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Buck_99
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1324
Location: Midlothian, VA
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 Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:01 am Post subject: Hosted an Event |
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I wasn't sure where else to post this. We homeschool our kids and socialize them through a homeschool network. I offered to host a "Reptile Day" (read "Snake Day" since I have no lizards, turtles, etc.) and we thought we'd get maybe 5-10 kids. Well, we got swamped with 30 RSVP's, and almost all of them showed up, plus the moms. My basement was packed and we had to divide them up into three groups due to constraints in the size of my reptile room and the size of my rat room.
Here I am giving the presentation while holding my PVC pointer, which doubled as a child-prodding device to enforce attention and discipline!
(By the way, don't bother giving me grief on my classification of reptile types...consider the crowd I was targeting. Words like "dragons" get their attention, prompt questions, and next thing you know we're talking water dragons)
Here I am showing one of the groups the reptile room. I look tall and thin due to a trick of the light and the advantage of being surrounded by shorter people. The girl in the foreground holding Captain 20 is my oldest daughter. Her name tag that she made included the title, "Junior Herpatologist." I corrected her spelling but applauded her enthusiasm. She was a big helper, demonstrating how to handle the snakes to the whole crowd during the initial presentation.
(Yes, there was plenty of hand sanitizer making the rounds)
One of the moms brought her corn snake over and gave an eating demonstration, letting one of the kids feed the snake. It was a thawed mouse that she brought in a jar of water. She didn't even need to heat it up. Guess corn snakes aren't so finicky.
All in all the day was a success, but what cracked me up the most was this one 8-year old kid quoting me prices. "Green tree pythons cost about $800," he said, and he was fairly close. He was also asking how much for one of my rats. I said I'd talk to him later and cut him a deal, but his mom whisked him away in the confusion following the festivities before I could close the deal.
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deborahbroadus
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Joined: 16 Jul 2006
Posts: 6746
Location: Baltimore, MD
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:07 am Post subject: |
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AWESOME Buck!!
It looks like they are all having a great time too!
You just a softy, I know you didn't prod any of those "cattle." 
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Buck_99
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1324
Location: Midlothian, VA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| deborahbroadus wrote: | | You just a softy, I know you didn't prod any of those "cattle." |
You'd be surprised, Deb. I thought about the volume of kids long and hard, and I had seen a smaller event with a bunch of the same kids before. Most of the moms don't discipline their kids, and the kids run rampant. So before the show I thought, "Hmm, these kids don't know me from Adam." So during the first slide when no one was settling down and the moms were quietly pleading with their children to behave, I whistled loudly, raised my voice as loud and as deep as I could make it and ordered, "LISTEN UP!" They were sitting on the floor and I was towering over them with the PVC, and they shut right up. One kid got out of hand halfway through and I banished him to the stairs, and that was all it took to maintain order.
So of course I wasn't going to prod the "cattle", but that piece of information was on a need to know basis and they didn't need to know that! 
It was tougher in the reptile room because they were more excited and my focus was protecting the snakes. It was chaos in there. They started playing with temp guns and sexing probes (not on the snakes...they started sword fighting with them!). I still can't find my specula kit. I'm lucky the snakes made it through in one piece. Without my kids to help, no telling what would have happened!
Captain 20 was a real trooper. I think he was held by no fewer than 10 people, but settled right in when it was all over and ate the following night.
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RonCrawford
Site Admin
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 2020
Location: Pottsville, PA (USA)
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject: Re: Hosted an Event |
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| Buck_99 wrote: | | Here I am giving the presentation while holding my PVC pointer, which doubled as a child-prodding device to enforce attention and discipline! |
Awesome event you had there Buck, thanks for sharing! 
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Herphero
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 137
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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Thats cool Buck! Way to educate the Munchkins!
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