There's Grommet, the Bushbaby, who during the day resembles nothing 
so much as a pile of blankets in his little cage, but as the sun goes down a red-brown hand will reach out from under the blanket and stretch its little fingers wide as it wakes up. Out next are the curious nose and huge eyes, and at last, a bushy tail. He likes to grab hold of things - like your finger - and, when he's let out of the cage and into the cabin in the evening, to climb all over the drapes, furniture, and anyone else who happens to be in the way. He's gorgeous, and mostly friendly, this last hampered by a slight tendency to pee on people. Grommet will spend hours in your room grabbing hold of any small object and examining it in detail - and if you play with him you get a great visual of him on his hind legs, arms raised, stomping childishly towards you like a big bear - raaaarrrr!
so much as a pile of blankets in his little cage, but as the sun goes down a red-brown hand will reach out from under the blanket and stretch its little fingers wide as it wakes up. Out next are the curious nose and huge eyes, and at last, a bushy tail. He likes to grab hold of things - like your finger - and, when he's let out of the cage and into the cabin in the evening, to climb all over the drapes, furniture, and anyone else who happens to be in the way. He's gorgeous, and mostly friendly, this last hampered by a slight tendency to pee on people. Grommet will spend hours in your room grabbing hold of any small object and examining it in detail - and if you play with him you get a great visual of him on his hind legs, arms raised, stomping childishly towards you like a big bear - raaaarrrr!
They're not always cuddly, though. Also running around the cabins was Spike, a baby dassie who was as nimble as anything, despite resembling nothing so much as an angry guinea pig. Out in the cages, Captain, a wahlberg's eagle, gets fed a handful of cut-up chicks (oh believe me, I know) on the glove at the end of the day. He's definitely powerful, so having him clutched on your arm while his beak's about 20cm away from your eyes is kind of unnerving, but he's also beautiful to be so close to. Just not when he's spraying you with chick innards.
Behind Captain's cage are the porcupines, once apparently the size of, well, Spike, they're about as big as terriers now. Gorgeous, though, and when you give them a bit of corn they'll twitter their thanks. Their tongues are sandpaper-rough, and if you come up behind them while they're eating, they'll suddenly poof out their back ends into this big old ball of spikes, and shuffle around so that they've always got it pointed at you. Whee!Also in that cage is Olly, the tiny wee scops owl. So while you're waiting for the porcu's to finish their meal, you can sit and feed Olly, by holding up a scrap of food and calling "Ollyollyolly!" Over he flies to perch on your hand while he takes the food and flies off somewhere to eat it.
But my favourite of the "babies", apart from the porcupines, are a couple of animals not entirely fascinating, but just about as cute as can be. To wit: bunnies and squirrels! The baby bunnies are so tame they're allowed to run around in my bedroomin the evening, chewing on my dirty laundry and leaving their...er...leavings all over the place. But if I call them, they'll come hopping out from under the bed or wherever they may be, to be cuddled. Kiwi is aptly named - colouring is just like the kiwi skin, and he's very adventurous in climbing all over me to reach other parts of the room. His little ears are quite often lifted, and he has such a huge appetite at meal times that it's all I can do to keep him away from the milk so I can feed his sister, Skye. Skye is white with red eyes, and a little quieter than Kiwi. She will, however, often climb up my chest to nose around my face, giving me little rabbit kisses. I love them to pieces, and when I'm writing in my notebook they'll come crawling all over it to see what's going on: what's more adorable than us?
The squirrels are just as adorable. Tiny wee creatures, only just gaining control of their bodies, but quite able at this point to crawl over a human being who is lucky enough to help out with their feeding. They get syringes full of milk too, and they grab it with their front paws as though holding a long glass, sucking down the milk with little squeaks and grunts. Once they're done they'll collapse, bellies swollen, into your palm, sleeve or hood for a sleep. Best thing in the world? A sleepy, just-fed squirrel having his tummy rubbed: limbs spread, rolled onto the back, and just enjoying the heck out of it.
