Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am a sophomore at northeastern highschool (central pa)and i have about 13 herps right now. i have
been coming to this forum for years and keeping for about 5. anyway, in my school we are required
to do a senior project in order to graduate, and while i still have 2 years to do it i am doing it now,
along with my boyfriend. we have decided to do a reptile"demonstration" at a local elementary
school, probably for third graders. we are going to teach them about the animals natural habitats,
how they eat, and other things about the herps. we want to teach them to respect the animals and
not to be afraid of them. im going to take herps with me and allow the kids to touch/hold/ look at
the actual animals they are learning about. any suggestions on how we should do this successfully
would be very greatly appreciated.
thanks for all of the help
~icy
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UroKnight...coming soon
1.0.0 mali uromastyx
1.2.0 green anole
1.0.0 brown anole
1.0.0 emperor scorpion
1.0.0 cuban knight anole
1.0.0 ribbon snake(currently escaped)
1.0.0 african clawed frog
1.0.1 green iguana
0.1.0 eastern kingsnake
0.0.1 3 lined salamander
0.1.0 albino leopard gecko
0.0.2 house gecko
0.0.1 crocodile gecko

I just wrote you a big post and somehow lost it, Oh well anyway think its great what your planning but there are a few things to be EXTREMELY careful about.

Take some antibacterial wipes with you , so that each child can wash before they touch your animals and after.

And PLEASE be extremely careful, can't stress that enough, with kids that FREAK when the lizard touches their skin.
I had it happen in my home, with a young girl, her reaction was to squeeze my lizard as she screamed.

I had to pry my lizard from her clenched fist. I was a wreck, but thankfully he was okay. I just read another related post where the girl threw the persons young dragon, and the legs were paralized.

Heres some info, a very nice guy who does this (visits schools quite often) with his lizards. He may be able to answer all your questions. Give him an email, I'm sure he will help.
Heres his site, his email is on his home page.

http://www.beardiedragon.com/

I wish you alot of luck , Let us all know how you do, I'm sure you will do wonderfully well !
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Eve

Thanks for givin me an idea for my grad. project!!! Good luck!!!
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1.0 Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink (Don)
0.1 Irian Jaya Blue Tongue Skink (Sausage Girl)
0.0.1 Tanimbar Island Blue Tongue Skink ( Spunky Sebastian)
1.0.1 Green Tree Pythons ( Male=Floyd, Baby= Verdi)
0.1 Western Hognose (Piggy)
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortiose(Tank)
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher snake ( Toro)
0.1 Albino Leo gecko (Sasha)
1.1 African Greys (Timmy and sis)
1.0 White bellied Caique (Diego)
0.1 Goffin's Cockatoo ( Sydney)
3.1 Ferrets (Chase, Angel, Max, and King)
1.0 Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (Moose)

I took my chinese water dragon to my son's school one day for him for showing tell. I did get the teachers permission but things didn't go like i thought they might have. I was hoping to do something similar to what you and your boyfriend wanted to do. I just wanted the kids to see the lizard, touch and learn about him. The teacher wouldn't let the kids touch them because of one them possible getting bit. Two the dreaded somanila. She also wouldn't let me take him out of the cage in case he got loose or spread somanila around the class room. I suggest first in talking to the teacher who you plan to do this for. Find out what you can and can't do. Make sure if you do allow the kids to touch the lizards or anything of the lizards you offer an antibacterial gel. Then make all kids go wash their hands. Basically make sure that you reassure the school they will not be responsible for anything unthinkable that could happen. P.S. If you have any info on crocodile skinks and could share i am desperately looking for help. I hope i was able to offer some information.

As well a local college for 3rd semester college biology teachers once or twice a year, and getting more and more elementary middle schools etc scheduled. We take a huge selection of small, medium, and large reptiles, as well hybrid species, from turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodilians, and amphibians as well some arachnids (spiders, scorpions).
Its is difficult to keep kids quiet for some demonstrations for your safety, their safety, and the animals safety as well its stress. I would involve someone to make sure everyone uses alco-gel or some antibacteial gel after every show before they leave the room. As far as handling animals, elementary kids are allowed some contact as in limited petting to much less harmful animals and a properly restained 6ft gator with 3 adults and 2 of my friends teenagers there to help restrain the gator. remeber you are responsible completely for the actions or consequences from your animals, or actually your parents are until you are 18 (finacially, etc). One demonstration at a local college for biology teachers brushing up, an 8.5ft adult male alligator is used, it takes 4 or more to restrain him safely for adults demonstrations only.
If you try this be very very careful, do not allow anyone to get crapped on, bit, scratched, or hurt in any way, the responsibility falls on your parents and the school. Good luck.