Earth Day Weekend 2010

Creature Quest will be at Erin Mills Town Centre on Saturday, April 24th. Since Earth Day this year is taking place on the Thursday, the weekend is a much better time to organize these fun shows.

We will be running 4 shows throughout the day. The theme is animals and their habitats so it will be a little different than the shows over March break. The animal line up is pretty different as well, although some fan favourites may be back. Like last time, it will be a 40 minute (ish) presentation followed by a 20 minute meet and greet.

Please contact Guest Services at Erin Mills Town Centre before the event to register. More information can be found on their website, http://www.erinmills.ca/

See you all in a few weeks.

April 11, 2010 - Hiring

We are looking to hire one or two new members to our staff. Sadly we will be losing two of our great staff this summer as they have some very exciting plans for the future (ones off to university and the other will be teaching in Honduras!)

At first the position is for the assistant animal handler but there is room for promotion.

We had to interviews on Friday morning and have a few more to go before we make any decisions.

Thank you to all that have applied. It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with with everyone that was selected for an interview. It really is hard for us to choose just one or two from the bunch!

ttfn...

March Break was a HOOT

We're finally getting back into the regular routine after all the wonderful craziness that was March Break. Here is a pic of just one of our adventures. I'll try to get a small album up on our FaceBook page in the very near future....

March Break Day 3

What an interesting and slightly crazy day. We were at Oakville Place all day with a display and a few small stand up shows. We'll be back again tomorrow (Thursday,) Friday and Saturday. For stand up show times please call guest services. There are no posted show schedules on site.

We were also at Milton Mall and Sheridan Centre for a 40-minute stand-up show followed by a meet and greet at each. I can't believe the HUGE interest. We must have had over 200 people at each show. Jon, Daniyal and I are still talking about what an incredible experience it was for us. We really hope that you like the animals.

On a personal note. If you have come out and seen on of our shows and fallen in love with any (or all) of the wonderful animals that you met, please remember that you are the key for these animals' survival. The main reason for animals to end up on the threatened or endangered list is habitat loss. Other key reasons are pollution, over hunting/harvesting and the introduction of non native species into an environment. To learn about how you can help these animals in the wild, visit sites like www.panda.org

March 16, 2010 - March Break MaDdNeSs

Had a great time at Erin Mills Town Centre on Monday. It was really neat to see SO many people at our four shows. At times it was a little crazy and I want to thank everyone for their understanding and their enthusiasm once we got our show going!

We are definitely looking forward to future events at Erin Mills Town Centre ie Earth Day (cross our fingers!)- and we even picked up a beautiful mic and amp in anticipation!

Right at this second, we gearing up for our other shows. There are many camps and birthday parties planned for this week.

Tomorrow we're starting our 4 day display show at Oakville Place in Oakville (QEW at Trafalgar). We'll be there during mall hours and will have a lovely array of animals both on display and to touch.

We will also be at Milton Mall in Milton (Main St/ Ontario St.) from 10 am until noon. We will be doing a 40-minute stand-up presentation followed by a 1 hour and 20 minute meet and greet.

Later tomorrow afternoon from 2 pm until 4 pm we will be at Sheridan Centre in Mississauga(2225 Erin Mills Parkway) for a 40-minute show followed by an 1 hour and 20 minute of meet and greet to follow.

Bring your cameras and we'll see you soon!

Yolanta

Thursday, March 11, 2010 - Daytime Mississauga

Thank you to the folks at Erin Mills Town Centre, Roger's Television and Daytime Mississauga. We really had a blast filming our segment on Daytime Mississauga. Thank you for such a wonderful opportunity.

See everyone at Erin Mills Town Centre on Monday, March 15 for one of our shows. Remember you have to register with Guest Services before had and the net proceeds from the show will go to the Credit Valley Hospital Foundation. It's only $5.00 for a great show and a fun craft so come on out!!!

Erin Mills Town Centre is located at Erin Mills Parkway and Eglinton Avenue in Mississauga. It features some great shopping opportunities and of course is a great place to see Creature Quest this March break! EMTC will be running March break activities throughout the week of the 15th. For more information on registering or about this or other activities, please visit www.erinmills.ca

Daytime Mississauga is a local television show that runs Monday to Friday on channel 10. Daytime is an entertaining lifestyle show that highlights the people, events, and topics in and around the Peel Region. Guests will help reveal the richness and diversity of our community, while professionals will offer their expert advice. daytime is “local talk” about “life matters” including topics such as fashion, fitness, cooking, lifestyles, and more.It features local life and entertainment topics. http://www.rogerstv.com/option.asp?lid=12&rid=51&sid=1993


PS Thank you Amy Heffernan for the cd's. We all ready listened to them and think that you're great! Hope you get signed very soon!!! www.myspace.com/amyheffy

March 4, 2010 - Elongated tortoise eggs

After two weeks of digging and digging, our dear female elongated tortoise FINALLY laid two eggs. Now these aren't just any eggs... These eggs are bigger than her head! Ouch!!!

We're really hoping that these eggs hatch into beautiful healthy babies. Elongated tortoise are currently listed CITIES Appendix II, which regulates legal international trade. This species is under some extreme pressure in it's natural habitat in Asia (from Nepal to Malaysia) because of over harvesting for the food market. Even with CITIES protection it is still the most common tortoise shipped to the Chinese food markets from Vietnam and are still featured on importer’s price lists.

