WoW School

Today was a big day for me. I woke up really early took my shower and threw on my Wonders of Wildlife polo shirt. I taught two classes today- all on my own. It was really exciting. For the most part most of the students listened really well, but my second class was by far the best class out of the two. During the first class when I was talking about the falcon that was on my arm he started making this weird hacking sound and out came a really nasty green ball of shit. Well it wasn't really shit, it was bones and fur- but it was disgusting and even I caught myself being like the kids saying, "ewww! What is that?" I had no problems with the snake, however, during the second program I reached in the bag to get him and I guess my nail poked him because he jumped and then I jumped. I thought he was for sure going to bite me. He didn't though, I lived to tell about it.

Somehow during the first class we got off on the subject of king cobras instead of king snakes. One little boy piped up and asked me, "Do king cobras have red eyes?" I got another question like, " What happens when a king snake meets a queen snake?"

Aww...

wiggle while you work

So, I have 5 minutes before class starts and I had a quick second to sit down and write. I honestly feel like I have my head in the game as far as school goes. I love my Wonders of Wildlife internship....Although on Friday I had to hold "Elvis" the California King Snake. California definitely knows how to grow snakes.

Elvis and I are not considered "friends" I'm not fond of him, and I'm pretty sure he's not very fond of me. The whole reason I had to hold Elvis is because Arthur was shedding and he would bite me. So I get handed Elvis and my heart jumps into my throat because the whole time I've got him his tongue was flicking on my thumb and I just turned my head so I couldn't see him. I'd rather just feel the pain from him biting me than see the strike.

He was WAY TOO squirmy! Then he wrapped himself so tight around my left arm I thought I was going to pass out on the tile floor while he tried to eat my arm.

Any who.....I just had a little time to sit and chat.

Just Another Day in the Life of Miss Marie

Every Friday morning I'm so excited to get out of bed and go to Wonders of Wildlife and see whats in store. This is how I want my career to be... I picked something I'd do for free, but I'll be getting paid for it so it will seem like I've never worked a day in my life.... Right? I hope that's how I feel once I start teaching. I'm so excited about teaching the second grade students about the life cycle at Wonders of Wildlife. I'll be teaching all by myself! Kinda scary, I'm learning all kinds of cool animal facts, and this morning I spent most of my time with Arthur the speckled king snake. He seems to be pretty well mannered. As long as he doesn't bite me we'll be friends.

Today I worked on crating the animals, and learned how to crate Arthur. This was kinda scary for me, because I have to put him in a pillow case, tie a knot in it, set it down inside an insulated lunch box, and when it's time for me to take him back out I have to unwrap the pillow case and stick my hand into a bag and pull him out! I'm really really nervous about doing this in front of a lot of second graders.....if he bites me I'm dropping him and running- Good luck to all the second graders..huh.

Yeah....I did it.....So

So I landed an internship at Wonders of Wildlife! I heard about it through one of my teachers and thought that I might try to see if I could get it. I went in for an interview and was thrown questions by three people, and I guess my answers were pretty good because I'm an intern!

Job Description:

I'll be a teacher in the Wonders of Wildlife classrooms teaching about life cycles...etc. Some of the things that I've been doing is animal handling. I'm required to be able to hold the animals, crate them, and bring them into the classrooms.

These animals include:

1. Frogs/Toads: American, Marine, and Bullfrog.
2. Salamanders: Tiger
3. African Millipede
4. Pink Toed Tarantula .....EWWW and he's really hairy!
5. Hissing Cockroaches
6. Turtles: African and Box/water
7. Iguana named Chevy
8. Bearded Dragons: Sydney, and Melbourne
9. Snakes: Speckled King Snake, Rat Snake, Corn Snake, and some more king snakes.
10. Angora Rabbit: Fitzgerald
11. Kestrels: Orion, and Buttercup
12. Hedgehogs
13. Birds: Turkey Vulture (Socrates), Screech Owl (Caesar), Hawk (Hawk Eye), Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl (Owlbert Einstein)
14. Ferret (Fannie)
15. Possum (Frannie)

And others I cannot think of at the moment.

I'm really really excited about this it gives me a great opportunity to teach in a classroom by myself. :)

Ohh and Did I mention I held a few of these including: Buttercup the Kestrel, Melbourne the Bearded Dragon, Toads, Bullfrog, and


Arthur: The Speckled King Snake!