking a break from traveling the country doing our College Entertainment shows, we have been really busy appearing at fairs and festivals, private parties, trade shows and lots of other fun events.  And of course there is always plenty to do working at the office and taking care of all of my exotic animal friends.  But this summer we are also making a lot of fun changes behind the scenes too.

The most fun change for me so far is re-naming the IQ Zoo to Mindy the Monkey’s Menagerie!  It’s the most fun because it was my idea.  We call it Mindy’s Menagerie for short, but I like the full name better.  All of my exotic animal friends are still included, and we are even adding a couple new friends soon.  But I think the name Mindy the Monkey’s Menagerie really describes us better.  After dad read me the definition from the dictionary, I knew it had to be our new name.

The dictionary says that a menagerie is a collection of wild animals that are kept specifically to be shown to the public.  Doesn’t that sound just like us?  Of course we do more than just let people look at us…interacting with people is so much fun and an important part of my mission to educate and entertain as an Animal Ambassador.  So even though we are more than just ‘props’, menagerie is a perfect name for my group of exotic animal friends.

So Mindy the Monkey’s IQ Zoo is now Mindy’s Menagerie.  You can still learn all sorts of fun facts and interesting things about my friends and I at the Mindy’s Menagerie page.  And you can still pick your favorite exotic animals for your next party or event there.  Everything is still the same but the name!

We have another birthday to be excited about here at Animal Rentals!  My friend Jesse James the Geoffroy Cat turns 12 years old today.  I hope we get to celebrate with more cake and presents.  I really like birthday cake…it is one of my favorite foods!

I just realized that I don’t know if Jesse likes birthday cake or not.  I’ve never seen him eat any.  Not even at my birthday party.  I’ll have to ask him if he likes cake.  But I’ll have to catch him at the right time, because you never know whether Jesse James is going to be happy to see you or not!

Jesse’s a great guy and all, but he’s still a little on the wild side.  He doesn’t ever really seem to completely relax…even when he’s just lying there, he is always alert and watching everything.  Out of all of my exotic animal friends, Jesse James is the toughest.  He says that all Geoffroy’s Cats are like that, and that they will never be as tame as domestic house cats – even though they are about the same size.  Jesse thinks people should remember that small doesn’t always mean cute and cuddly. ..sometimes it means wild and fierce.

I don’t know if Jesse is really as fierce as he thinks he is, but it’s true that when we do our animal shows at parties, festivals, college entertainment programs and all of the other exciting events that we travel to, people are really drawn to Jesse James because they say he looks like a miniature leopard or cheetah.  It is easy for them to forget that he is a wild animal because of his size.  The rest of my exotic animal friends and I never forget that, but sometimes people do.

Even though Jesse James likes to act tough, he is a really nice guy and a loyal friend – and everyone here at Animal Rentals really likes him a ton!  So we all want to wish him the happiest 12^th birthday ever!  Won’t you join us in saying “Happy Birthday Jesse James”?!

Dad and I stay pretty busy all year long doing hundreds of different animal shows at parties, fairs, festivals and other events, but our real cross-country traveling starts in the fall with our college tour.   Sometimes we are on the road for weeks at a time driving from campus to campus before getting back home for a few days.  I love getting to see so much of the United States and meeting so many different people from all different places.

College campuses are really cool – kind of like a whole little town within another town.  There’s usually a cafeteria or coffee shop to eat in, a bookstore to shop in, dorms to live in, a gym to exercise in, an auditorium to see plays and concerts in, and thousands of people from all over the world.  Most colleges have sports teams that you can cheer for, and lots of them also have fraternities and sororities and other social clubs. There is always something fun and exciting going on.

Most monkeys and some people never get to see any colleges, but I am lucky that I have been to many of them.  Just within the past two months dad and I have traveled to Iowa, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Georgia and Illinois…and there’s lots more to come over the next few months.

When we go to a college, we always set up in a big area with plenty of room for all the students and faculty that come to meet us. Everyone gets to meet and interact with me and all of my animal friends, while dad teaches the students about us, conservation, and responsible animal ownership.  It’s always great fun to see who is brave enough to pick up my friend Cuddles the tarantula first, or hold Purse the alligator. It’s kind of like a big party and everyone has a great time – the people and the animals!  Maybe one day I’ll get to meet you at one of our college entertainment shows.

My friend Pokey is a North American Porcupine with her own built-in defense system.  She has very sharp quills all over most of her body that protect her from predators and attackers.  The quills are really spiny hairs with barbs on the end, like a fish hook.  If you have ever gotten stuck by a fish hook or a quill you know that those barbed tips make it very difficult to get out of your skin!

If Pokey feels threatened, she makes all her quills stand up on end, which makes her look huge and bushy and scary.  That is enough to make most people and animals run away and leave her alone.  No one wants to get stuck by those quills!  If something tries to attack her anyway, they will be very sorry because it is very painful to get a hand or face full of porcupine quills.

Obviously it is not a good idea to try to pet a wild porcupine.  But my dad and his friend Mark taught me a secret way to pet Pokey without getting stuck by the quills.  They teach lots of other people how to do it too, at the animal shows we do at parties, fairs and festivals.  So lots of different people have had the wonderful experience of petting Pokey and feeling her wiry hair and spiny quills.  Pokey likes to be petted, but you have to be very calm and gentle when you do it so that you don’t startle her.  She is a  very sweet porcupine but she scares easily.

Have you ever gotten to pet a porcupine?  Would you like to?

Hi everyone, I’m Mindy!  I am a Capuchin monkey and I have a very special job as an animal ambassador.  Here on my blog I will be telling you stories about what it is like to live, work and play with all kinds of different animals.

I’m so lucky that I get to travel all over the United States with my dad, Bill Hoffman of Animal Rentals, entertaining people and teaching them about wild, domestic and exotic animals.  I have a lot of animal friends that travel with me and help me with our animal shows, and we always have a great time meeting new people and seeing how happy and excited they are to meet us.

Even though I am only six years old, I have already worked at many different events and met hundreds of wonderful people.  I’ve been on television, worked at parties, fairs and festivals, performed on stage and at college shows, gotten all dressed up for corporate events and trade shows, and even danced as an organ grinder monkey.  My dad is really funny and he makes people laugh a lot while he is teaching them about us and what it is like to live and work with exotic animals.  I think my favorite part of being an animal ambassador is seeing the joy on people’s faces when they get to touch a monkey or a chinchilla or a snake for the very first time.  It sure is a great job, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it!

I’m so glad that you found my blog and I hope you come back often to read about all the great adventures that my dad, my friends and I have working and playing together.   And be sure to like my Facebook page, so that I can get to know you too!