Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone!

My name is Jess, and ever since i was a little girl, i loved the Croc Hunter...

I am 15 now, and i have decided that with the reptiles i already have ( 1 corn snake, 1 hogg island boa, 1 leopard gecko...and soon a tegu!) i would like to start doing an educational program at my school...

i have already talked to a few teachers & parents & they all seem to think its a great idea...

i am hoping to start in the elementary school and perhaps work my way up... and even do other "shows"...

my goal is to help the kids to love and/or respect reptiles instead of fearing them...

i was just curious...does anyone have any advice for me?

...i'm also hoping to expand my collection...

also, i am the neighborhood "snake-wrangler"..haha...i love it... i am hoping to potentially turn that into another hobby this summer...perhaps advertise a little...just to keep the 'creepy-crawlies' safe from shovels!

anyways...any advice? comments? anything at all would be appreciated!

thanks everyone!

jess

Lol wow there is someone out there like me, crazy.In high school i did the same thing i went to my old elemtry school to teach kids about animals (mainly reptiles). They were a big hit and other schools asked me to do the same thing, course leaving school for a day was a reward in itself.

Some advice, watch feeding scheduals, there is nothing worse then a 1st grader getting pooped on my a plated lizard.

Second, hand sanitizer and loads of it, little kids and adult alike will not wash their hands even if you tell them to. Although i doubt your reptiles are harboring anything, it helps keeps the teachers and parents minds at rest.

Transport, if you don't have the figured out this can be a problem, oh and wagons are a great tool for getting them from the car to the class room.

Other then that i can't think of too much more, i'm sure your ready for the questions they tend to be more interested in where you got them and how much the cost... i try to be hinest in telling how much the animal cost and then its set up and food budget that way they think twice before getting one. Man i miss doing programs i had to down size when i moved for college but now im thinking of starting up again... just with alot more interesting of animals.

Good luck and just have fun with it.
Oh and make sure ur animals and healthy and frienly becuase no matter what kids will want to play with the animal even if you tell them not to.
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Leo Gex
1.3 noramls or hi-yellows
1.0 Giant normal phase het for temper albino
0.2 Giant temper albino
0.2 Temper albinos
1.0 Tangerine Temper albino
0.1 super-hypo Tangerine carrot tail/head
0.1 hypo and baldy Tangerine
0:1 Blizzared
1:0 patternless
0.1 jungle rainwater albino
Others:
1 snapping turtle
1 Giant plated lizard
1:1 dogs
and 2:0 chinchillas

awesome

thanks for the advice!

No problem and good luck, you never know who you may inspire.
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Leo Gex
1.0 Giants
0.1 Giant Albino
0.1 Red strip/hypo
1.0 Patternless
0.2 Normals
Others:
1.0 Ackie monitor (might be yellow)
1.0 Giant plated lizard
13 fish/aquatic things
1.1 dogs
2:0 chinchillas
Coming Soon
1 tegu (B/w or Blue)

What happens if one of your reptiles bites a child? Do you have insurance against something like this happening? Probably not so be very careful and make sure your reps are VERY trustworthy and used to being handled by less then gentle hands.
Accidents can and will happen and you need to be prepared for those occasions.Just something to think about...
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Well ive heard of peep making sure their reps are cool lik not been under heat so there not as crazy lik for peep trying to tame there reps they makesure there cool before they try to hold them.

Wow I hope this dosent encourage a bucnk of young kids to go out and buy a bunch of reptiles they do know how to take care of . Just because they seen them at school You should expect them to do this and should warn them the ard work and money and resherach and room they take. But i still know they will buy and probly slowly kill them.

Make sure the kids use sanitizer BEFORE and AFTER touching your reptiles. If they ask "do they bite" say "anything with a mouth can bite". If you are going to let them pet your animals maybe let them touch the back and tail area...keep them away from the mouth even if your babies are tame cause you never know. Just keep in mind the educational part..like teach them manners too. You can tell them to always ask the owner if they can pet their animal first...not to just run up and touch it. I dunno make it interesting...maybe some "fun facts" kids like to hear. hehe....I would check to make sure all the kids parents are ok with it cause you never know some parents are just very "protective". I remember asking about this on another forum because I want to do the same in the future...I'm very tied up with college right now. I'm trying to remember what I was told. I'll check back and see if I can find that thread. I hope this helps some. Oh, maybe instead of taking your lizards and snakes in just those kritter keepers...consider taking them in pillowcases if you don't already do that....less stress for them...then u can have them in containers...just so they don't see kids running around. Just try to have a good time.

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1.0.0 arg. b/w tegu
1.1.0 white's tree frog- popeye, jack
0.1.0 southern painted turtle- ms.tortle
0.1.0 crested gecko- crimson
1.0.0 pinto hedgehog- dante