Eldorado Explores and Pua bathes

Posted by: Tamandua Girl / Category: , , , , , , , , , ,

One more week and we trade the dark night for prince charming and see if Pua prefers a gentleman over a warrior.

Aside from Pua hating him he's doing great. Much better with being picked up and carried. So when he got up early he not only got to go in the yard but explore the whole house too. He climbed on my mom's lap and then showed his claw at her for being to close but then he just moved on.

Then the other night I offered him some vinegar but he smacked at it after it stung his nose and spilled it which I think stung his claw as he did a "dance" then flipped over and pinched at his own foot before eventually leaving. He later returned and played with the turtle for a long time. He also did drink some vinegar from the jar. He has no problem lapping some from the jar as the small mouth keeps is nose out of it so then he likes it.

I was happy to see him able to entertain himself.

anteater plays with stuffed turtle.
I was just cleaning stuff out of the trunk and put books in instead and hadn't got it all put up yet.

Eldorado outside
Eldorado outside

Fast dog
Fast dog
Was going to delete it but it shows he didn't maul the zooming dog

In the living room
In the living room
Since he doesn't try to maul me for picking him up now he got to explore the house too.

In the cat bed
In the cat bed

Checking out the fence
Checking out the fence

In the back part of the yard
In the back part of the yard

not quite posing on a stump
not quite posing on a stump

Through the limb pile
Through the limb pile
From the tree removal

No no no

Learning the word no and ignoring the lesson of a leash tug means go the other way. Pua's pretty good with leash corrections unless feeling real determined. Eldorado was determined to do whatever I said no to.

He heard dogs barking
He heard dogs barking
No one likes those barking dogs

Can I get on the table?
Can I get on the table?

Time to check out the tub
Time to check out the tub

Ew, yucky
Ew, yucky

Here drink this instead
Here drink this instead

Thirsty boy
Thirsty boy

Tamandua in a tub
Tamandua in a tub

Pua's vinegar bath and Eldorado gets stuck

Poured some anteater spit vinegar dregs down the drain and Pua decided to bath in it. Then Eldorado climbed the curtain while I was watching her and got stuck. I gave him a lift down with the basket after.

Pua takes a vinegar bath

Poured some anteater spit vinegar dregs down the drain and Pua decided to bath in it. So I put some cider vinegar and some regular in the sink. Pua turned the sink on a trickle and added water. They have modified scent glands that make their skin orange/rusty and that made the vinegar bath orange.

Guess why she likes this is while raiding ant nests in the wild they spray their acid as self defense so they would get acid on their skin. Some birds do a behavior called "anting" where they bath in ants, rubbing them into their feathers. No one is for sure why.


2 comments:

  1. S.K.Y. Says:

    Hi, I am curious what kind of damage an angry tamandua does. I'm pretty sure they don't have teeth, and you mentioned Eldorado "raising a claw" and "not mauling a dog." So I'm assuming the claws are the defense. Can tamanduas do serious damage to a person? Or is it basically an empty threat and they can't really do anything beyond a little scratch? Inquiring minds want to know!

  1. Tamandua Girl Says:

    Their main claws are huge and all are sharp. They can do as much damage as a bite. All except for Eldorado. They would just whack you with their claws if pushed and back off. So just a couple punctures. Eldorado would keep clawing away at the towel I picked him up with at first so could have really done some damage but never let him. Their own hides are tough so are less likely to harm each other but have heard of serious injuries happening. Dulling the claws helps avoid that.