About Us

Welcome to our Critter Camp blog.
Windsor Elementary 4th Grade and the Animal Rescue League of Iowa are partnering to create "Critter Camp". The 4th grade classrooms will be caring for small animals from the ARL that are in need of foster care until they are ready for adoption. This blog will share about our foster critters' progress and their search for their forever home.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Check out this Video

The ARL made a video for their annual auction, and Critter Camp got to be a part of it!


Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The Bunnies are Available for Adoption!

The time has come for our bunnies to find their forever homes.  Gio found his forever home a week ago and his mom and siblings are ready for their turn. Read the posts below and check out their ARL link for more about them.   All the bunnies will be adopted in pairs for $75.  

Pepper and Felix

Pepper and Felix are Bonded Buddies. They'll be adopted as a pair for $75.
Pepper is a sweet boy who loves to snuggle and likes being petted. He has adorable spots on his face and one blue eye and one brown eye. He is very easy to pick up and is also happy to sit near you for some quality petting time. 
Felix likes to explore and snuggle with his brother Pepper. He is happy to be held and cuddled once he is safe in your arms, and he is getting better with being picked up and put back down. He likes sitting next to you and being petted as well. Pepper and Felix like to play in their hidey house and take long naps. They're doing great with litter-training, too. Both boys would be great family pets!

Pepper

 Pepper




Felix





Chessie and Maisy

Maisy and Chessie are Bonded Buddies. They'll be adopted as a pair for $75.


Chessie is a very curious little girl who can almost always be found standing on her hind legs looking around, even when she's eating! She has an amazingly fluffy face and adorable bangs that flop over her eyes. She is sassy and likes to be the boss sometimes -- she'll let you know what she likes and doesn't like with her trademark "thump" of her foot!
Maisy is a pretty low-key bunny who's happy just relaxing. When she is comfortable, she loves to snuggle, but she isn't the first one up begging to be petted. When she has her sister beside her, she is happy to hang out. Both of these girls are doing great with litter training. They like to play in their hidey house and take long naps (probably Maisy's favorite thing in the world). These girls would be great family pets!
Chessie
 Baby Chessie


 Maisy

Hope and Skeekers

Hope and Skeekers are Bonded Buddies. They'll be adopted as a pair for $75.

Skeekers is a hilarious bunny with a little bit of a rough start. He was the runt of his litter and was kicked out of the next a few times. He's left his runt days behind now, though, and is one of the bigger bunnies in his litter! Skeekers loves his momma, Hope -- he follows her everywhere and loves to cuddle with her. He doesn't love being picked up, but as soon as you get him snuggled in, he falls asleep and loves being petted. He's very curious, too, and likes exploring your lap and anywhere you let him roam. He's doing great with litter training as well.
Hope is the most amazing bunny on so many levels. She had a very rough start in life and came to the ARL scared and pregnant. Her first night safe at the ARL she delivered her litter of 6 babies. Right away the next morning she and her babies were moved again to a foster home in a fourth-grade classroom at Windsor Elementary. Once there, Hope settled in and went to work being a good mom. Over the next few weeks she became a whole new bunny. She started to explore and learn that people were pretty great. She now begs for attention and will snuggle up next to you for hours if you just pet her. She is getting much more comfortable being held and just wants to be near you. She loves yogurt treats and kale and has also learned to love toys. Hope learned how to use the litter box in record time. At first she was scared of everything, but she has become a confident and perfect pet. Her student caregivers love her very much and spend as much time as they can petting her. Her ability to love and her comfort level with people is helping teach Skeekers to also be more comfortable. She and Skeekers will be an amazing addition to any loving family!


Hope

Skeekers and Hope

Skeekers

Skeekers






Monday, April 14, 2014

A Bit of Guinea Goodness

5th Grade Safety Patrol Member, Grace, stopped in to give Jerry some love before heading to her post.

Roaa and Tom.
Halima and Jerry.


More Bunny Love

Trey and Avery hanging with the bunnies.

Trey and Avery working on socialization.

Geo/Gia hopped up in Avery's lap to learn some vocabulary words.

Avery and Geo/Gia learning some new words.

Keylan keeping the bunnies busy while Mrs. Wilken was cleaning.


Keylan making friends with Felix/Felicity

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Introducing the Baby Bunnies

We have been working tirelessly to get good individual photos, but it isn't very easy to get a good clear shot with 6 bouncing babies. We also aren't certain if they are boys or girls yet, so below is our best attempt at individual photos.  We will keep working, but didn't want to make you wait any longer!   Notice if the name was a bit girly or boyish, we tried to choose two in case...


Skeekers is almost all black and was the runt of the litter.


Chester/Chessie is the fluffiest and loves to stand on its back legs and look around.  He/she is also mostly black with a small white collar. 

Felix/Felicity has the largest white collar and likes to watch the others.

Gio/Gia is our curious bunny it also was one of the first out of the nest.

Max/Maisy likes to relax and also has a very small white collar.

Pepper likes to explore and checks out everyone who comes in the pen.  He/she has a larger while collar and blue eyes a little darker than mom.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Up Close and Personal

The students have been getting up close and personal with our Critter Campers this week. Petting and making friends with bunnies, cleaning and feeding guinea pigs, and playing with rats!

Jordan petting Hope

Jerzye sweeping up Tom and Jerry's pen.

Gracie and Jerzye cleaning up for Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry like to spill their food before they eat it.


Jayden helping socialize the babies.

Georgia and Avery getting some after school cage time in with the bunnies.

Haylee and Cream.

Cuddling with Cookie







Monday, April 7, 2014

Rat Photo Shoot

This past week we spent some time doing a photo shoot with Cookie and Cream to make posters for each ARL location.  Here are a few of the good ones.  They have been with us for a long time and really need to find their forever home.  The kids have been working very hard to help them be the greatest pets they can be. Please consider adopting these guys.  They are so awesome and would make perfect pets for anyone!