Reptile Expo

[BPelizabeth]

Hi all....well I am in the final stages of the Reptile Expo at my son's school. It will happen from 12 to 2 on Wednesday. Oye.....it has been allot of work...more than I thought. We are having over 30 animals and there is a mining equipment company that has graciously offered to print out a booklet in color for the kids. Actually that blew me away!! We have over 360 kids coming to the show. I have created a 25 page powerpoint with pictures. They get to learn about each reptile and then they get to interact with the animals. This will be the feature story with a local paper here and hopefully by some local TV stations as well.

One of our very own is coming with some of her babies...a huge thank you to Eventide!!! She also is bringing a friend that is a Vet tech for the leading reptile vet here in Tucson. He works with companies such as the Tucson zoo and the Sonoran Desert Museum. We also have a local reptile store participating and over 30 volunteers. I am so lucky that this has been so embraced and that I have met some AMAZING ppl that are helping me out.

I am so excited to share my passion with kids and hopefully open a few minds at the same time. I also plan to mention to the papers S373 and what is going on with that as well.

So yea.....just thought I would share.....hope to get some pics for you and post em up!!

[Sariel]

This is an awesome thing you are doing, hats off to you and everyone who has volunteered to help with your endeavor.
We as keepers crow alot about the need for more education in reptile keeping and you're actually doing something to progress that. I wish I could have been around to help, but for now I will applaud and be inspired!

[j_h_smith]

Woohoo. Great job!!!

Jim Smith

[BPelizabeth]

Ohhhhhhhhhh I almost forgot....I need to give another HUGE thank you to another one of ours DEB STEWART......

she sent me a couple of pics to use....one was a pic of BP twins and another was an amazing shot of an egg tooth. I am sure the kids will LOVE that!!



Thank you everyone for your nice words. It would be really really cool if more schools would jump on board with this and do this for the kids. Unfortunately funding in AZ is terrible so this was all out of pocket for me. But ya know what.......that is fine with me. I am excited to make it happen. If I can change 1 persons mind about reptiles....then it was well worth it!!

[kc261]

It sounds like you are really putting together an EXCELLENT program! Good for you! Let us know how it goes.

We as keepers crow alot about the need for more education in reptile keeping and you're actually doing something to progress that.

All of us should be doing more. Some people may read posts like this and think to themselves that they can't do that much, so they do nothing at all. But all of us can do SOMETHING. Sometimes I'll go to a pet store and ask to look at some of the snakes. Not because I have any interest in buying a pet store animal, but because usually once the snake it out of the cage and in my hands, it attracts attention and I get to talk to a few people about what great pets they make and how much we enjoy ours. I find it fun, and it is another drop in the bucket of making our hobby viewed more positively in the public eye.

Then I use gobs of the hand sanitizer and wash up really thoroughly to be sure I don't bring any germs home.

[Vypyrz]

Good Job...


Maybe some nice little knitted reptile and snake sweaters that say "Don't Ban Me" would help...

[BPelizabeth]

Thanks everyone!! If you have school age children...approach your school with it. I was surprised at how much they were on board with this. If you ever want...feel free to contact me I will send you my powerpoint and the childrens booklet. I will even walk you through how I did it.

I briefed the kids today as how to conduct themselves making sure they understand how important it is to be quite and how if they are not it will effect the reptiles. We also discussed conservation and responsible pet ownership today. They are so so psyched for this. I love it. To hear all of them get soooo excited for this is amazing. I am just doing this for second, third and fourth. However I also have 25 - 8th graders that are helping. They are all honor roll students. I thought this was a great idea to ask them to help as it speaks to their acomplishments with school and they are jazzed.

So again...if anyone wants to do this....feel free to shoot me a message and I will give you a call and help you all I can!!!