I am always open to constructive advice- emphasis on the constructive part.



This summer will be our 3rd year with tons of events.

our first year we had 3 events- very spread out- and they ate like 'normal' ...



year 2-- we had 5 events-- that was the poop year. i fed them like 'normal'- good size rabbit, maybe 2 once a month-- poo poo poo-- every event there was poo. It was horrible. Can you imagine being terrified of an animal... only to have it crap a rabbit on your kid?



Year 3-- we had 11 events! We tried the new feeding thing- pack it on in the winter- lay off all summer. She ate 2-3 times during the summer- certainly not 'normal'.



Year 4-- we have 14 (14!!!!!) events booked as of now-- and there are always those last minute events that we get calls for. we'll probably land around 18 by the seasons end.



now, Year one- we had 1 big burm -- but we didn't have any events- no big deal.



Year 2 -- same one burm- more events- MORE poo...



Year 3 -- We'd lost our big guy, he was quite old (somewhere around 13 when we got him- in POOR health, another 1 1/2 years to get him healthy and then 3 years healthy), and went down hill very fast over the winter-- several thousand at the vet did nothing for him, he was just old... We also had gotten another big girl- which is who i posted pics of a few posts above-- The feeding method worked well-- we would get home late sat/sun and feed mon/tues- when we had a weekend off- and she'd poo around wed/thurs before the next event. Just looked through my records- She ate 4 times over the summer. one meal was quite small- only 1 5lb rabbit- the others were 2-7lb, 3-4/5 lb, and 2- 7/8 lb. rabbits.

There were 2 events she didn't attend b/c of shedding cycles.



Year 4- We now have ANOTHER big girl. She has not been to an event yet, but we have constructed large crowds of willing reptile keepers, willing friends, and occasionally family and had her out for several hours, lifted up and down, moved around, redirected multiple times, lots of tail touching, blah blah blah- seems to do great. We have probably 4 weeks of super warm weather before our first big event, and she'll be out 2-3 of those weekends to 'test' her some more.



The biggest problem we've had is with the # of snakes we have. before we've only had one really 'useable' snake. This year we have 2 big girls and I will alternate--



There is NO possible way to keep eyeballs on 4 snakes- 2 of them being huge. these are 3 people snakes and saftey is #1.



We have multiples of the other species we take to the events- we've got 4 red tails that rotate, we've got 3 smaller snakes (1 corn, 1 rosy, and 1 kenyan), and 4 balls that rotate. Occasionally we'll switch one of those out for the retic or iguana.



we're still in the 'figure it out' part. We've done rescue for what seems like an eternity- and recently started doing events. The events are very important and directly impact the way the rescue runs through the rest of the year. 2 years in a row, we've had a vet donate 500$ worth of service to us- his clinic is 2 hours away, but we're there regularly to visit family, no biggie to drag along an animal that needs checked out. And a lot of our animals come from the city, i call up the vet while i'm picking up the animal- and drop by. We've had multiple boxes of rodentpro/similar feeders donated. snake lovers- that have rodents thier snakes have outgrown- see us, run home, get the box, and bring it back. We get lots of caging supplies, heat pads, uv lights, etc... I've also had 2 people at one event fill the gas tanks in the 2 cars and 2 suv's we drove 4 hours away to attend the event- totally awsome!



I TOTALLY understand what you're saying about the natural feeding methods being altered to 'suit' our human needs- and it is a great point! however, those animals being out there and being seen- directly impacts them to. Not saying they wouldn't eat or have vet service without donations- because that obvously isn't true-- my rough total on out of pocket expenses for the rescue for last year alone totals well over 8,000$ (thats more than my car cost!)That doesn't include the gas or car wear and tear, tolls, or road food for us.



We get many, many burms- and the vast majority are just not 'up' to the challenge of being exposed to over 1,000 people in a day- thats a lot for me to take, much less them. we've had a few that could have been good canditates- but at 4 foot... aren't quite the attention getters we need.



Now, to put you at ease a little- We will change the feeding methods this year- i'm very-open to anything that will make our lives easier. We have 2 girls that can rotate, and we're hoping to have more. A good friend of mine that does similar events- more for schools/b-days and things- has a 10 ft yellow head that he's offered to sell to us- we just need to decide if we want him or not.



anyway-- don't know if i got all you points covered-- i know this is a rediculous post and i cut out a lot... so let me know if theres anything else!



Thanks

Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

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