We have always loved coming to the Roos N More Zoo (http://www.roosnmore.org) in Moapa, Nevada (just a few miles North of Las Vegas). We went a few years ago with some friends and fell in love! They are a wonderful set of people who have taken it upon themselves to rescue and rehabilitate exotic animals (most from people who think it would be fun to have exotic pets only to find how hard it is). Many of their animals have been on Jay Leno and various talk shows. The people who run the place are wonderful! (here's our blog post about it from 2012).
We called a few weeks ago to see what their hours were only to find they were not open to the public for general admission. :( They did say they'd be happy to do a private tour for about the price it would have taken us to buy zoo tickets for our whole group. Let me tell you- this is WAY better!
So, we packed up- once again bundled up- and were on our way!
First off, we met a lot of fun, feathered friends.
But our favorite by far was the little kookaburra bird, Crikey (he's from Australia, after all).
Our zoo guide, Ivan encouraged him to laugh for us and it was so neat! After that, we couldn't stop singing, "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he- laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra, gay your life must be!"
(video of Crikey laughing)
After that, we met the 3 banded armadillo, Shelly
Kurt said what we were all thinking, "She's so ugly, she's cute!"
I couldn't help but think that maybe she was the same one we met 4 years ago! (She was full grown)
Then there was ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size), Capybara "Princess"
and a sleepy Porcupine named Rosey who loved to eat animal cookies!
and Lemers that loved to be scratched under the armpits.
After that, Ivan lined us up and we anxiously waited to meet the piebald ball python- Elvira.
She was tiny, and kinda cute.
The boys loved her, but Kurt opted to just look with his eyes, and not with his hands. Sis either hid behind me or Dad but pretty soon...
She warmed right up!
I was so proud of her! She didn't squirm or cry- in fact, she was actually enjoying herself! Later I asked her what made her so brave and she said, "It's like Cinderella said, 'Have Courage and Be Kind'." Thank you Disney!
And of course this boy was in heaven! He kept giggling as she moved around. "She's so silky!"
Even Cash touched her a little, with some help from Miriam.
Ivan felt that since we liked Elvira so much, we would LOVE to meet her friend, Lavern.
Miriam (she amazes me!) stepped right up without any hesitation. I, on the other hand was glad I had a camera to hide behind.
I tried to silence my squeals when she bent down and showed Lavern to the kids. Again, I was so impressed with Ava!
She even agreed to do this-
Apparently, with your twin at your side, you can be even more brave!
Again, Bubs had a fit full of giggles as Lavern squirmed around and got comfortable. I told them earlier that I'd give anyone a quarter who held the snake and these two sure earned it!
The hard part was getting them to say goodbye (and NO this is NOT a new family pet of ours!)
After my heart rate slowed down and we walked further away from the snake shed, I calmed down.
Next, we met Cluster, a Mountain Coatimundi. I had never heard of, nor seen another animal like him. He was like half anteater, half raccoon. Whatever he was, he sure liked eating the mulberries out of Miriam's hand!
It started to drizzle a little and I caught these two snuggling together to keep warm. Aren't they adorable!?
I loved this little Fennec fox, Jelly Bean.
Grant loved watching the monkeys jump from their ropes and slides.
It's almost like you can hear him say, "Look Dad!"
After that, we visited the pasture with the emus, zebra (and Zonkie!) and the camels.
Ivan asked if anyone wanted to feed them. I said I did- that was until I saw just HOW they were being fed-
A few of the adults were brave enough to do it.
We reminded Vance just how much he loved the camels the last time he was here-
and said he wanted to feed him- but had second thoughts as it came closer!
That's one large animal!
We enjoyed the rest of the animals
and then headed over to my favorite part- The baby animals!
We first met "Bowie" the Joey. He was named after David Bowie, since he was born just after Bowie died. He was so snuggly inside his little carrier. And though it doesn't look like it, didn't mind all the attention at all.
This was the first animal Cash actually came up close to.
Because only a select few got to hold the baby animals, the boys were nice enough to let us girls hold them. It was strange to pick up a baby animal and unconsciously start rocking back and forth and soothing him, just like a baby. He even grabbed onto your fingers like a real baby does!
Bowie was so lovable and kind. Vance, once again loved them and didn't want to let go.
This time, it was Baby Grant who thought they were just the cutest. He laughed every time he got close. Except when I started to hold Bowie. He grumped a little and kind of leaned out of Dad's arms. I thought maybe he was upset I wasn't holding him, but it was soon clear that he simply wanted to be closer to the baby kangaroo!
Grandma Julie was in heaven. She felt right at home holding and rocking him gently.
Okay. This next one, I'm serious when I say I know what pet I want when I grow up.
Have you ever seen this clip of Kristen Bell overcome with emotion because she knew a sloth was near?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5jw3T3Jy70
Well, that was us- times 10! We got to hold and love an adorable Baby Sloth!!!!
He was only a few weeks old and darn near the cutest thing there. He needed to be kept warm and he'd nuzzle in the crook of your neck, just like a newborn babe. He had little claws that dug in and oddly enough, you could tell when he was comfortable because he eased back just a bit with the claws and kind of made a purring sound.
And when he yawned- I just wanted to die!
And the best part- the ABSOLUTE best part?!
Guess what his name was?
VELCRO!
And yes, he was true to his name. He held on with dear life and didn't let go. Don't worry- I didn't want him to!
No that's not baby jealousy- Grant is saying, "Please Mom! Can we keep him?!" To which I say, "Absolutely yes!" Oh how I wished.
After that, the tour guides warned us about who was coming next. She was excitable, sometimes erratic and JUST like a toddler. She loved to take anything you have so they warned us to put away glasses or anything on our bodies of value (though if she did get a hold of something, they'd get it back for you), but most importantly, you could not tell her "No!" If you did- she would have a full blown tantrum (I told you, JUST like a toddler!) and there was no telling what she'd do.
They told us to simply stay seated and let her (her name was Nala) come to whomever she chose.
Apparently, that was me.
She came right to me and made her place on my lap, all the while eyeing everyone watching her. She made herself comfortable, even moving my arms so she could nuzzle in the way she wanted. As we visited with her handler, she began to venture out a little more.
First to Grandpa, and then around to the kids. Once she realized they didn't have anything of value, she moved on.
She cuddled with Miriam
all while we watched from afar.
She came back to Grandpa again when she realized he had something she wanted- a phone!
She jumped around a little more, until she came back to my lap. This was the first time all day I saw Kurt actually move toward an animal. He came and made a seat right by me, talking to her very sweetly. She eyed him a few times and then realized he had something she wanted- a zipper!
She played with his zipper for quite a while, zipping it with her teeth and then checking inside his coat for anything fun. She even licked his ears and fiddled with his hair. I was worried that he'd be opposed to her on him, but he giggled all the while as she played and did whatever she wanted.
Much to Vance's delight she found that everyone had zippers on their coats!
She came back once more and snuggled in on my lap. When it was time to go, I had a hard time letting her go. She and Velcro the sloth were the highlight of our trip!
Our last animal baby of the day was King Julian, a ring tailed lemur.
He loved the sun, which was made evident in the way he faced the sun, no matter where he was. He loved to sit in the sun, with his arms open wide and his head back. After a dark and cloudy morning, I know just how you feel, Buddy!
All in all, it was a great day. Once again a family favorite.
I can't wait to go back next year and see just how they've all grown- and just how much my little animals will have grown too!
Thank you Roos N More, for a wonderful- "Ed-Zoo-cational" day!
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