Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, haven't been here in a really long time so I thought I'd check in. I have been working at the Pittsburgh Zoo as a volunteer "zoo teen" on saturdays since june and so far it has been a great experiance. I only get to work with the docent (zoo volunteer) animals up close but I also get to go behind the scenes with some exibits. The docents have a decent collection of handling animals which we get to take out for the public to observe and pet. The docents only have a few handling herps (2 boa constrictors, a ball python,a cal. kingsnake and a blue tongued skink) compared to their cute and cuddly handlers (rabbits, guinea pigs, and the like). We get to do varius jobs around the zoo and near the end of the day we get a special behind the scenes tour. You should look into your local zoos to see if they have a similar summer program for teens if your interested, it's really alot of fun.
Ok, now on to my herping: I now have a russian tortoise (great animals) and a healthy sand boa. Oh, I also won a vision cage at my herp society's 10th aniversery celebration, not sure what I'm going to put in there yet. Well, I think that's about it for now. I'll probably be on more now so I'll talk to you you later.
~chase/ophidius
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Mice, mealworms, waxworms, crickets, and cockroaches - Thanksgiving dinner.

How old do you have to be to join? I'll check out the Los Angeles Zoo, but I don't think they let 14 year olds volunteer.
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If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

Nothing's going to change the world.

Is this what you call tact?
I swear you're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back.

It's times like these where silence means everything.

Everyone's caught onto everything you do.

I think you have to be 14 for my program but it's different from the normal volunteer program. The zoo teen program was made especially for teenagers and is only run during the summer plus we don't have as many privilages as the actual zoo docents. I honestly don't know if the L.A. Zoo or any other zoos for that matter have a similar program but I figured it would be good to let you guys know about it just in case any do.
~Chase
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Mice, mealworms, waxworms, crickets, and cockroaches - Thanksgiving dinner.

I also am docent (volunteer) But i work at the good zoo in Whelling WV, and you have to be going into 7th grade or older to volunteer and I know that the Columbus zoo also has a docent program because the good zoo took us on a trip to the Columbus zoo to see how there program is. We have a few cool herps to handle too. Blue tongue skink, hypo cal king,leopard gecko, tiger salamander, desert tortoise, and an iguana. Also ferrets, oppossums, skunk, rabbits, hedgehog, grounhogs, maroon tailed conure birds of prey i.e. red tailed hawk, barn owl, and a barred owl. we also get to do alot of behind the scenes work. and not to mention our zoo is the only zoo in the world that has a public giraffe feeding station. Which is really cool. well its all good. till later. DC