Regarding post-production:  what program are you using? I'll be happy to coach you on good techniques (read:  subtle ones that don't scream "I altered my photo!"). The goal should be to make your photos look like your real animals, in color, sharpness, contrast, etc.  If you like we can make a new thread or resurrect the old one where we can post unaltered and then altered photos, and we can offer critique and methods to make those photos look great AND natural.  But I don'twant to steal this thread

Without exaggeration, if this came across my desk I'd delete it unceremoniously in a blink (nothing about this is printable on a page). It is badly goosed.

Most keepers and viewers are aspiring for the most beautiful natural colors. We reject dyed corals, dyed fishes, etc... and we reject photoshopped images of the unreal too.

Please rest assured that manipulations of color, saturation and hue by amatuers categorically do more harm than good. I count myself in the amateru category and do no manipulations of images. Only when needed, I even then leave it to the pros. Rarely (I mean rarely) is a great photopgrapher also a great post-processing artist.

Have you tried the coffee filter or white cap trick yet in contrast to your gadget? Do consider a gray card from a photoshop too. It could be very illuminating.