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slightly OT but cool

varanid Oct 25, 2009 09:54 PM

I've mentioned before (I think) that I volunteer at the city zoo on weekends. It's small, and not AZA accredited, but it is fun. They've been working on getting a reptile house since 2006, and ribbon cutting was *finally* held yesterday at 10am texas time It's a small facility--1,000 square feet including the behind the scene stuff. Mike, the person in charge, tried to get a good mix of animals in there, some from every continent and with a mix of general crowd pleasers and some that will be neat for reptile nuts. He's got an Arizona Mountain King on display but it was too well hidden for me to get a shot of it today when I went in for pictures. He's also got rubber boas (also not cooperating), fire salamanders, a mata-mata...some rats, a russian legless, a chuckwalla...a handful of critters. There's a red ackie but it also was not out today, which is odd. He's been really active and fond of basking for the last week but I think he was in a tunnel today.

russian legless

chuckwalla

boa...that hollow log is about 4' off the ground

panther cham

burms

we have a meet the snake station on Saturdays, where kids can pet a snake (mostly our ball python, on occasion a honduran milk, soon a western hognose). I'm likely going to be in charge of that most of my shifts now, because I'm fairly comfortable with both snakes and kids. It's a blast to watch kids pet a snake for the 1st time. Mostly, the parents are leery and the kids are gung ho about it. I love spreading the love of herps :D Seriously, when a 5 year old pets a snake and they just light up it's enough to make my day.

We're also getting an educational building next year--I'm hoping we can offer a herp class aimed at kids on the weekends. *cross fingers*

Replies (6)

DMong Oct 25, 2009 10:10 PM

Very cool!,...all the stuff looks nice and healthy too.

I also love watching kid's eyes light-up with the excitement of holing snakes and such. My little nephew is the same way when he comes over..LOL!

Adult parents are ALWAYS the total wimps of the crowd..LOL!

Good luck with running the petting show there!

Oh, does everyone have to sign a waiver nowadays in case a kid gets bitten by an extremely life-threatening cornsnake, or Ball python??..LOL!. I can just picture the adults smelling some free money from a ridiculous lawsuite.

These are much crappier times compared to decades ago, when this would NEVER have been an issue.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

varanid Oct 25, 2009 10:14 PM

Us volunteers had to sign a waiver, but the kids don't. We usually keep control of the head to minimize the possibility of incidents.
Frankly, if one of them grabs me and starts eating, I'm just gonna go with it and demonstrate how snakes grab and consume prey animals. None of them'll hurt me much, and it might be a good lesson to the kids on how they ingest big prey. I've done demos with articulated skulls but it just ain't the same.

DMong Oct 25, 2009 10:37 PM

>> "I've done demos with articulated skulls but it just ain't the same."

** No doubt, little Joey's hand, or face would demonstrate it a little better to the crowd than just the inanimate moving skull parts ever could..LOL!

Sorry, I couldn't help it, the funny thought just came up, and I rolled with it..LOL!, I'm just having some fun thinking about disasterous scenarios gone wrong,..like on TV..LOL!

~Doug

Image
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Hollychan Oct 27, 2009 01:10 PM

"Adult parents are ALWAYS the total wimps of the crowd..LOL!"

Ah... but the Child Parents are never afraid...? lol :D
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Holly

1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Belle Gunness)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Fire Skink (Peter Dinsdale)
1.0 Vietnamese Golden Gecko (George Chapman)
0.0.1 Blue Day Gecko (Joe Ball)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

DMong Oct 27, 2009 01:52 PM

>> "Ah... but the Child Parents are never afraid...? lol"

Oh, I'm sure there are also some under-aged 17 year old parents and younger that are ALSO wimps and afraid too, as well as older ones.

FUNNY GIRL!..LOL!

Image
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

varanid Oct 27, 2009 03:01 PM

actually the teenage/low 20s parents seem OK. Sad to see the teen parents but...

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