Is anyone here a zoologist or herpetologist?

I mean do you have an actuall degree in zoology? Or are you just a herpetologist? Does anyone here work with animals purely for a living? Meaning you have no other job besides working with animals, including reptiles.

Anyone?

Well, I have a home-based business with an exotics and a metaphysical division. Most of my income is from the snakes, so I guess that would be an 'almost'.

But no, I don't have any degrees. Never went to college, in fact. Couldn't justify the expense--I have CFS, so I'll never be able to work outside my home.

No, although technically my job is working with animals, they're all the furred kind. I have studied a lot, using college resources. I started out with cetacean studies and moved to the reptiles later. No degrees. However, I have met a couple zoologists that actually told me that if I wanted the ball pythons to stay under 10 feet, I could keep them in small tanks and they wouldn't get very big. After that, I stopped putting much faith in school degrees without actually talking with the person.

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Originally Posted by Bellabob

I mean do you have an actuall degree in zoology? Or are you just a herpetologist? Does anyone here work with animals purely for a living? Meaning you have no other job besides working with animals, including reptiles.

Anyone?

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Well I am not a zoologist or a herpetologist (a person holding a masters degree or higher specializing in reptile). I do however have a B.S. in Pre- Veterinary medicine with a minor in business and a M.S. in small animal physiology. I did work at the Bronx Zoo for 2 years as a veterinary technician and then went into management in the private sector and now am working as a vet tech again due to a lay off but I have always worked with many types of animals. Why?

Because I'm going into these fields and I was hoping I could talk to someone about it.

feel free to pm with any questions

heres a link for you i stumbled onto might help you if you talk to them

http://www.herpetologistsleague.org/en/pubs.php

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

I stopped putting much faith in school degrees without actually talking with the person.

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This is why what school the degree is from is of utmost importance.

Well, If you look at mainstream breeders. (the big guys). Im sure that some of them went to school for maybe OTHER things besides zoology or herpetology. once they realised they could make more income off selling , and expanding there large collection. they probally just said forget it about it. If you can make a living off doing something you love, and something your passionate for. then ur one lucky person!

when i graduate im going to either Michigan State or University of Florida for a degree in zoology :D

Haha, still in my early years here, but I'm hoping to go to vet school or get a degree in zoology, can't decide what to do yet :D Figuring I'll shoot for being a veterinarian and see where that takes me. Not much help to you I suppose, but shoot me a pm if you want to bounce ideas around!

I have an undergraduate degree in animal science (mostly farm animal species stuff) and am currently a second year Veterinary Student with a heavy interest in Small Exotics.

Dave and Tracy Barker are the two most educated and knowledgeable people I have ever met in the fields of zoology and herpetology. If I had any questions about either, I'd go to them. Simply wonderful people!!

Im majoring in zoology right now, freshman, just starting...

Im not sure what im going to do yet, what ever I can, I suppose. My original plan was to be a vet, but that is extremely hard, so we'll see if I can meet the requirements. Right now Im sort of undecided (partially because I dont know how well I will do in the courses), I really am just interested in anything working with animals, I would love to work at a zoo, but my guess is that the pay isnt as good as a vet.

Also, here at my university, they really dont have any internship opportunities available. Its up to you, they tell us that if you want to work at a zoo, or some type of animal rescue, they dont even care what your degree is and such, its all about knowing people on the inside, and then getting a better placement. They tell us to volunteer and stuff, get your foot in the door, and its up to you to actually get IN... But im pretty sure if you get do start working at a place, like in intern, you can get credit for your work and stuff like that...

Also we have a zoology/conservation club that Im planning on joining, seems pretty cool. Also they have a study abroad thing where we can go to Costa Rica and do research which I really want to do but its like every other year, only problem is im not sure what I could do research on :D (have to do a project when we get back)

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

Haha, still in my early years here, but I'm hoping to go to vet school or get a degree in zoology, can't decide what to do yet :D Figuring I'll shoot for being a veterinarian and see where that takes me. Not much help to you I suppose, but shoot me a pm if you want to bounce ideas around!

