Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I grew up catchign and keeping lizards and snakes. Recently I have found myself with a deep interest in the research aspects of reptiles, now here is my problem. I am your average 25yo that lived verry comfy off of 40,000 a year and realy to be honest I know nothing about who, were, when or how to research reptiles. Can somone give me a good starting point and were to start research? Who to report the research to? and any other information? Thank you verry much in advance for any help yuo can give

Well, the best place is to enroll in a Biology/Zoology program at a good University and tailor your studies in that direction. There you will have all the guidance, reference, equipment, etc. that you need to research whatever you are interested in within that discipline, and the vehicles to publish your findings. It helps to have a solid background in Biology. There you will learn the approaches techniques for scientific research, discovery, analysis of collected data, documentation, etc.

Or, you can fund your own research (or apply for grants) in whatever area interests you, join an organization such as SSAR and submit your studies and findings to them. If they are up to snuff, they may be published in Herpetological Journal, or whatever the publication is for the society you join.

As far as areas to research, there are as many of those as there are herps. You just have to decide what area interests you and go for it. But there are really no shortcuts. It doesn't matter what you find with your research, if you can't publish it in the proper format and articulate it in the proper language, it's not going to get any attention. Conducting research and compiling and analyzing the data and then making sure that your findings are sound scientifically and of some interest is no cake walk. Some possible areas are in Field Herpetology studying natural range of occurrence, habits of herps in the wild (feeding, mating, movement, etc.), predation, diseases in wild populations, Impact studies (effects of habitat loss), population surveys. Or laboratory herpetology, (LD50 studies, captive propagation studies, DNA studies for reclassification and verification of current taxonomy, pathology in captive reptiles, etc.) I could go on and on and on, but you get the idea and you see from this that some of the fields of study would require fairly sophisticated equipment and skills. If you think, for instance that a new species of Coccidia is causing problems in reptiles, it's tough to spring from your checkbook and buy and electron scanning microscope and DNA sequencing equipment to verify that what you've found is, in fact, a new species.

On the other hand, perfectly valid research can be accomplished just by keeping very accurate and extensive records of everything you do while going about the business of maintaining and breeding your own collection of captive reptiles. Some of the most important husbandry and breeding techniques were developed by hobbyists and private breeders who kept good records and tried different things.

Another good place to get a chance to participate in research is working at a zoo. A great deal of research in herpetology is conducted by zoos.

I was thinking about contacting the Sacramento Zoo and seeing if I could volinteer for a position in reptiles so I could get a little knowledge in the field dose that sound like a good idea? Do zoo's normaly let people do that with no education in the subject except what is self tought?

Yeah, most of them use volunteers when they need them. That's not likely to get you much time up close and personal with the reptile collection, but it's a place to get your foot in the door. You will most likely be shoveling out Camel enclosures and picking up drink cups and candy wrappers and stuff like that, but you may get an opportunity to meet the reptile keepers and form a relationship with them. Most people are willing to spend some time to help people that show an interest.

Another thing I was thinking of is voloteering with tri county wild life. Its a volunteer rescue and rehab place not far from here.

if you realy are keen, i recon u should do uni part time, or just pic a few subjects u like ( ie. zoology, general bio, ecology... i donno anything) and then volunteer once or twice a month depending on when then can have you.

going to uni is the long road, but its the good road in my opion. i want to study ecology, but ive got to do a first year with calculus chemistry,,, and all this other stuff (communications for science is the worst!). i dont mind it, but its not ecology, but when i get into ecology all that stuff will help. oh also you will be more likly to get a job if u have gone to uni and studied a wide range of subjects ( thats what ive been told).

take 3 years off work, and go to uni full time. who knows if u get good enough, the uni will pay you to do your research. i think, but im not sure, but to get into honors u have to get above averige.

I am going to plan on going to a University. However as much as I would love to quit my job I cannot. I have a wife and a 6-month-old boy to feed so that’s that. I do plan however to make an appointment with the University in the next week or two. I heard the forestry service is hiring Biologists so that might be good. Even just volunteering for the hands on stuff.