Hello. Welcome to the wonderful world of reptile friendly teachers! I don't think there are a whole lot of us...

I teach at a very small school in rural Arkansas (home of the Rattlers, woohoo! Ironic eh?). This was my first year teaching and I really wanted to make a splash, so even though I taught mainly the physical sciences, my room looked far more like a biology room. With the blessings from my administration (no red tape!) I keep or have kept the following in my classroom over the past academic year:

-8' olive python - big guy, the kids love to watch him eat, but because of his feeding response, he's a no-no as far as handling

-Louisiana pinesnake - received this one on donation from a very generous herper in NY. He is one half of my conservation display, the other half being an eastern indigo I hope to have coming sometime by next school year.

-Woma python - big, gorgeous, easy going male, he was definitely a hit. Just a tad costly to acquire.

-Rufous beaked snake - yes technically venomous, but she has quickly become the favorite snake in the room because she's so active and curious. She will poke her head out and peer around, and has been completely fine being handled. I do take some precautions with her though just to be safe.

-Ackie monitors - they stayed in the room for the first month or so, but they didn't end up working out very well because they remained buried all the time.

-Leopard geckos - another great addition. Easy going attitudes and not too squirmy. The kids love to feed them roaches and meal worms off the tweezers, and the leos became very accustomed to perking up when they see the tweezers.

-Emerald tree boa - he was an amazing display specimen but I decided to remove him from the classroom because of the risk he posed with his rather gigantic teeth.

-Colombian boa constrictor - she was just a little too large (received her on donation) at a tad over 7' and 30lbs or so for the classroom. The olive is big, but she was a beast. She was very easy going, but presented a risk I didn't find worth it.

Nonherps I keep in there:
-gerbils and mice, part of the food chain
-finches, Lady Gouldians, not the noisy zebras
-various inverts students bring me: brown recluses, black widows, yellow bark scorpions

I highly recommend all teachers keeping animals in their classrooms if the school allows it. In fact, if I were offered a position that paid better but didn't allow animals in the room, I might have to turn it down. It has kept the kids interested all year, especially recently with the warm weather and the possibility of me bringing in random native animals for them to try to identify. My conservation attempts have gone well with the Louisiana pine. The students have became very attached to him, and I try to keep hitting on the fact that their numbers are dwindling so rapidly.

When I began the year, I had students who were very leery of entering my classroom. Now, I have students asking all the time to get out a snake or whatever. I can look back and say I've definitely changed some of their opinions of these maligned critters.

Good luck! I'll leave you with a couple of pictures.



(here's me explain the quirks of African coral cobras. My administration is fine with me bringing in venomous as long as they are securely contained. The students love being able to see cobras act like cobras, rather than like venomous ratsnakes as they appear at the zoo.)


Her first time being willing to handle a snake - black milksnake.


And the LA pine to which I referred earlier.

-----
Chance Duncan
www.rvexotics.com

[ Show Entire Thread ]