"For the love
of Precious" "
by Linda La Frentz 1999
The first time I saw a ringtail lemur up close was at an exotic sale. A man was holding a year old male pet. I was in total awe of its beauty. The long fluffy black and white ringed tail hung to the man's knees. The lemur was hugging his owner's neck like "save me."
Where I live, we have a nice zoo, but we don't have any lemurs. (when I wrote this, we didn't have any lemurs, but now we do) I don't travel a lot so I didn't know about these gorgeous animals. But I made a vow--one of these days I'm going to have one. One has turned into two trios. Love um!!
When the first baby was born, I accidentally walked up on the mother giving birth. I didn't know how she would react to me watching, so I quietly backed off and watched from a distance. It's hard to describe the joy and excitement that I felt. I went and got my husband, Marvin and we watched. I told him "this is the most precious thing I have ever seen." So that's what I named the baby girl, "Precious."
I left her with her mother for 14 days before I took her to raise on a bottle. She has a cage in the house to where she can watch TV with us. She has a tree stump in it. She sits on it, puts her feet and hands on the wire, stares at the TV and sucks her tongue. "CUTE." We fixed her a bed in our bedroom out of a 10-gallon aquarium with a lid. She has baby blankets and a stuffed toy to hug. If she woke up before us she would be real quiet until she knew one of us was getting up. The only time she would get a little louder was if she needed to potty. She doesn't like soiled covers.
I offered her a bottle until she was six months old. They don't need a bottle that long, but I loved holding her and cuddling her. I guess it's a mother thing. From the time she was five months old she would start declining the bottle. But every night I would offer it before she went nite nite. This was our special bonding time. Even if she didn't take the bottle, she loved for me to rock her and tell her "mama loves her baby."
She was always my baby until she was about 5 months old. My husband wanted to hold her. She was afraid of him at first. But everyday when he came home from work, he would stick his head in the front door and say, "hi, you wanna go to the barn and play with the kitty's?" It got to where she knew when he was suppose to be home. She would watch out the window for his pickup. If she saw him, she would start doing back flips. One day to our shock and amazement when Marvin stuck his head in the door--SHE SAID "HI." She has learned a few single syllable words. She tells everybody that comes around "HI." I let her run around the yard, play in the trees and go to the horse barn. When it is time for her to come in the house (or now she stays with the other lemurs some) if she isn't ready to come in she says "No." She means it too. She knows what she is saying. Sometimes I have to trick her to get her in.
When we take her with us in the car she wears diapers with a hole cut for her tail. One time we decided to just get out and spend the day riding. We took her fruit and biscuit and milk. We stopped at a Dairy Queen to get cheeseburgers and fries. The people working there had their nose against the windows. Some even came out to the car. They got so excited about the baby lemur that our order was all wrong. Oh well. We went down the road a little ways and found a roadside park with trees and rocks. Perfect place for her to get out and play. We got her fruit and biscuits out for her. Then, we got out our cheeseburgers. She didn't want anything to do with her food. She had to have ours! Every since then, when we eat a meal at home, we have to fix her a small plate. She will try everything that we eat. If she doesn't like it, she just puts it back on the plate. Better than most kiddos. LOL.
For the last two summers it has become a ritual for Marvin and Precious to chase grasshoppers. The first time Marvin caught one for her, it was really funny. He held the insect and tried to give it to her. She would reach out for it but it would grab her with the short front feet. She said "No." So he told her to "bite it." She would try, but it would grab her nose. She would shake her head and go back and try again. Finally she conquered the bug. Now she loves them. She now goes with Marvin and helps find the grasshoppers. Marvin shakes the bushes to make the hoppers fly. One day he got tired and we were sitting under a tree on our lawn furniture. Marvin said, "look at Precious." She still wanted some more grasshoppers. She was shaking the bushes next to the CritterHouse and making them fly.
She has done so many cute things. I've said a number of times "we need to tape this for Funny Home Videos. We could win some money."
We have one dog that is kind of cranky, but Precious isn't afraid of him. We were sitting on the yard swing, just talking and letting Precious play. The dog was laying a little ways out from us. Precious thought she wasn't getting enough attention from us, so she runs over and slaps the dog on the rear, runs a little ways and looks at us like, look what I did! We laughed at her. So like a little kid, she goes back and does it again. More laughter. Oh she thinks, now I know how to get their attention. She gets tired of tormenting the dog and gets on Marvin's shoulder. The next thing--she grabs his ball cap, jumps down and runs with it. Then she puts it on her head. That's one of the times I wish I had a camera. Sooo---Cute!!
When each year's babies are old enough to play outside and climb in the trees, Precious likes to baby-sit. She sits like a little Buda and watches patiently. At first the babies are afraid of her. But, before long they are going to her and she grooms them.
Watching them is like therapy. It makes you feel so good inside, a real joy.
Linda LaFrentz
903-389-5339
mailto:critterhouse@hotmail.com
