2012
7 January: By now they are so used to the drives that they go up to the car without getting scared, and once they are up, they just find a good lookout point, stick their heads out and enjoy the breeze on their faces as we drive around. Once we get to our stop-point they just hop off the bakkie like pros and start running around the dam full of confidence. They have decided that their favourite dam is the little one you can see from the restaurant. As soon as we stop there, they jump straight into the water. Usually Amber is the first one in, with Or following in her footsteps. Amber is now starting to show signs of dominance and appears to be the stronger one out of the two, because she bullies Or around. They still jump on us quite a bit during walks, but now that we have started making a concerted effort to discourage the jumping, they are much better and even went up to two laps per walk this week. They now get a bottle at 6.30 just before they go on their walk, 550g meat at 9.30, another bottle at 11.30, 350gr meat at 14.30, a bottle before the evening walk around 17.30 and then a rib to nibble on during night time when they sleep with the babies at the top. On hot days you can find them splashing around their little blue pool, getting all muddy and dirty for visitor interactions that might follow!
2011
21 December: Or and Amber have quite an exciting life nowadays, with a daily routine that tires the volunteers out as well. Every morning they are let out of the little green pen they share overnight with the lion babies. Everyone then has a bit of run around together, until the lion cubs are taken on their walk. Once the lion cubs get back from their walk, the whole group get to enjoy a bottle feed (150ml porridge, 150ml milk). Once they have finished their bottles and are all calm and relaxed, the harnesses are put on and they are taken out for a walk down the loop, or for a drive in the car to the dam where they get their morning swim and playtime. When morning exercise is done they go to the bottom enclosure for the day, where they run around, climb the tree, sit on the platform and dip in their new blue kiddie-pool. At 11.00 they get a meat feed, and then another meat feed at 15.00. At 17.00 they are taken on another walk or drive and swimming session, and then come back to spend the night at the top enclosure with the lion babies. They are left to play along for an hour or two and then they are put in the little pen for bed-time, with a rib to nibble on during the night.
28 November: They are getting into their naughty stage now but are still very well behaved. They now spend the nights in the outside enclosure with the lion babies, but still go to the house every evening after their walk, to play with the dogs and jackals and to relax on the couch in the lounge with Ashley & Charlene. They are very active during the day and still flirt with Josh and bully Jason quite a bit. They are being walked one lap twice a day on the lead with harnesses on, separately to the lions. So far Amber is the adventurous one and Or is more hesitant, but they help each other out and finish the lap quite quickly by walking side by side. We gave them a bath this week and Or loved it. She sat down and kept playing, splashing all over the place. When we tried to put Amber in, she just kept escaping and got mad at us for getting her all wet. They are each getting 3 bottles a day of 150ml porridge and 150ml kitty milk, 100-200g of minced meat and a rib at night time.
22 November: We are introducing a further change in the tigers’ diet – we are replacing one of their feeds with a bowl of meat with porridge. So far it has not been very successful; both tigers still prefer their bottles of milk. Amber does take a little bit of meat though, and we hope that she will teach her sister to do the same! Their walks are progressing well and they are very active and playful, hopefully this will increase their appetites to assist with the diet change.
15 November: The tigers are growing up well, Or is now 7.2kg and Amber 6.4kg. We are amazed at how big their paws have become! They are currently getting 50ml of porridge in their bottles added to 250ml Kitty Milk, and both drink around 1 litre of this mixture per day. We also started giving them half a rib each to introduce them to meat. Amber shows some interest and plays with her rib, but Or is not interested at all. They have been doing little walks between the enclosure and the main house, but today we took them out for their first official walk, together with the lion babies.
