Otto is back!

Last night I put a Rockling at the entrance to Otto's holt, just incase he came back and needed some nourishment. I put sand around the area to check for footprints in the morning. I tied the door open and went to bed. This morning I checked and the fish was gone! Otto had been back during the night and proved it by leaving his five toed paw prints in the sand.

I set off looking for him up the burn and down to the beach calling his name as I went. No sign of him anywhere.There were some otter tracks at the bay but they could have been from a wild otter.

I repeated the procedure tonight and left another fish. I'm just back in and pleased to say that Otto has returned!
At first he seemed different, a bit wilder. He had scoffed the rockling so I gave him some cat food as I have no fish defrosted. He seemed very hungry and scoffed the lot. We had a play in the dark until I had had enough of the rain. I closed the enclosure door and came in to get dried off.

An Otters digestive system works very fast, so they really need to eat regularly. He will have to learn to catch his own food now that he is out and about...or go hungry. If he does decide to go wild again then all I can really do is leave fish out for his return. Tonight showed me that he will return when hungry. As long as I keep putting food out then he will not starve. He is now eating about 3lb of fish per day!

I'll check on him again in an hour or so and see if he is still there or not. Perhaps not, now that he has had two full days and a full night out in the wilderness. Maybe he will scale the fence like he did two nights ago...if so, thats fine.

Otto is back!

I checked ... he is still there.

Otto has gone

I went to feed Otto this morning and he wasnt there. I reckon during the night he must have climbed over the wire netting of the enclosure.
I spent all of this morning looking for him. He has been getting a lot of freedom of late, so this was to be expected. I have left some fish in his run with the door open.
There has been a lot of rain during the night and the burn is flowing high. I hope he is ok...must say I am worried.
Come back Otto.

Swimming in the burn

Since Otto's first taste of freedom, I have been introducing him to the burn that runs adjacent to the run. At first it took a while for Otto to go in but now that he's got used to the idea there is no keeping him out. He swims up and down a small stretch of the burn for 2 - 3 hours at a time and loves every minute.

I've been throwing in fresh fish for him to find, and he seems to be having a good success rate at finding them. At first when he found a fish he would head back to his holt to eat it. After a few days he is now quite happy to eat them on the spot. He has found a spot on the bank just next to the bridge, where he sometimes goes for a munch. He must feel safe there as it is quite overgrown. 

He seems to be interested in everything and anything! Yesterday he went into the walled garden and grabbed a plastic plant pot. He then proceeded to carry it into the burn where he played with it for ages. When he swims underwater, all there is to see of him is a trail of bubbles! very funny to watch. He seems to be really enjoying his trips to the burn..hopefully it wont be long before he visits the sea! When I want him back into his holt I call his name and tempt him home with a fish or two. He seems to want to go back, which makes life easier for both of us.

Otto met the Hens today while he was out and about...he didn't lick his lips and didn't seem to mind them at all. Must say i'm rather glad of that.

Now that Otto is using the burn, it seems a bit of a waste of time and energy getting the large pool ready for him. I'll have a think about it. Maybe it will be useful to give him a bit of depth to his swimming. Perhaps prepare him for a bit of deep sea diving?