The Gilded Margin

By Shyanne Gines

One thing my animals absolutely do not care about?

My schedule.

They don’t care that I’m at a conference. They don’t care that I’m sitting through professional training. They don’t care that I have kids, work, a house, errands, or approximately 47 other things happening at any given time.

If a light is supposed to come on at a certain time, it still needs to come on.

If an enclosure needs to stay within its normal routine, that routine doesn’t suddenly stop because I’m sitting in a conference session somewhere.

But that also doesn’t mean my entire life needs to revolve around manually managing every part of their care.

I’ve learned to automate what I can.

One of the simplest things I’ve added to my animal setup is a power surge protector with built-in timers.

Certain enclosure lights need to turn on and off on a schedule, so instead of relying on me to remember every single day, they’re programmed.

Lights on.

Lights off.

Same routine whether I’m standing in the room, at work, at a conference, running kids somewhere, or doing any of the other things that make up our normal life.

I also have cameras set up so I can check on some of the enclosures when I’m away.

And yes, I absolutely look at them.

Sometimes I’m checking that everything looks normal.

Sometimes I’m making sure an animal is where I expect them to be.

And sometimes I open the camera just to discover that absolutely nothing interesting is happening.

Which is usually exactly what I want to see.

I think this is one of the less glamorous parts of having multiple animals that doesn’t get talked about as much.

It’s not just buying supplies or setting up a cool enclosure.

It’s figuring out systems.

What can be automated?

What actually needs my physical attention?

What needs to be checked daily?

What can I monitor while I’m away?

Because as much as I love my animals, they’re one part of a much bigger life.

I’m a mom first.

I have kids who deserve my time and attention. I have a career that matters to me. I have responsibilities, goals, relationships, a home, and a life outside of animal care.

Good animal care shouldn’t require neglecting everything else.

For me, part of being a responsible animal owner has been building routines and using tools that help everything coexist.

The timer doesn’t replace me caring for them.

The cameras don’t replace physically checking their enclosures.

They just handle or help monitor the things technology is perfectly capable of handling.

A Few Things That Make This Easier

I’ve learned that caring for multiple animals doesn’t mean I need to manually manage every part of their routine. A few simple tools help me automate what I can and check in when I’m away.

What I actually use:

• BN-LINK 8-Outlet Surge Protector with Timer — This is my favorite for enclosure setups because four outlets can run on the timer while four stay powered all the time. See the BN-LINK timed surge protector on Amazon⁠.
• Fosmon 24-Hour Dual Outlet Timer — A simpler option when I only need to put one or two things on a daily schedule. See the Fosmon outlet timer on Amazon⁠.
• WYZE Cam v4 — I use cameras to quickly check an enclosure while I’m away and make sure everything looks normal. See the WYZE Cam v4 on Amazon⁠.
• WYZE Cam Pan v3 — The pan-and-tilt option gives me a little more flexibility when I want to see more than one fixed camera angle. See the WYZE Cam Pan v3 on Amazon⁠.

These things don’t replace hands-on care. They just automate the things that can be automated so I can check in when needed and then get back to being present for my kids, my work, and whatever else the day has going on.

So while I’m sitting at a conference learning something new, somewhere back home a light clicks on exactly when it’s supposed to.

I can pull up a camera and make sure everyone looks normal.

And then I can put my phone back down and pay attention to where I actually am.

The animals are cared for.

The kids still come first.

And I don’t have to be in twelve places at once.

Although I’m fairly certain the animals still believe I should be.

-The Gilded Margin