Animal Rentals Blog

Being the curious animal that I am, I researched my history and found that my ancestors were domesticated as early as Four BC. Problem was we were raised for our meat and quills.   I could find nothing, however, on how we got the name  “hedgehog.”   A few days later the mystery was solved.  I passed by the kitchen and heard mom and dad eating lunch. Hearing the grunting noises and the racket they made while pushing their food around sounded like two pigs eating out of a trough. It was not a pretty sight.

I must confess I am a lover and not prone to fighting. I follow a simple motto:  When the going gets rough, I get going. In the event of a confrontation, though, I pity the fool who goes against me and my 5000 sharp spines that surround my body.  Thanks Mother Nature.

I’m kind of a loner, sleep most of the day and prefer to be by myself except for when we do our exotic animal show display.  To keep me fit I eat a diet consisting of insects, slugs, earthworms and a nasty tasting commercial hedgehog diet. I sometimes wonder what a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach would taste like.  I know its wrong and I feel bad.  After all, they are members of Mindy’s Menagerie and Bugsy is a friend. But in my defense he also is a BUG.  I take comfort by telling myself that Bugsy would be the last roach to be eaten.

One of the perks of being a hedgehog is that the venom from an adder, a poisonous snake, does not affect me.  But how many adders will I run into while walking the streets of Chicago? The guys around here don’t believe me and are attempting to convince Mindy the Monkey to ask her dad to add an adder to the show.  So not funny!

LIKES:  ANIMAL RENTALS, a clean cage, fresh water, good food (maybe including some Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches), entertaining our audiences and a heavy duty toothbrush for my 64 teeth .

DISLIKES: a dirty cage, anyone who calls me “Pokey Junior” and those times when I have a “bad spine day”.

Here is a list of the Strengths and Weaknesses of our candidates.  Notice how many of them are very similar to our human candidates.  Interesting. If you had to vote, who would you choose.  Please use the COMMENT Section

WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?

“POKEY” THE PORCUPINE:  (Erethizon dorsatum) born March 30^th, 2011

Pokey is a home body who enjoys the quiet life.  He is a team player when working with his companions in Mindy’s Menagerie but once the work day is done, he retreats to his solitary lifestyle.

STRENGTHS: Thrifty, Practical, Creative, Witty and Sharp.

WEAKNESSES: Shy, Small Stature, a Loner and painfully Sarcastic.

POKEY possesses a very pungent and disagreeable odor that is quite unpleasant, a result of either hereditary or just poor hygiene.  He also possesses a rather “prickly” attitude especially when he is upset, which makes his body shake resulting in more than one of his sharp quills to loosen and stick someone.  Not a great people pleaser.

“SCARLET” THE BOA CONSTRICTOR:  (Constrictor constrictor) hatched in 1999

Scarlet is a laid back and cautious reptile who knows her large size may be intimidating. Her seductive, come hither look makes her very popular in Mindy’s Menagerie where she considers herself to be an interactive and “hands-on” specimen.

STRENGTHS: Quiet, Intelligent, Calculating, Stoic, Charming and an uncanny ability to adapt to change.

WEAKNESSES: No arms or legs and a forked tongue make travel and communication difficult. Not someone you would want to dine with. She looks slimy and hugs too hard.

SCARLET, while very approachable and personable, faces a very uphill battle.  She tends to lash out when cornered into situations she is not familiar with. She is tired of the insulting phrases “snake in the grass” and “lower than a snake’s belly.  She has had to live down the misconception that she was responsible for the debacle with Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden. (She said it was a porcupine who tempted Eve).

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?

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.

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.

Last week I promised to tell you a little more about what it is like to live with and take care of exotic animals.  In many ways it is not that much different than taking care of domestic pets like cats and dogs.  Feeding, watering, cleaning, grooming and training are all a part of dad’s and my everyday life.  Today I’m going to tell you about what we do every morning at our house.

The biggest part of our day is spent washing dozens of dishes and preparing food for all of my animal friends that live with us.  I help dad wash and cut up and mix all the different fresh fruits and vegetables, and then I get to inspect and taste everything to make sure it is perfect.  It takes five or six hours every day to feed everyone and clean up their living spaces.  Fortunately, we have wonderful people that work with us and help us, or we would never get finished!

Most of us eat a combination of fresh food and nutritionally balanced commercial food every day.  Dad is very good about feeding everyone exactly what they need to stay happy and healthy.  We get a good blend of fruits, vegetables, meat, vitamins and minerals, nuts and seeds according to what we like and need.  I like pretty much everything, but some of my friends are very fussy about what they eat.  Some of them, like the snakes and alligator, will only eat live food.  Amy the Armadillo loves crickets, and it is lots of fun watching her run around hunting them!  I also share my monkey chow with many of my friends because they really like it.  The rats have their own rat chow, and the birds have their own pellets, but the opossum, porcupine, skunk and others love the monkey chow.  It is pretty delicious!

Some of my friends – the geoffroy cat, opossum, porcupine and skunk – also eat high protein cat food.  For fresh food, we eat just like you do, with whatever fruits and vegetables are in season.  Lettuce, green beans, corn, squash, peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, apples, peaches, pears and everything else in the produce section are things that we like.  The birds and I also like nuts a lot, and we each have our favorite types.  My uncle, Mr. Adam Monk, loves chicken and hamburgers so dad cooks special things for him and always brings him leftovers when we go out to eat.

As you can see, our mornings are very busy with fixing so many different types of breakfast for all of my friends.  After everyone has eaten, there is still a lot more to do for the rest of the day.  Next time I’ll tell you more about what we do in the afternoons, and how we get ready for our different kinds of animal shows, parties and events – so be sure to come back to my blog next week!

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?