Reptile Outreach Ideas??

So with all the negative press herps and exotics get and have been getting recently, Ive been thinking of trying to increase my collection to include some more herp/invert species and trying to do some community outreach about the world of reptiles.


The main Idea coming to my mind is going to schools, etc. and educating the kiddies, but can you think of any other possible ways??

Thanks

Maybe contact your local government and ask if you can do a presentation at their next meeting thing?

Like a "Meet your local herp owner" thingy??

Funny you say this, I'm in the middle of planning a local event.

I'm going to be hosting a free seminar at my local community center. I'll be bringing an adult and a juvenile BP and showing people how to take care of them properly.

The seminar is going to be covered by local press. So far 1 newspaper has confirmed.

I feel like this is a very important time to start educating my community.

It may not sound as cool as in-person demonstrations, but if you see reptiles getting negative press in your local newspaper, you can write a letter to the editor in response. Letters to the editor help impact public opinion. Every paper has guidelines for how the letter should be formatted in order to be considered (word length, for example), and who to send the letter to.

This web page provides good advice on how to write a letter to the editor. It's talking about letters having to do with poverty, but the general rules apply to any topic.

http://www.results.org/blog/tips_for...tor_published/

And if your city council or state government are considering legislation to restrict reptile ownership, if you get a your letter published, you can print/cut it out and send it to your representative(s). Sending letters like that can even help you get a meeting with your local or state representative where you can lobby them in person.

In my area there was an "earth fair" (about a month after earth day, to avoid competing with too many other earth day events) I was invited to hold a booth at. I brought some of my snakes, tortoise, and bearded dragon, had some little species information write-ups (if I had more time I would have made pamplets for people to take home), brought a couple books for people to thumb through, and basically just sat there all day talking to people, answering questions, and showing off the snakes. The kids LOVED the booth, I was probably one of the more popular, and those poor snakes had hardly a break all day (but were no worse for wear at the end of the day, and ate like nothing happened two days later on their normally scheduled feeding!). Even people who were afraid or didn't like snakes came over to see them. There were no negative comments directed toward them, just one lady who was like "Why aren't these snakes in the wild?" To which I calmly explained all of them were captive bred and could not be released even if they were native (although my rosy boas are a native species, the two I have are not local morphs). She walked away silently. It was great for the kids, great for the public, and I had a lot of fun too. I took 3 of my ball pythons (including my normal, so people could see what the "wild type" looks like, with a couple morphs to compare to), both rosy boas, and did not allow the bearded dragon or tortoise to be held (I didn't want to have to watch too many things at one time, nor stress them out too much). If you have local events like this, you can ask about holding a booth for outreach and education purposes.

Great topic.

You could check with local schools, a local nature center, or maybe a reptile rescue in your area as well. Perhaps you could set up educational presentations with them.

Liv's idea of hitting the local government is a really good idea I think. Township buildings have auditroiums for public meetings and hearings which could be a good place for presentations.

Here in Chicago we have Reptile Fest once a year. Its a huuuuge event dedicated to educating people about reptiles/amphibians.


I would love to do presentations for schools. I think that would be super fun! I have no idea how to go about doing it though :(

For the last several years, I've helped a local biology teacher with teaching genetics, predator/prey and conservation at the local middle school. She coordinates with the other biology classes and I teach a 90 minute class three times a day for two complete days. More than 300 students go through our class. She then surveys the kids and gives me the results of the survey. One of the best things from that survey is that the kids think the most important thing they learn is conservation of native species. At the end, I'm exhausted. I bring in a few adult ball pythons to show different morphs, a corn snake (native species but captive bred), bearded dragon, blue tongue skink and maybe a few other things. The first 60 minutes of the class is lecture the last 30 minutes is hands on. Every child must use hand sanitizer before touching the animals. I do sometimes bring babies, sheds and empty eggs as well.

As we were doing this last year an administrator came into our class and commented to the teacher that this program needs to be done in all the middle schools, not just the one we work with. I have not been contacted and probably could not do it because I would have to take too much time off of my paying day job. But, it was nice to hear. It is also cool to hear from the teacher that each year her new class asks in the first few weeks of school when the snake people (me and my wife) are coming to teach.

I would suggest contacting a biology teacher at the local middle school and working with that person to develop a lesson plan. I've found it very rewarding and it is about the right age to turn around some of those attitudes and fears.

Edit: Forgot one of the most important things - I also take my Eastern Indigo to show them a threatened species and she is the one of the main snakes handled in the class. She makes quite an impact!

You know, this is a really great idea! I've done a few, very informal, "presentations" to homeschool groups we belong to. I really enjoy watching kiddos (and parents) realize that reptiles have personalities and are something to be admired!
Great thread! Here's hoping we all get the bug to do a little community service on responsible reptile ownership!

