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Animal Behavior

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Hypancistrus

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I've been meaning to solicit advice on this for some time. Due to some inadequate staffing in our department at school, and my background and degree, there is a fairly good chance that my schedule will be redone next year. This will give me standard level aquatics classes, which are for juniors and seniors, and one or two GT level animal behavior classes for our magnet students. In Baltimore County, a magnet school is one that specializes in a given subject and draws students from all over the county. We are the magnet school for environmental sciences. So the students I have in the animal behavior class would not only be the highest level, academically speaking, but would also be very interested and excited about the subject.

As it stands now, the person who teaches the 10th grade magnet animal behavior class has the students purchase a pet and care for it over the course of the year. I have been down to see the operation, and even donated an animal to a group for the year-- Pippen, my painted turtle. I am not fond of the methods employed by the current teacher for several reasons.

First, he has no set requirements for what types of animals the students can obtain. I have seen students use the class as an excuse to purchase a bearded dragon. I do not personally think it is good for a 15 year old to purchase a bearded dragon in the name of school because two years from now, the student will be off to college and MOST dorms and apartments will not allow said dragon. This means the parents will become responsible for the animal they may not have wanted in the first place ("But mom! I HAVE to have it for my CLASS!")

The second thing that I don't like is that the teacher doesn't seem to guide the students at all in appropriate care. He allows them to research using the internet. As we all know, some sources are better than others. When Pippen the painted turtle was brought back to me, his heat lamp was gone. When I asked the teacher about it he said the group might have traded it to another group for something. So my poor turtle went God knows how long without heat in a cold building (the kids told me he hadn't been eating well-- wonder why?)

If I take this class over I will be revamping the entire program. The students look forward to it because they get to work directly with animals, and so I'd like to keep that aspect going. I have enough critters of my own that I could really do this without the kids having to buy their own pet. What I was thinking of doing was making a rotation schedule where every 3-4 weeks, a group would get to care for a "typical" animal of a given group. I would bring in one good example for each group (i.e. lizards, snakes, insects, small mammals) and the students would have to research the animal and write their own caresheet about it, and then maintain it for a 2-3 week period. I'd pick the best "pet" species for that group for the students to maintain. This would allow them to gain experience in researching and caring for a pet without having to burden their families and their futures with their own pet.

I was thinking about possibly breeding Mongolian gerbils or another small mammal species that has a short life span so that students who really wanted to take a pet home could do so without jeopardizing their college plans and causing stress on their parents. Gerbils would be ideal for this-- theyare easy to care for and only live 2-3 years, so for the most part they would die a natural death prior to the students heading off to college. This would also give students experience with mammalian reproduction and behaviors associated with it.

I would also bring in some of my larger animals every other week, like Carlos the BCI, Dingo the Woma python and our new Sulcata, Lucy, to talk to the students about the challenges of caring for some of the larger more exotic species.

I think this would be a really good opportunity to teach teenagers about the responsibilities of caring for a captive animal. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and suggestions for the class. What would you like to see taught to 15 year olds about pet keeping, the reptile industry, etc?
 
M

M.C Bird Rescue

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YOU HAVE A WOMAS????? OMG!! Love them!
For a 15 year olds education I would like to see responsibility to the pet being taught first and foremost! Many people think of all animals as replaceable, disposable, and profit making. I would like to see them taught that they are living beings, majestic, caring, and need a responsible owner.
I would also like to see them investigate things themselves, maybe and report back to you..maybe like a different type of animal each week or so..cage dimensions needed, diet, temp, etc. That way they are taught to investigate different needs per animal species..Just my thoughts.
 
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piercesdesigns

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IMO, nothing to do with breeding should be taught to 15 yr olds. Like Crystal said, money making is not a good message.

I totally agree with using your own animals and certainly not requiring that the student purchase a "subject". I would open it up to, if they already own an exotic, certainly use it to learn.

Lots of teaching about diet, enrichment, habitat, etc.
 

Greycloud

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Hi Lauren, I am in Baltimore too. I use to work for an educational zoo. I agree, no breeding aloud, but maybe reference breeding behaviors. So many different animals require special care. So many should not be sold in petstores. If I were you, I would provide the animals as long as you can assure their safety. Frogs are great too. Start with tadpoles and learn the growing process. Food requirements, temp, water etc. Also the difference between a toad and frog. You could also incorporate the re-releasing of them into the wild. Water turtles and tortoises and their different requirements. The gerbils are a good idea. Maybe some hissing cockroaches and madagasgar millipedes. Dark and light issues, hot and cold. Moving prey compared to dead or plant life food.
One thing you will have to be careful with is the care of proper handwashing after handling of certain animals. You don't want salmanella! I would also look into having a exotic animal show come to the school to discuss really interesting animals as well as bring cool animals to see. This is what I did. Teaching about the native country they are from, destruction of rainforests.
I would touch on the treating animals with respect and what they need to survive in captivity. The abuse that so many animals suffer and how things could be fixed.
I hope this helps some. What school do you teach at? Judy
 

Hypancistrus

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The animals I was considering bringing into school on a semi-permanent basis are the following:

-- Apollo, 2007 male leopard gecko, super-sweet and easy going
-- Chaos, 2007 male Children's python (full grown at just under 3')
-- Squirt, juvenile Striped mud turtle (tiny-- 2"!)

