Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been frequenting this site for about three years now, mostly using it to purchase reptiles for my ever expanding collection and after reading some of the STOOPID stuff people post, I've decided to do something similar.

I just recently, a little less than a month, agreed to show my PRIVATE collection of reptiles to my former highschool class as a favor to my former teacher turned friend. Wow. I am addicted. I've ALWAYS hated school and anything that remotely linked me to the place I considered a prison but I never knew I'd LIKE 'teaching' a bunch of stoners of and thug wannabes. My teacher/friend has given my name to a local elementary school and now they're interested in having me come out and do a 'show'.

I'm a bit apprehensive about exposing my beloveds to children...simply because children are obnoxious little snots that don't appreciate the elegant beauty of an Emerald tree boa or a Nile croc.

All that being said, NONE of my preciouses (inside joke) have been handled by anyone but myself since I purchased them. I consider all of them to be as tame as you can expect an animal not domesticated to be. I'd like some honest and constructive advice about this.

Thank you

Beth

1.0 Nile Crocodile- Sobek
1.1 Red-tail Boas- Kaali and Kaa
1.3 Water Monitors- Charlie and his angels
4.7 Crested Geckos
1.1 Marbled Geckos
1.1 Bibron Geckos
0.1 Emperor Scorpion- Momma2B
?? Cuban Treefrogs
1.1 White's Tree Frogs
1.0 Tiger Salamander- Sabretooth
0.1 Emerald Tree Boa- Quetzel
? Blue tongue Skink- Meat
1.0 Alligator Snapper- Hyde

And a bunch of other stuff that I probably SHOULDN'T have...but they're all loved and given the bestest possible care and have the greatest vet available.

Why don't you ask Torayoma what to do, you both must live very close to one another.

Jody,no more cracks about Michigan, eh? Not everyone in Michigan is insane or out looking for free animals. If that were the case I wouldn't have so many reptiles here waiting for adoptive homes.

Education is a major key in keeping our hobby legal and legitimate. If we can start educating children at a young age to respect these creatures and show them that alot of animals offered in the pet trade are not appropriate species to be kept as pets we are off to a good start. If we can reach one parent at an expo and convince them that a bearded dragon or leopard gecko would make a much better pet for their son or daughter than an iguana or a monitor we've made progress. If we can show that unknowing prospective buyer of the Burmese python that his baby will turn into a rabbit eating behemoth we've saved one Burmese from death or rescue.

Education can be done safely and responsibly. I've been doing presentations for pre-school thru secondary school for 9 years and public expos for 5 years. Children are allowed to touch animals that are appropriate for touching...beardies, skinks, cornsnakes, smaller boas, box turtles, etc. I have a few larger animals, including Rhino Iguanas and Tegus, that are allowed to be touched under a very controlled situation. I feel confident that I can keep my educational animals under my control at all times because I'm very familiar with the personalities of these animals and have much experience handling them. Even so, no one touches my Rhinos unless my hand is cupped around their snout.

I can't imagine trying to use a Nile or Croc monitor as an educational animal. They can be difficult to control even in a private situation. I've been tail-thwapped by a large croc in my own home and felt incapacitated for several seconds afterwards. If the croc had decided to turn on me I would have been in big trouble. I learned a valuable lesson that day.

The harm that an inexperience/unqualified exhibitor can do to the industry would take years to undo. (Look at the PETA created salmonella epidemic.)

Which do you think would make the evening news?

“Teen Educates her Peers on Reptiles” or “Large lizard Attacks 8 year old: Requires surgery”
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My Site

I live in Michigan City, which is RIGHT on the border of Michigan and Indiana. My frontyard is in Indiana and my backyard is in Michigan but since my backyard is bigger, I techinically live in Michigan. The weather has been okay...but it's still not warm enough to were I can move my herps into their outdoor enclosures. Hopefully, it'll warm up soon because Sobek and my waters are itching to get out into their semi-aquatic habititats and do stuff that they'd do in the wild.

I don't plan on using ANY animal that I, myself, consider to be dangerous. I liked doing the show for older kids because they actually listen to me and know that my animals can and will bite if provoked. If I did do a show for the younger kids, I'd bring two examples of novice reptiles and two examples of expert reptiles. The kids would be allowed to touch/hold the novice animals and only look at the expert ones.

I was saddled with a 20' albino Burmese after it ate my friend's dog...oops. I don't like pythons at all....mostly because they're the only constrictor snakes known to kill their owners and attempt to eat them. I got rid of her as soon as possible! Within two weeks, she was on her way to California to be the newest addition to a breeding program.

And simply because this IS the monitor forum; I've noticed one of my females has been digging in the water enclosure. Is she possibly gravid? Or is she just doing things to keep herself occupied?

n/p

torayoma and SWH appear to be using the same computer. So figured they must live pretty close to one another.

now THAT'S funny! and what a coincidence!

perhaps they should pool their funds and buy a giant Gaboon Viper from a dealer in Florida. now THAT would make for an awesome classroom display animal, just imagine the interaction!
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Very clever, and you are so right, they must be very close neighbors. LOL

Pam

Hey I usually just sit back and browse the forums but this is just killing me to read these posts really funny stuff

Maybe this is coincidence, lol..

" torayoma

SWH"

And SWH says first time post??

Entered from cache-rtc-ad01.proxy.aol.com at 152.163.100.195 torayoma

Entered from cache-rtc-ad01.proxy.aol.com at 152.163.100.195 SWH