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Cant get into vet school until you do your undergrad stuff... (4 years) + another 4 years for vet school... possibly 1 in between for a pre vet course.

My 4 years = Bachelors in Science, zoology. Its alot of chemistry surprisingly

Oh yeah, also, im not sure how other universities do it, but here, you can only take the Pre-Vet course after your 4 years of undergrad, and the pre-vet course isnt a degree or anything its just an extra class to get you prepared for vet school (so you can test into it

Im also shooting to be a vet you could say, but Ill take what I can get seeing as Im willing to work with animals in anyway I can.

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Originally Posted by I<3Dreamsicles

Cant get into vet school until you do your undergrad stuff... (4 years) + another 4 years for vet school... possibly 1 in between for a pre vet course.

My 4 years = Bachelors in Science, zoology. Its alot of chemistry surprisingly

Oh yeah, also, im not sure how other universities do it, but here, you can only take the Pre-Vet course after your 4 years of undergrad, and the pre-vet course isnt a degree or anything its just an extra class to get you prepared for vet school (so you can test into it

Im also shooting to be a vet you could say, but Ill take what I can get seeing as Im willing to work with animals in anyway I can.

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Oh I know! I appreciate the reminder though :D that's why I mentioned early years, I'm only a sophomore at the moment. I'm a chem nut and I love animals, so vet and pre-vet seemed like a good idea to aim for. But a lot can happen in that time, so it's why the vet goal is pretty loose.

What uni you at now?

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

Oh I know! I appreciate the reminder though :D that's why I mentioned early years, I'm only a sophomore at the moment. I'm a chem nut and I love animals, so vet and pre-vet seemed like a good idea to aim for. But a lot can happen in that time, so it's why the vet goal is pretty loose.

What uni you at now?

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hehe. wasnt sure. I had no idea when I was in highschool. (wasnt sure if you meant THAT earily.. and i still dont haha. sophmore in HS or College?)

Yeah... its pretty loose here too haha. Then again this I had to pick my major my SR year in highschool. I wasnt sure if I wanted to do something with art (architecture?) or animals.

As you can see I chose animals :banana:

I failed chemistry in highschool.

:P

I may be in for a rude awakening... But I doubt it. My teacher was horrible in highschool. I plan on hitting the books like its my job and working my rear off.. :D
(and here they actually give you help and WANT you to do good... unlike my HS teacher unfortunately)

oh yeah and i think... Ohio State University vet school, they say something like a 3.6 GPA in college courses is competitive or something like that.... and you need a certain number of hours working/volunteering at a vet office.

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Originally Posted by I<3Dreamsicles

wasnt sure if you meant THAT earily.. and i still dont haha. sophmore in HS or College?

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College, sorry 'bout that xD And it's a tough business! It's actually supposed to be harder to get into vet school than medical school. I'm absolutely on fire for the challenge, but that's just because I finally have control of what I want to study (overbearing parents have good intentions usually, but it made me do AWFUL in high school, 2. something GPA but a 2300 SAT score put me in an awkward position)

And I knew about needing recommendations from Vets and volunteer organizations, but didn't know about the hours... Might just be safe to log 'em anyway though

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

College, sorry 'bout that xD And it's a tough business! It's actually supposed to be harder to get into vet school than medical school. I'm absolutely on fire for the challenge, but that's just because I finally have control of what I want to study (overbearing parents have good intentions usually, but it made me do AWFUL in high school, 2. something GPA but a 2300 SAT score put me in an awkward position)

And I knew about needing recommendations from Vets and volunteer organizations, but didn't know about the hours... Might just be safe to log 'em anyway though

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Yeah thats for sure. My actual DOCTOR even told me that, but he said its because there are more parts to learn and stuff cause its all different animals and not just ONE subject, like humans..

