The IPPL gibbons have been enjoying some pretty nifty Halloween treats this season, thanks to our creative animal care staff.

We shy away from offering our gibbons sugary snacks that are only good for promoting cavities and diabetes and instead go for healthy treats. But, as we like to say around here, sometimes it’s all about “presentation, presentation, presentation”! Check out some of these fun ideas:

Helen and Peppy

Helen (left) and Peppy check Jack for treats!

Gibby and Tong

Tong (right) shows Gibby what to do.

Jack-o-lantern server:

Fill a spooky-themed bucket with healthy snacks. Our gibbons love the special dried fruit-and-nuts care packages that our donors have been ordering for them from nuts.com.

Vampire tomatoes

Vampire tomatoes!

Helen and tomatoes

Helen, vampire slayer.

Vampire tomatoes:

Cut a section out of each tomato. Insert triangles of flour tortilla for fangs.

Monster breadstick fingers

Breadsticks, avocado, and tortilla tips = monster fingers reaching for….

Monster avocado fingers:

Slather mashed avocado over breadsticks. Apply triangles of tortilla for fingernails.

Mummy beets

Beets-ly mummies (or should that be beestly???) in tortilla wrappings.

Robbie and Stacy

Robbie gingerly accepts a mummy beet from our newest caregiver, Stacy.

Dianne and mummy beet

What does Dianne make of the mummy beet?

Mummy beets:

Set out beet slices (we used raw beets, but you will want to use cooked/canned ones). Cut flour tortillas into strips. Lay strips across the face of the beet to look like mummy wrappings. Cut a pair of little circles out of a tortilla for each beet slice and use a Q-tip to dab a dot of black food coloring in the center of each for “eyes.” Set each pair between the tortilla strips so they look like they’re peeping through.

Ghostly eggs

A battalion of ghostly hard-boiled eggs!

Thai and egg

Thai is going to go for it!

Nicholas and egg

Nicholas was suspicious at first, but his tummy won out over caution.

Ghostly eggs:

Remove the shells from hard-boiled eggs and cut the blunt end flat so the egg can stand upright. (You can also make a more labor-intensive but cooler-looking zig-zag cuts.) Use a Q-tip dipped in black food coloring to draw spooky faces.

Scrappy and treats

Scrappy surveys some devilish delights: an eggplant spider, ghostly eggs, and orange bell pepper “pumpkins.”

Eggplant black widow:

Raw eggplant, attractively arranged, topped with an hourglass made of red pepper. Spider-phobes beware! Ghostly eggs and cute pumpkin shapes cut out of orange bell peppers complete the edible display.