I've done a lot of presentations, mainly working with master naturalist programs - outside of schools. One thing you need to know is to be very careful when doing presentations. Snakes, as docile as they may be in your hands, are unpredictable at times. Even a small bite from a baby ball python to a participant can result in not only bad press, but also in unwanted attention to the reptile community, law suits on your end, and loads of liability. Just like an owner is liable for a dog bite - which can be drastic - snake owners share the same liability if a snake bites someone in their class. Now WE KNOW a bite is simply a needle prick that is to be laughed about later, but todays sue happy america is not to be tested! Anything from "distress" to future anxiety attacks from seeing a snake on the TV, whether its real or not, poses a threat. SO be careful.

Thanks for all the suggestions!!

Are there any species in particular that you think should be included in school presentations?? I'm still building my collection, so I only have a Normal Ball Python so far. I want to add an Enchi and an albino, and am planning on getting a tarantula in the next few months...

Some Cresties would probably be pretty good me thinks...anything else??

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Originally Posted by reptileexperts

I've done a lot of presentations, mainly working with master naturalist programs - outside of schools. One thing you need to know is to be very careful when doing presentations. Snakes, as docile as they may be in your hands, are unpredictable at times. Even a small bite from a baby ball python to a participant can result in not only bad press, but also in unwanted attention to the reptile community, law suits on your end, and loads of liability. Just like an owner is liable for a dog bite - which can be drastic - snake owners share the same liability if a snake bites someone in their class. Now WE KNOW a bite is simply a needle prick that is to be laughed about later, but todays sue happy america is not to be tested! Anything from "distress" to future anxiety attacks from seeing a snake on the TV, whether its real or not, poses a threat. SO be careful.

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Definitely something to keep in mind. While I had my booth at the earth fair, I made a point to put snakes back in their enclosures at certain times, with a hide provided, to give them some down time and prevent stress and possible bites. The kids kept wanting to hold them, but accepted my answer of, "They need to take a nap right now." I also kept a close eye on all animals being handled, watching for even the smallest signs of stress or fear, so I could intervene if necessary and keep the animals feeling safe and comfortable.

I agree with all of that, as well. Even in the smallish groups that I've done (<12), I only let the kiddos pet the herps. It's just really hard to judge a gentle hold from a squeeze sometimes...and it only takes a second. Also, these are MY pets and I don't want to traumatize them any more than I would want to traumatize a child.

My bearded dragon is my "show pony." Nothing is as chilled out and tolerant as he is. The leos are pretty cool, too. I just worry about a tail grab with the leos, so it's the first thing I say!

I do presentations for elementary schools. A few months ago I did an educational lecture on snakes to the entire second grade class of one of the local schools. Kids were super psyched about it, and actually retained information and continued to ask how Rosca [the adult classic female I brought] was doing. They were allowed to come up and stroke her back (her head was over my shoulder) with two fingers. Did not have a single kid that declined to do so out of fear- even the kiddos that were scared to touch her ended up changing their minds and doubling back. It was an extremely rewarding experience for me, and I intend on doing it again in my new location.

(background: the kiddos used Germ-X after, Rosca used to be a classroom pet for a middle school, went class-to-class in small controlled groups rather than a huge auditorium)

Educate whenever you have the opportunity to; that's what I do. I love answering questions about the snakes, and after seeing me handle them or talking about them, in my experience people become genuinely interested and less afraid. If I have the snakes with me, they usually ask to pet them. :)

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

Are there any species in particular that you think should be included in school presentations?? I'm still building my collection, so I only have a Normal Ball Python so far. I want to add an Enchi and an albino, and am planning on getting a tarantula in the next few months...

Some Cresties would probably be pretty good me thinks...anything else??

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King cobra?...jk. lol.

A variety is good.

I'd recommend a corn/rat snake of some kind and perhaps some type of king/milk snake. BPs are great cause you can show people that because it's labeled "python" doesn't mean it's "big and menacing". Sand boas would probably be a good example for the same idea. Obviously a RTB, I think a BRB would be awesome.

For lizards: bearded dragon and leopard gecko, chameleons might be cool for show only.

Turtles for thought: some type of tortoise like a small sulcatta or box turtle. If you go aquatic, red-eared slider or diamond back terrapin.

Rosy boas can be good "show and tell" Snakes too. they tend to be pretty laid back and easy going.
At my work we have some Snakes used for public outreach. They include a rosy boa, Cal King, and sinaloan (sp?) Milk snake. Used to have a gopher snake but it was too nippy. Also have a2 stripe garter snake, but it's too shy for handling.