Yep, im not sure what other vet schools do but ohio state has some odd number of hours required...

Yeah I had a pretty bad GPA my highschool years except my sr year i had like a 3.4 or something...

Ive never taken the SAT :D

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Originally Posted by I<3Dreamsicles

Yeah thats for sure. My actual DOCTOR even told me that, but he said its because there are more parts to learn and stuff cause its all different animals and not just ONE subject, like humans..

Yep, im not sure what other vet schools do but ohio state has some odd number of hours required...

Yeah I had a pretty bad GPA my highschool years except my sr year i had like a 3.4 or something...

Ive never taken the SAT :D

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Bahaha, lucky! Standardized testing is so freaking boring 0_0 Urgh.

I'm just so excited to be studing animal specific sciences after the preliminary classes are done. I know a LOT of people on here don't put a lot of stock in a degree, but combining it with the fact I already keep/help keep a bunch of reptiles, it'll probably be an asset, right? :confuzd:

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

Bahaha, lucky! Standardized testing is so freaking boring 0_0 Urgh.

I'm just so excited to be studing animal specific sciences after the preliminary classes are done. I know a LOT of people on here don't put a lot of stock in a degree, but combining it with the fact I already keep/help keep a bunch of reptiles, it'll probably be an asset, right? :confuzd:

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Yeah, I did have to take the ACT though... haha i took it at the end of summer break with no studying... Not the best idea but I did well enough to get accepted so im fine with it...

I have no idea about animal specific courses here... I dont know about any to be honest. Ive seen the course list for the whole 4 years and most of its just like different bio classes, organic chem, stuff like that, anatomy and physiology...

To be honest I find it hard to believe that someone with a zoology degree would say that about BP's getting 10 feet....

Worst thing is I like reptiles (or exotics) the most, but there is even less of a market for that than there is for stuff like live stock and small animals.

Our science department has a reptile collection and some invertebrates (which I have yet to see but I've heard its pretty good) Im hoping they will let me bring in my BP and keep it here during the year... And MAYBE start a breeding project or something. Im not sure how they will take it... My BP isnt big enough to breed yet but if they like the idea they can probably fund stuff like that...

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Originally Posted by I<3Dreamsicles

Yeah, I did have to take the ACT though... haha i took it at the end of summer break with no studying... Not the best idea but I did well enough to get accepted so im fine with it...

I have no idea about animal specific courses here... I dont know about any to be honest. Ive seen the course list for the whole 4 years and most of its just like different bio classes, organic chem, stuff like that, anatomy and physiology...

To be honest I find it hard to believe that someone with a zoology degree would say that about BP's getting 10 feet....

Worst thing is I like reptiles (or exotics) the most, but there is even less of a market for that than there is for stuff like live stock and small animals.

Our science department has a reptile collection and some invertebrates (which I have yet to see but I've heard its pretty good) Im hoping they will let me bring in my BP and keep it here during the year... And MAYBE start a breeding project or something. Im not sure how they will take it... My BP isnt big enough to breed yet but if they like the idea they can probably fund stuff like that...

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Now THAT would be sweet! You could probably talk to the people who teach the genetics courses and see if they can help ya out xD but really, a school funded BP breeding program? I'd love to get in on that

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Originally Posted by Valentine Pirate

Now THAT would be sweet! You could probably talk to the people who teach the genetics courses and see if they can help ya out xD but really, a school funded BP breeding program? I'd love to get in on that

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Yep :D

Im not sure who does anything with genetics lol, im in a bio diversity class (well starting to be) and they might do it, or this other professor who is the only zoology professor (yet i dont have him for class) I think he probably teaches the more advanced stuff.

Yeah especially if they funded it that would be awesome. Im not sure they would though since it is mostly pretty basic genetics unless you get some expensive morphs lol. Or some type of BP research but like I said probably not YET... (such as head wobble)