We have always had animals of one type or another and I also worked at Pensycynor Wildlife Park in Neath before it closed in 1998 where I gained my City and Guilds Certificate in Zoo Animal Management however after a number of years with exotics such as Meerkats, Agoutis, Mara's, Racoons, to name just a few, we decided to change to domesticated cats which are now all we have.

Below are pictures of some of the past animals that we have kept over the years.

Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) I had over twenty of these at one time, I found them the most interesting and intelligent of all the mongoose, they could distinguish between a plane, a crow and a hawk with their different chirps.

Agouti (Dasyprocta) skittish to say the least and could jump around at heights of over 4ft when cornered. They are basically a large Guinea Pig and inhabit areas of Central America, the West Indies and northern South America. 

 MARA (Dolichotis) although a large relative of the Guinea Pig from a distance they look very similar to a donkey, they are common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina but live in other areas of South America as well such as Paraguay. Maras are the third largest rodent in the world. 

The Yellow Mongoose, (C. penicillata) we obtained these in a swap from Cotswold Wildlife park in exchange for Meerkats. I found them to be wonderfully inquisitive, yet shy around strangers. They live in open country, from semi-desert scrubland to grasslands in  Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe.

Woodchuck (Marmota monax) he was a beast, and would chew through anything. Perhaps you have seen the film 'Groundhog Day'  they are widely distributed in North America.

Small Spotted Genet (Genetta genetta) this was a sad story from the start, firstly when she was a few weeks old her back leg was bitten off by a Pine Martin at her then home in a Scottish Wildlife Park. Within 6 months of having her and her partner, her partner died. It took a few months to find another male who again unfortunately a few weeks later also died, so she lived a solitary life until she was loaned out to a wildlife sanctuary in North Wales who had a few other Genets. They can be found in Northwest Africa

BANDED MONGOOSE  (Mungos mungo) these were the fiercest mongoose I have ever had, gloves were always needed, when they took a dislike to a member of their own family, it was a case of remove it or they would kill it. The banded mongoose is found in a large part of  East, Southeast and South-Central Africa

Meerkat enclosures until it was dismantled a few years ago. We decided at this point to stop collecting exotics and move to something a little bit more common.

After the re-shaping of the garden above we built the new studs dens, they have views over the mountains opposite the house and up and down the valley.