We have two tarantulas as well. I think the fear factor and potential for damage (to the spider) is too great for those. Amphibian wise I have a male albino Chacoan horned frog and a female African bullfrog, neither of which would be ideal. I do have a female American toad that is an easy keeper, and very sweet.

I am considering moving several PC's out of my classroom, which would give me room for a 75 gallon tank and a bearded dragon. BD's are among the most commonly "wanted" pet reptiles, but are also expensive and need TONS of equipment and time in order to maintain properly. It might be good for them to really see what keeping a Bearded Dragon entails. I am working on setting up some fish aquariums, too, and will be teaching both classes about how to properly cycle, stock, and maintain an aquarium.

I really like the idea of the Madagascan hissing cockroaches. There may be some squeamishness there (on the part of the teacher, as well) but I'd like an insect representative.

There are TONS of field trips I can incorporate into this, as well. For instance, I could take the students to the National Aquarium for the behind the scenes tour. NAIB staff take the kids to see the filtration systems, the shark catwalks and feeding areas. There are local animal shelters who might be able to use volunteers (part of the requirements for graduation is service learning) and that is a possibility. We also have the Baltimore Zoo and the DC zoo within easy driving distance.

I hope this helps some. What school do you teach at? Judy
I am at Sparrows Point in SE Baltimore county.
 

Sharpie

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I think it would be good for them to learn how much work is is for pets, especially those like beardies (and birds!) that people want without realizing they're WORK! Maybe you could also do something researchy along the lines of "Why the requirements of species X make it difficult to care for properly as a pet" (iguanas come to mind) too. It sounds like you've got a good start, especially with actually requiring proper animal care, and a good variety as well. I really like insects. Don't know if I could handle hissing roaches, but I've always liked millipedes and stick bugs.
 

Hypancistrus

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I really like insects. Don't know if I could handle hissing roaches, but I've always liked millipedes and stick bugs.
I am pretty sure hissers are okay without us touching them actually. But the stick bugs are an option to. Millipedes?? Eeek... they creep me out!! Spiders do too, though, and I am slowly getting used to the GF's collection.

I am definitely going to focus in on some of the commonly available "poor choices" for pets.... boa constrictor, retics and burms, giant torts, iggies and others. People need to know why these are not great choices unless you are prepared to specialize and make sacrifices.

Birds are hard to maintain in a classroom and I'd almost be afraid to take Rico in-- wouldn't that be exposing him to a lot of viruses??? But maybe I can work them in some other way?
 

Greycloud

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Hissing cockroaches are extremely easy to handle. They do not have wings and can't fly. The millis are about 6-7 inches long and about 1 inch thick. They are pretty cool to hold.
 

RandomWiktor

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You won't have much luck finding giant african millipedes anymore; there was an import ban related to unfounded fears about the commensal mites they carry. You can still get them but even TINY babies have reached a good $30-40 each, and it takes a while for them to mature. I don't think they're great classroom pets if you're caring for them properly anyways; if properly cared for they should be spending most of their time burrowing in deep substrate and leaf mulch. Most I've seen in classrooms have been sad things with an inch of soil, a log hide, and some lettuce :(

I think taking over this course would be an awesome idea. I LOVE the ideas you've mentioned already; I think having students research and write a care sheet is a great assignment. I also like that you want them to be able to experience husbandry without buying a pet. Golden.

Since it's specifically a behavior course, I would stress the importance of species-appropriate behavioral enrichment for all species. I *hate* it when people assume that you can't and shouldn't provide enrichment for fish, reptiles, etc. when they not only should have it, but benefit from it. It's generally a lack of creativity in thinking of what might be enriching to a species that is very different from us. It's easy to think of what might excite a dog or parrot, harder to consider what sounds, smells, textures, flavors, objects, etc. might fascinate say, an iguana or a goldfish.

Also, it probably goes without saying, but definitely address conservation issues relevant to pet ownership. Not just what you'd normally think of, like over-exploitation of wild caught species, but how irresponsible domesticated pet and livestock ownership can damage ecosystems, spread illness to wildlife, etc. Not enough people understand that all pets, if not responsibly kept, can be damaging to the environment. Not just those *evil* exotics they always blab about in congress. (eyeroll)

Also, if you want to talk about interesting invertebrate behavior without bugs in the classroom, please do invest in a good video or series of photos about ants, bees, or termites. They are some of the most behaviorally complex and fascinating creatures in the animal kingdom, and most people's understanding of them is limited to "ick!" We learned about leafcutter ants at length in my ecology class and it was a huge hit, so I'm sure it would be great for a behavior class.
 
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