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?

Ever wonder how animals are able to do the things they do in a movie or commercial?   Recently ANIMAL RENTALS was commissioned for a commercial involving a black cat running across an alley.  Sound easy? Remember, this was to be done at 11:00 pm on a very cold, wintry Chicago night in an alley at The Redhead Piano Bar on Ontario street.  Mobile dressing/hub trailers lined the street while a police car blocked the end of the alley to keep traffic out.  How would a cat possibly perform in this unfamiliar location and with all these distractions?

Carol, a well known cat trainer, brought a team of 3 black cats; FLUFF, MUFF and RUFF.  They live indoors, but are trained to perform outside if necessary. Owing to the low temperature and for the safety of the cat, the shot had to be done quickly.  Trained to sit where they are placed, all three cats sat still allowing the crew to get the first shot of a cat sitting in an alley.  A short break followed, allowing Carol three minutes to rehearse the second shot.  MUFF was to run from one side of the alley to the other.  To do this, a carrier was set out of camera range where MUFF was needed to go.  Setting her down a couple of feet from the carrier, a command KENNEL was spoken and MUFF went into the carrier. Did you know that  cats can be trained to recognize words?  After a moment to praise and reward her performance, the process was repeated until the required length (12 feet) was reached.  MUFF was ready.

With a call of  “Action”.  MUFF was placed at point A (the starting point) and her carrier placed across the alley at point B.  MUFF is trained to walk behind her trainer, but since  they wanted her running, Carol had to run through the camera shot so MUFF would follow her and run into her carrier.  Eight takes were filmed with MUFF performing flawlessly.  Satisfied that they had what they needed, the filming ended.  It was midnight.

MUFF-FEMALE MOSTLY BLACK TORTOISE SHELL

All three cats and our wonderful trainer Carol needed baths when they got home as they had soaked up a lot of dirty alley water.

Great job everyone!

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.

ANIMAL RENTALS visited McNeese State University located in Lake Charles, LA on November 18th, 2014 with their exotic hands-on animal display. The students enjoyed an entertaining afternoon with our animal ambassadors consisting of a porcupine, chinchilla, boa constrictor,alligator,tarantula and others. McNeese State University was just part of our very popular College Entertainment program which criss-crossed the United States. Our Mission is to educate, entertain, and foster caring for and conservation of our world’s animal kingdom by offering people the extraordinary privilege to personally interact with our exotic animals. Go to animalrentals.com for more information.

A call to ANIMAL RENTALS for a cute bunny to pose with a little girl for a national catalog was answered in a flash. Handler Barbara soon arrived at the studio with a number of potential “stars” accompanying her.  Each animal was inspected by the producer, director and photographer for temperament, color, size and a face that was “camera friendly”.  Once all were in agreement, the new “animal actor” was cleaned, groomed and “made up”.  She was introduced to her companion for the shoot, a professional child-model.  After a few moments to get acquainted, model and rabbit took their places on the set.  Here is the result.

ANIMAL RENTALS  is on the road again, visiting at least several colleges and making new friends.  For the month of November, we will be bringing our educational and entertaining “hands on”  EXOTIC ANIMAL DISPLAY college entertainment to the following schools.

SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE located in Memphis, TN on November 11th and 12th.

MERCYHURST UNIVERSITY located in Erie, PA on November 14th.  We will be participating in a “hands-on” “Fear Factor” themed event.

UNIVERSITY OF FINDLAY located in Findlay, OH on November 20th.

Our mission is to educate, entertain and encourage conservation of our world’s animals by offering  a face to face interaction with members of  Mindy’s Menagerie, the ambassadors of ANIMAL RENTALS.  

Follow our adventures by visiting and liking us on Face Book;  Animal Rentals and Mindy the Monkey.

When you hang out with a bunch of camels, every day is hump day!  And with both Bactrian and Dromedary Camels as friends, I get plenty of both one hump AND two.

My friends Bradley, Kalisha and Chloe are Dromedaries – camels with just one hump.  Boe and Finnegan are Bactrian Camels with two humps.   There’s no room for them here in the city, of course, so these Chicagoland Camels all live together on a great big farm.  And just like me, they love to travel around the country and meet new people.  They work with me and my other exotic animal friends at Animal Rentals doing camel rides for children and adults, camel wagon hay rides for groups of people, and even camel races.  They are funny because they like to run, and they always argue about who is the fastest.  They also really like to give rides to people, and they argue about who walks the smoothest.  Come to think of it, they argue a lot about everything.  But it is a fun and happy arguing – more of a discussion than an actual fight.  I’ve never seen them ever get mad at each other.  They really all get along great.  Everybody loves what friendly, happy camels they are.

Have you ever gotten to ride a camel?  It’s a really cool feeling!  They sort of sway from side to side at the same time that they rock back and forth.  It is a very relaxing feeling for most people…and for most monkeys too!  Well, at least for me it is.  I love when they give me rides.

I never knew that there were so many interesting facts about Bactrian Camels and Dromedary Camels until I met this great group of friends.  You can learn a little more about Bradley, Kalisha, Chloe, Boe and Finnegan on my Mindy’s Menagerie page.  And you can learn how to meet them in person on our Animal Rentals Camel Adventures page.  Meanwhile, comment below to tell us which you prefer…one hump or two!

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!

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!