Amber at 21 days
Or (on the right) is now 4.11kg and Amber (on the left) is 3.65kg. (16 Oct 2011)
8 November: Or and Amber continue to enjoy their interaction with the public every day. They are very active and want to explore as much as they can. On top of their daily short drive, Ashley took them to the dam in the park. They followed Tian to the edge of the water, but got a fright when their feet got wet. They started shaking each paw frantically while still having the other paws in the water, until they worked out they can just step back and have all four paws out of the the water. After their afternoon feed they are allowed to explore the area in and around the main house, under supervision. They are interested in the servals next door and also try to interact with Ashley’s dogs. When they eventually want to settle down down for a nap, Amber looks for a box to curl up in, while Or has her favourite spot spot next to the crib. After the evening feed we put them into the crib they share with the lion cubs, and it is lovely to see how they curl up together to sleep. We introduced our porridge mixture to them, which gets added to their usual milk. It took them a day or two to get used to it, but now they are drinking well. They have started lapping water from a bowl. From tonight onwards we will also offer them a rib to chew on. We are looking forward to see how they handle their first encounter with meat. Amber now weighs 5.7kg and Or is 6.2kg.
Or - November 2011
1 November: The tiger girls are growing unbelievably fast now. They did their first handlings on Monday and did extremely well, loving all the attention that they were getting. They are now spending the whole day in their new enclosure outside the restaurant. If they are not sleeping in the sun, they are walking around exploring or playing with each other. Or is still the biggest at 5.4 kg and Amber weighs 5.22 kg.
25 October: These two girls are doing well and are becoming far more co-ordinated too. They have started spending more of the day in their new enclosure next to the restaurant mainly during the feeding times. With the increase in co-ordination has come a wider range of curiosity and the 2 of them waddle all around the enclosure sniffing and exploring. They have also become more payful and are spending less time sleeping and more time playing.
18 October: Our 2 babies are flourishing!!! Or is weighing in at 4.11kg and Amber who is slightly more stream lined weighs 3.76kg. These two girls are growing up fast and are starting to explore their surroundings during the outside feeding times. They have even started to follow who ever is feeding them if they stamp their feet a little as they walk. A new enclosure has been built in front of the restaurant and hopefully the girls can spend some time in the sun out there when the weather clears up. They are still on their diet of kitty milk and are having around 800 to 900ml per day.
12 October: The girls are doing great! They are on 4 feeds a day of 260ml a feed each! We just weighed them and Amber is now 3.255 and Or is 3.266. Or is darker in color and also the feisty and grumpy one. She usually finishes her bottle 1st while Amber, the calm one out of two, takes about 45 minutes to finish. We took them on their 1st car drive on Monday morning and that is becoming now part of their morning routine so they’ll grow up used to going on drives which will make them easier to handle.
3 October: Blue baby Tiger boy died on the night of the 29th from neonatal septicemia. He started showing symptoms that morning during the 1st feed of the day and although he was feeding just fine, something didn’t seem right and we rushed him to the hospital. In less than an hour he deteriorated so badly that his body temperature dropped by a few degrees. At one stage he stated getting better and we were all so very hopeful, but unfortunately before the day ended we got the sad news of his death. We buried him the next morning at Seaview were we all had a chance to say our goodbyes to that precious little baby we lost.
His sisters, Or (Pink baby- got her collar colour after Sasha) and Amber (Orange baby- got her collar colour after Melissa) are doing great: they are enjoying 4 feeds a day of 200ml a feed and finishing it all up. Or opened her eyes a few days ago and Amber is starting to open hers now as well. They are getting much more active – up to the point we had to cover their crib up so they don’t climb out. Or seems to be the cheeky one and Amber is usually calmer and easier to handle.
Seaview's newest babies - born around 15 September 2011
27 September: Last Sunday, September 18th, David discovered tiger cubs in Luca and Lacy’s enclosure. The next day Ashley, Dean and Tian went in to get the babies out. They discovered 3.5 day old cubs: 2 females and one male in a huge nest Lacy had made deep in the bushes. The babies were taken to Ashley and Charlene’s house and have been staying there since. In the past, babies left with the tiger parents did not survive, hence our decision. Baby colors: male is blue and females are pink and orange. No names yet but will have that sorted by next week’s update. Babies are eating (about 5 times a day) 150ml at a time of kitty milk formula and are picking up weight quickly. Eyes are still closed but they are still quite vocal and active, letting us know when they are hungry- more pictures to come in the next few days.
