Just needed to be heard for a little while

Waves_and_Smiles

This will be a long one! Feel free to skip if you don;t want to here about lots of animals!

I was very worried about being exposed in fields but didn't need to be, most of the animals were brought to me! They sat me in a barn full of rabbits where no one could see me and brought them in.

I met-

A 17 year old chinchilla who curled up against me and fell asleep
A pretty blonde rat who cuddled into my chest and washed my entire hand! It was her way of showing submission to me.
A little gecko who fell asleep in the palm of my hand.
A tarantula who made his way to my shoulder and cuddled against my neck.
A corn snake who shot up my sleeve and happily curled around my elbow!
3 degu's to whom I fed peanuts.
A tiny dwarf hamster who chewed my jumper.
The tiniest baby quail you can imagine who was half the size of my palm.
A long haired guinea pig who I brushed.

They then took me to the next barn and brought a tiny black Shetland pony who I brushed and fed, she kept pushing her head into my hand for a stroke.

Then they brought in a tiny goat who is growing his horns in. They told me that he will stand there for as long as I am willing to scratch his horns because he is so itchy! I scratched his head for a long time and he pushed it as hard as he could against my hand. You couldn't see his horns but you could feel them under his skin.

After that the owner checked I felt ok to venture outside and took me to meet the pigs and chickens. It was almost deserted so I didn't need a blanket! I fed and scratched the pigs (apparently they preferred to be scratched than stroked and then was given a metal bowl of food and told to rattle it in the middle of the chickens and lead them all to their feeding spot. There was a rare chicken with feathers all over her feet!

Then they took me to a goat who has had a painful leg. She was only a little pygmy goat and couldn't be with the others until her leg had healed. So they put her on a lead and I slowly walked her across a field. Pygmy goats are strong! She almost pulled me flat on my face! I was clinging to her lead with two hands and having to lean backwards to stay upright!

Finally we went to the alpacas and llamas. I had a special task here. They have a llama that hates men, they have no idea why but he doesn't like any man. So my job was to feed this llama while a man was able to feed the others, otherwise this llama would chase him and spit at him! It was wonderful with me and I was able to stroke it's neck and hand feed it easily, it did look at him once and suddenly spit at him, though! Amusingly, any men who went near this llama carried trays to shield themselves from the spitting! He was lovely though, so tame and gentle. WaSp would disagree, he stood at a distance and walked a few steps towards the llama and its head shot up and it glared at him and lifted its top lip!

I am welcome back anytime, all I have to do is let them know the day before. I can do as much or as little as I want to, I can take part in the care and cleaning of the animals if I wish. The whole day was wonderful!

greenval

WaS I am so pleased for you, what a fantastic outing. I love all animals to. Are Lamas really fluffy?
I'm not afraid of spiders as such but I'm not sure I would have been quite so brave with the tarantula.
I hope you get to go back again!

Waves_and_Smiles

Llamas are indeed quite fluffy but not as fluffy as alpacas which are almost like tall sheep! The little tarantula moved very slowly and once he found spot against my neck settled down and stayed there for 15 minutes. As did the corn snake after he had disappeared up my sleeve!

I will definitely go back, they were so accommodating by putting me in a dark barn and bringing everything to me. I only saw 3 people the whole time I was there so wasn't overwhelmed at all.

codemonkey

That sounds amazing WaS. So many fluffy cuddles.

lostinrates

What amazing people WaS, to be so wonderful and accommodating. They deserve great things.

Glad you had a super day!

Pyxis

Wow! WaS! Super-duper!

A tarantula! Lovely!

It sounds like you had a very soporific effect on the smaller animals!

Who is it on here who has insomnia? Perhaps they should try the WaS effect! :rotfl:

I loved the story of the man-hating llama! It's funny how they know the sex of another species. Pheromones, I suppose!

Sounds like you could go there a lot! Helping to groom and feed the animals sounds like a super idea? It could be a way of slowly getting you used to a few more people, one at a time, type thing?

Waves_and_Smiles

They were lovely, LIR. The owner explained to me that they were a non-profit charity that received a lot of their funding from social services. They have days when people when learning disabilities help them out and other days when children with difficult behaviours care for the animals. Hence me needing a blanket and needing to be hidden didn't phase them at all.

I am welcome back anytime and if I want to do some actual work on the farm it's fine. All they want in return is a bag of vegetables!

I loved the man-hating llama. He hadn't had a traumatic past and had grown up on the farm so no one had any idea why he decided all men were the enemy. The only conclusion they could come to was it was a dominance thing? Women can do anything with him but just the sight of a man getting too close makes him aggressive. WaSp stayed very much at a distance while the farm worked spent his time holding up a tray while he fed the others and shouting go away! when the llama decided to approach him with it's ears back and lip lifted! He is fine with male and female children but not teenage males which is why they concluded its dominance and he can sense the hormones.

lostinrates

Maybe for foot wear you should consider some muckers?

I wear muckers in a size bigger than my foot size to allow for swelling and let me wear thick, cushioning socks. I go for Velcro to make them easy fasten usually ( otherwise I do something confusing that's hard to explaine to make them no fasten)

I find them a good solution. There is a sale here but I have not worn these particular ones
http://www.derbyhouse.co.uk/Equestrian/offers/View+All/Equestrian+Clearance/Clearance+Footwear/Dublin+Yardmaster+Touch+Tape+Boots_552-0905.htm

Because they just can be run under a tap they could do all your outside wear requirements for now, even to appointments etc.

System

So happy to hear about your wonderful day WaS its lovely to know they were so accommodating and have invited you back, you must have made a good impression (i think you must secretly be some kind of animal whisperer to get them all so calm!)

Waves_and_Smiles

That's an idea, LIR. The owner did frown at my boots and said next time something like Wellingtons might be better. It was very, very muddy.

Hahahahahaha! All the little animals curled up and fell asleep on me! I held the chinchilla for 30 minutes and he just curled up in a ball and slept. Even the tarantula found its way to a warm spot and nodded off. A lot of it may be connected to my temperature problems, I always feel very warm to the touch and probably like a warm bed to animals. I have fallen in love with rats, though. It cleaned my whole hand with the tiniest of licks, the owner told me it was a sign of respect.

In between being brought animals I also had many bunnies leaping up and down onto my lap, I never knew that they were that lively! Oh, and degu's squeak! Loudly!