Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

We just received a very generous grant from TAP Pharmaceuticals to develop a new wildlife education program. I titled it "The Grass is Rattling" and will feature the conservation, natural history and stewardship of North and South American crotalines. Additionally, some of the funds will help us create a new North American Rattlesnake exhibit. Our featured "conservation rattlesnake" is the Eastern Massasauga which is now a rarity in this part of Illinois and throughout most of its range. A typical program will be 2-3 hours in which 50-60 students will visity our facility. We are going to include such things as real radio telemetry to teach students how we track rattlesnake to learn more about their behavior. Other unique aspects will be to get up close and personal with our resident rattlesnake via tubing (staff). We will also include things such as GPS, building an outdoor artifician snake hibernacula and lots of other things. I am looking for any and all suggestions on things such as:
- activities
- signage (and what types of info we should have)
- fascinating facts
- other?
This program is for elementary children in 6-8 grades and will begin in the Spring of 2005.

Our resident rattlers include: eastern diamondback, red diamondback, tiger, timber, eastern massasauga, banded rock, cerb., black-tail, sidewinder and a great basin.

If we use any information you provide, you will be listed in our credits section of this program. Thank you!

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
1401 Middlefork Drive
Lake Forest, IL 60045
847-615-4388 office
847-283-8563 fax

Rob,

You mentioned S. American crotalines, yet I didn't see any S. AMerican rattlesnakes. Do you plan on displaying any?

Matt

My bad....YES, we are definitely going to have an example or two of central and south american viperidae on display (you already know about our bushmaster but an asper is not too far behind). Rob

LET THE GAMES BEGIN! LOL!!!

If you don't already have such displays:

the rattle: how it works, how they get them, musculature facts, etc.

social behavior: maternal and paternal care, pairing, family grouping.

the "plus of having big fangs": the whole venomous story

rattlesnake evolution, other crotalids as well.

pit viper adaptations: how the heat pits work and how they benefit crotalids.

snakebite and emergency care.

rattlesnake ecology studies and herpetology as a career.

Lastly, (and I am not trying to be presumptuous, condescending or egotistical) are you sure you want to "tube" or use any other hands on contact techniques in front of such a young age group? With all of the bad examples of dangerous handling techniques seen on TV by "you know who" and the gang, maybe a better, no wait, different educational practice would be to show the importance of staying away from them. You could mention how professionals have such methods as tubing etc., but only do so when absolutely necessary. Just a thought?

Good luck with you new exhibit.

Thank you for all of the ideas; many are in use but I am always looking for a new twist.

As far as tubing a rattler in front of elementary aged (and all ages of) children, I have been doing this for a number of years and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive (from teachers, principals, students and parents). The most important component of doing this properly is to make sure that we are not negatively portraying this wonderful animal (like what we see on T.V.). Instead, I use a very gentle and highly respectful approach in making sure that the audience knows that I am not hurting the snake and that the snake can't hurt me. I also teach them that we oftentimes use the technique when doing important work on the animal such as helping it to take stuck shed off, take off unshed eyecaps, occasional antibiotics, scale counts, etc. Our wildlife center's mission to to make change agents for a better world through close up encounters with these magnificent creatures. Too often, when we visit zoos, there is a disconnect that keeps that important educational process from taking place. This is what works for us but I fully understand the possible repurcussions of doing this and is something we always look at in terms of how to make the learning process even better.

BTW...we now refer to crotalids in their proper form "crotalines". Just thought I would clarify that.

Rob

I understand your point about the close up and personal educational approach, and how that works. My experience in doing pub ed with reptiles agrees with you 100%. There is definetly "experience lost" through glass and or space. It sounds like you have a great program in progress, and we know our beasts need all the advocates they can get!! My only trepidation is that many young kids do what they see not what they hear. However, it sounds like you have a well thought out protocol and program, and are covering the safety aspects of staying away from venomous herps. No offense intended; just an old timers Murphy's Law feelings coming out!

And thanks for the tip on the use of "crotalines." I am aware of its current day use. I should make a better effort to use it. Thirty years of slanging around "crotalids" is a bad habit that I should work on correcting. Of course, when I finally get that right, crotalines will be out of favor for another term LOL!!

Good luck with your exhibit.

I, too, still slip with saying Crotalids (and have been corrected once or twice too). It does indeed take very careful thought when using live venomous herps in public education programs...believe me, I am one of those Murphy worriers so I take every possible scenario into play (even if I drop dead on the spot of a heart attack!...another staff person is always right by my side!). Our new rattler conservation program is going to feature live rattler interactions (tubed) along with a dynamic power point presentation that even shows the horrors of the rattlesnake roundups....kids and adults go away LOVING rattlers! That's what its all about. Rob

That is what it's all about. Good job and continued good luck.