This is something I want to do some day, but right now I only have my one ball python. I have showed her to kids of my moms coworkers and tried to do a little education, but mostly it was just hanging out with the snake and showing that she wasn't scary.

back at the end of 2011 I posted an add on Craigslist under pets. asking for people to join me in education on reptiles since all I had was ball pythons and not much money to buy anything else. got a pretty good group together with what I was looking for. I attend an Assemblies of God church and they all have ranger kids which is like the boy scotts (also noticed by the militery as is the boy scotts) they have to earn badges and we did a presentation at my church one wednesday night for the ranger kids for them to earn points towards there wildlife badge. I used to go this place in galveston while I was homeless the offered NA AA, and Mental health groups. a couple of us from the group I got together went there to present and talk about how our animals was therepy to us. also orgenized presentions in libraries and schools we just networked with people we knew.

^^^THAT is a great idea!! Instead of acquiring more animals, why not pool together animals with someone else! Transport, set up and everything else will be easier. Then, if this doesn't work out, you haven't put a ton of extra money into it.

Keep in mind that if you do a joint show, you need to be very comfortable with the other people's quarantine procedures and care of their collection. When I vend at Expos, I get very nervous if someone brings a reptile near my table that they got from another vendor.

Erg. Didn't think about that!

Years ago i used to do a few classrooms, the kids and teachers loved it. It started as just one classroom and quickly turned into four about twice a year. Id bring a few balls, a millipede, a tarantula, and a few other things. Id also bring a milksnake and a rubber coral snake so kids could see the difference. I also let one of the kids help me with a snake hook demo. And at the end, we had a meet n greet with my biggest snake, and id give prizes of little plastic reptiles to correctly answered questions. Id really like to get back into it. I started doin bday parties too awhile back, but havent in some years. I consider these kids are our future opinion leaders, and that a huge positive experience with reptiles is key. To quote Steve Irwin.."I let people touch these animals so that these animals can touch people".

sent from my incubator

Slightly on topic...another "community outreach" I would like input on...


The family run petshop in town now has 2 little BPs...they look like they are from this years clutches. They currently are housing 2 of them together, without a UTH, with only a heat lamp for warmth. There is no water bowl in the tank, it's full of crap, and the heat lamp is focused on the large piece of driftwood in the center of the tank, so the substrate isn't really getting the heat it needs. Both of them have stuck shed, and have no hides either.


Are there any suggestions on how I could attempt to educate them on proper housing for them??

As Education/events coordinator for one of the most active herp societies in the country (Madison area Herpetological Society, check us out ;) ), I can say there are TONS of ideas you can come up with and things that you can do to educate and spread the word. One of the first things we did in our startup year was we met with the department of Biology education for the University of WI-Madison, which coordinates after school science fairs and events for local elementary and middle schools on evenings and weekends. We coordinated and signed up as a contact on a Google drive list the University maintained of presention needs and requests, which has been extremely sucessful for us. We were ending up being contacted to dp at least 2-3 school shows/presentations a week during some of our busier times. I'm not sure how many other schools/universities offer something like this, but that would definatly be worth looking into.

We tapped into our own contacts and networks as well for many of the shows we do regularly now, a few of of which led to us becoming a part of campus (and city wide) Science Fair/Festivals held each spring and fall. As for topics you can do, in the early stages, we compiled a list of the top 10 beginner reptiles and amphibians and made a presentation out of that, as well as many others we have developed such as reptile inspired engineering, scientific/medical/societal benefits of reptiles, native species to your state/area, reptile handling and restraint techniques for everything from salamanders and frogs on up to large constrictors and crocodilians, basic husbandry and education in general, and specific presentations of frogs/toads, lizards, turtles, and snakes. We have done some or all of these presentations for local schools, nature centers, local Kiwanis and cub/boy scout groups, veterinary Tech programs for two local community colleges, local humane societies, area museums, and more! We also partner with and do "Snake Awareness days" and similar events at area pet stores as well.

This is a list of events we have done in 2012, which is only a *TINY* fraction of everything we have done to date. We expect to updated this list soon :)
http://madisonherps.org/events/

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Are there any species in particular that you think should be included in school presentations??

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I suppose my answer would be it doesn't really matter (to a large extent anyway) what species you use or bring. It is largely up to you to know your animals, their disposition, and whether you would be comfortable/confident in allowing others to touch or handle them. Any time we bring any animals to a show or event, there is always the risk that they can become stressed and bite, and if its your personal animal, it would be your responsibility. That is why you will always want control of the head whenever younger kids want to touch or hold the tail end of an animal. Whenever someone older wishes to hold an animal, explain that there is potential for these animals to bite, and that anything that has a mouth can do so.