Captive breeding of these species is very important and I encourage any hobbyist with these little guys in there collection to make serious efforts to help continue the survival of this wonderful animal.

It would be a dream for all animals to live peacefully in their natural habitats but that is not the world that we are living in. Our way of life are threatening other living things and in the end are threatening our own existence too....

March 3, 2010 - New site design is up FINALLY

Finally finished and posted most of the new site design. I still have to add the section for retirement residences - they're so much fun to go to - and add several other colouring pages but the basics are up.
Yippi!!! Now time to celebrate with a sandwich... ttfn

March 2, 2010 - New look for the website

Creature Quest's website is going to have a slightly different look hopefully by the end of the day. We have so much going on right now that this change is taking longer than normal. Things you can look for
-Some great new pictures
-A downloads page with colouring sheets and the invitations
-Many new events added

If you have any suggestions terms of content or even layout of the site, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks!

Monday, February 22, 2010 - Owl Prowl FUN!

Although we didn't see any owls during the hike - it seems that they were all off hunting. Everyone had a lot of fun. So much so, that it looks like some more owl prowls will be scheduled for March!

Thank you to the Toronto and Regional Conservation Authority for setting this up for us, providing the hot chocolate and the two taxidermy owls.

We'll keep you updated on future dates and times....

February 18, 2010 - Bushnell and Owls

We're really excited that we got our binoculars back from Bushnell. They needed a bit of repair and came back right in time for this weekend's owl prowl. We are big fans of Bushnell. Not only do we really like their products but there service is also very good.

It seems that there are 60 people signed up for Saturday's Hoot and Howl at Heart Lake. Great news for everyone is that we have found owls at Heart Lake. On two different scouting trips we have found 7 short eared owls and 1 great horned owl. There have also been some signs of screech owls.

Let's cross our fingers and hope that Saturday is a good owling day!

February 15 - Family Day at NAMF

Thank you to everyone one at the North American Muslim Foundation (NAMF). We really enjoyed being part of the 3rd Annual Family Fair. It was wonderful to meet all the the people - especially the very excited children - who came out to enjoy an evening filled with friends, family, good food, wonderful shopping and live entertainment.

Also, I would like to say thank all of the kids and adults that we met at the many parties we attended this weekend. We certainly have lots of great memories and hope that you do too!

And to our staff, Daniyal, Jon, Nin and Allison, we really could not have made it through this weekend without you. Thank you for your hard work, dedication and passion. We are so happy to have all of you on board.

February 11, 2010 - Hoot and Howl at Heart Lake

Join our own Jon Triffo and Duane Bailey as they set out for what should be a terrific night of adventure! After an interesting slide show introduction on owls and coyotes, we will head outside to try to make 'contact.' Bring a travel mug for hot chocolate!!

When: Saturday, February 20, 2010, 7 pm - 9 pm

Where: Heart Lake Conservation Area

10818 Heart Lake Road, Brampton

This is a free event. To register, please visit http://www.trca.on.ca/events/event.dot?id=75007

February 9, 2010 - FAMILY DAY 2010

Come and join from 4-7 pm. This is a free family event. There will be lots of food and entertainment. A great way to spend family day together!

February 4, 2010 - Allison off to Houndras

We just got word that the fantastic Miss Allison has accepted an offer to teach grade 6 at an international school in Houndras. While we are very sad to see her go we are very happy that she is pursuing her teaching dream and exploring an exotic country. Allison will remain with us until the end of July when she plans on taking off to her new career.

Congratulations Allison! We know that you'll do an incredible job teaching and changing the lives of all your students. Your new school is very lucky to have you as part of their team. I can't wait to see photos of your Ms Frizzle-esque classroom!!!

January 28 2010 - Baby Gargoyle Gecko

Our first baby gargoyle gecko has hatched and he's looking a lot like his daddy. He first stuck out his little nose last night and finally absored his yoke sack early this morning.

We still have one more in the incubator that was laid on a different day so it may be another until junior here meets the little critter that's been in the incubator with him.

In a little while when he's bigger we'll be able to know for sure if he's really a little mister or if he's actually a little miss! For now we're going to just interchange them :)

Jan 4, 2010 - Bye, bye calabar python

We LOVE our calabar pythons. So much so that for the past year or so we have been talking about breeding them - this way others could enjoy them the better way through captive bred specimens.

Right now in Canada there really are few if not no captive bred calabars. This may be because it is supposed to be rather difficult to bred this type of snake. I guess we'll soon find out....

So we are rolling up our sleeves, doing our research and hoping for lots of luck so we can one day have little babies!

What this means to everyone else is that we will no longer be offering calabar pythons for any shows. We need to be able to reduce as much of the animals' stress as possible. We also want to include all of our animals so we can better increase our chances of success.

With any luck, one day in the next few years, you can meet Mocha's off spring!

Jan. 1, 2010 - Starting the year off nicely

Yesterday was the beginning of not only 2010 but the first day of Peach's babies's lives!

We're really happy to announce that Peaches the guinea pig had three beautiful babies yesterday. They are orange and white (but mostly orange). Like I said before, this was very much a happy accident where she was accidentally placed into the male's enclosure. So after some debate while she was pregnant, it's official the daddy is Toby! One baby even has his Friar Tuck hair do!

Because we were not at all planning these births we may be looking for homes for some or all of the babies in a few months. Please enquire if you are interested. These will be lovely pet animals.
416 554-1940 or info@creaturequest.ca