Reptile Shows

[Sunrunner]

As most of you know my husband and I do a travelling interactive reptile show, "JacobsJungle", this is definately not a new concept but a pretty uncommon one. Now our show once featured over 30 herps but the shows ended up taking way to long and so we have culled it done to what we feel are the 15 most well known/interesting/misunderstood species.

What I was wondering is what species you would want your children (or yourself) to see and learn about in a live hands on enviroment. Also what species you think would be inappropiate. Personally I don't think venomous herps should be used in such shows ( a subject me and another travelling reptile show have argued extensively over) but I'm curious to hear what others think.

P.S: Before anyone goes spouting off about shows being wrong and stressful to the animal remember these animals are recieving the best of care, were introduced to show settings slowly and at a young age. More importantly in my opinion there is no better way to educate a generally ignorant public than this. Which can be nothing but good for herps in the long run.

[Linds]

Educating the public is the future of this threatened hobby. Anyone who knocks shows obviously hasn't thought that far. I think variety is one of the top factors in selecting show animals. They don't all have to be well-behaved docile animals, although obviously many of them should be, its misleading to give the impression that all herps make great pets and are easy to handle. When I used to do shows at work we had a lil of everything... caimens, frogs, uros, torties, skinks, large boids, small colubrids, yadda yadda yadda. Don't know if that was any help...

[Sunrunner]

We currently show an american gator, a curviers croc, a yellow conda, a burm, a boa, a kingsnake, a beardie, an iguana, a water monitor, a spur thigh tort, a vieled cham, leos, a whites tree and a red slider, a cane toad we used to use alot more but it was too much we also have a couple of pac mans and some other colubrids we use on occasion plus a retic but he is for show only way to vicous for general handling, an awesome looking guy though. Like i said famous but interesting stuff I want to switch the leos with a day gecko so we talk about the sticky feet though. and switch the whites with a red eye, much more visually impressive.

[V.hb]

I think the best topic in a show is to introduce native species to people first Not nessecarly live ones, but show them what they could find here and make it clear that catch and release is the best thing to do. strike an interest in youth, let them go looking for herps. Chances are they wont find much, but it strikes the interest in them and it stays... Then, show them herps from different countries.. I think children need to be educated on their own surroundings before others.

[Sunrunner]

That is a great idea, but what sort of herps in Ontario could we show?

[Lisa]

Here's a list of ontario species from www.ontarioherpers.org, the protected ones will require a license from MNR.

Snakes
Protected: Blue Racers, Eastern Fox Snakes, Black Rat Snakes, Eastern Hognose Snakes, Eastern Milk Snakes, Lake Erie Water Snakes, Northern Water Snakes, Smooth Green Snakes, Queen Snakes, Butler’s Garter Snakes, Eastern Massasaugas.
Not protected: Northern Ring-necked Snakes, Brown Snakes, Northern Red-bellied Snakes, Northern Ribbon Snakes and Common Garter Snakes.

Lizards
Protected: Five-lined Skinks

Turtles
Protected: Common Snapping Turtles, Painted Turtles, Spotted Turtles, Wood Turtles, Blanding’s Turtles, Common Map Turtles, Common Musk Turtles.

Frogs and Toads
Protected: Blanchard’s Cricket Frogs, Bullfrogs, Fowler’s Toads and Gray Treefrogs.
Not protected: American Toads, Green Frogs, Leopard Frogs, Mink Frogs, Pickerel Frogs, Wood Frogs, Spring Peepers, Chorus Frogs.

Salamanders
Protected: Eastern Tiger Salamanders, Spotted Salamanders, Smallmouth Salamanders, Jefferson Salamanders, Blue-spotted Salamanders, Red-backed Salamanders, Four-toed Salamanders, Two-lined Salamanders, Northern Dusky Salamanders.
Not protected: Eastern Newts and Common Mudpuppies