High School Grant, $3000...HELP!!

Why in the world would I want to call you? You've already proven that you do not want real advice, you only want approval for what you're going to do and you're never going to get it from me.

To "Roster Imposter" we say thank you. That is all we wanted was some good advice, not condemnation. We haven't decided on any animals yet and have not "set in stone" our groups. We just threw them out there. It is a teaching philosophy called brainstorming that I am trying to teach.

For those that do not know, brainstorming is just saying what comes to mind outlaud (what came out and what you saw came from 16 year olds who have little knowledge BUT have Cable {Animal Planet, Discovery channel etc.}. So, whether right or wrong, we are following what is taught. By analogy, this is a way they may try to fix problems in their own lives. Anyway, we throw out what is said, they liked those animals, and then go to people with more knowledge on the subject. This could be parents, clergy, guidance counselors, teachers but in this case was fauna as well as some local breeders/pet stores in Virginia.

Hopefully, we will learn a bit more, alter our hypotheses and move on to an eventual experimental group (the control group will be nature) to see interactions or lack of interactions as well as gathering data from what we see or can empirically measure (that would be weights, number of offspring, amount of Oxygen consumed relating to metabolism versus amount when kept separate etc.).

I cannot take the animals home with me over vacations or weekends. That would go against the grant, so we have a quandary. We thought a problem to us would be a solvable riddle to some of you. Instead we got what the kids assumed would be typical answers from problems that they would get from their parents. Very little helpful advice and allot of condemnation about lack of planning and the like without really asking questions before.

Does this sound familiar to those with teenage kids. Why can't we just have somebody ask a bit more detail about what we have already done, what we would like to do and what we ultimately do. We can't post everything here, we do not have time and the kids are not allowed to go on line at home because of anti predatory concerns. We are not experts by definition (it's a class project) and would like constructive criticism like "impostor" and Wyatt gave.

Please keep you parental tones for your own kids and be the professionals we thought you were and help us. If you do not, we still have to do something associated with the original proposition. We have to give monthly reports to the foundation and biannual major write ups. These kids do not often get this chance. How many of you had this opportunity in high school Carte Blanche with $3000? I personally do not want to hurt any animals nor let my kids, their parents and our community down.

How many of you criticise public education? This is partly why public education tasks few risks? The public is very close-minded about many things such as creation, abortion and ANIMALs. How about some actual help and follow up as we go? that would be nice.

If you were kind enough to respond in an adult like manner instead of childish, this would not have escalated like it did.

As far as being away for vacations and weekends, if you keep animals that need to be fed on a daily basis, than someone needs to be their to feed them. Maybe if you had way to feed them machanically on a timer, that may do the trick for you. Keeping crickets or meal worms in a side pocket, the door opens and pushes food into the cage, or stays open until a person closes it, that may work. Even have a few of them that will be used once every 3 days, that way you can have a seperate door used once and the animals will be fed over the weekends. Just make sure it s filled before you leave.

Having the cage heating and lights on a timer will save a lot of time and work. Just make sure you have a thermostat being used so the animals do not get too hot or too cold

Why not try something a little more proven like a terrarium? You should be able to mix fish, tree frogs, water frogs, newts, crabs, live plants... all in a single environment, and with proper selection everything should co-habitate fairly well.

To go totally out on a limb, when I was a kid we kept a green anole and a small green snake (unk species) in an aquarium together for a few years. If it must be repilia you're keeping, I'm guessing that small cricket eaters in a large enclosure with plenyt of food might be the safest bet. But this is in no way the voice of experience speaking, just a bit of brainstorming myself.

The project is coming along well. We have gotten some great ideas from all kindsof people. to all of them we say, "Thank you." Here's what we have so far. PLEASE keep in mind that we will be alert as to size and interspecies stresses. When or if those do appear, we will adopt the animals in question out, I cannot sell them ethically, and get smaller ones or just not replace them.

In the moist cage we have;
<ul>
<LI>Gargoyle geckos
<LI>Crested Geckos
<LI>Pink Tongue Skinks
<li>Mountain Horned Dragons and/or smaller chameleon species
</ul>
In the dry cage we have;
<ul>
<LI>Marbled, fat-tailed or Africa velvet geckos
<LI>Sulcatta tortoise
<LI>Frilled dragon
<LI>Pink toe tarantulas
</ul>

PLEASE, keep in mind that we will orient body sizes and microenvironments to make them happy and stable. IF there is a problem, we have already gotten a list of students that will take over care of the animals and people that will trade for smaller versions so that they all "match" up well. I will get a good misting system for the animals to drink over weekends or vactaions and we have two custodians, they are in the school every day even Sundays and over vacations, that volunteered to help feeed, mist and whatever else we need. I will probably just transport both to my house over summer break.

If there is anyone else out there with contructive critism, please feel free to post here but the best way to get in touch with me and my students is at 804.426.3526 or mail to Vinny Ferraiolo.
These environments have not been made yet and no animals have been purchased yet so RELAX we are still in the research stage. The cages should be up and the animals should be purchased by April 2006. At least, that's the plan. As always we will post progress on www.sciline.net thank you, Vinny

I can't seem to find the results of this "experiment". Did it not work as planned?

I can't imagine that it did work as planned. The fundemental experiment was deeply flawed. They were attempting to create a little "world" where unrelated species could actually live and thrive throughout their lives. They ignored the nature of the animals they were planning to place together and their only concern was replacing larger animals with smaller ones. In effect, the only true "successful" result would have been that: Yes, I am capable of keeping "baby" animals alive in the same enclosure for a limited amount of time. The fact that they *must* switch out animals should have told them that the end result could only be failure. That immediately tells me that they are practicing bad science. The fact that they/he completely ignored the hundreds of thousands of years of collected experience found here doesn't reflect well on the potential findings. I applaud the attempt at getting his kids interested in how animals live, but using a different method would have been nice.

I couldn't find the results from Vinnie's "Project Playing God" but I did find out a lot of other interesting things about Vinnie. Check out his websites. Very educational. (~extreme sarcasm there~)

http://www.sciline.net/project/classpets.html

He wants to advertise his birthday parties to children at school. He will donate a tarantula complete with set up to a classroom in trade for being able to place brochures in the area and possibly send the brochures home with the children emphasizing their (paid $150 an hour) birthday parties and other educational shows.

http://www.sciline.net/project/teacher.html This is about Vinnie.
He says he does autopsies on animals. . It's called necropsy on an animal, autopsy on a human.

He gives free medical exams and/or treatment to reptiles at his pet store. Isn't practicing veterinary medicine without a license illegal???

Read some of the stuff written in Vinnie's "My Pet Store" site. http://twobytwoanimals.com/_wsn/page5.html
It says leopard geckos need UV light but they do not know if monitors need it.

He also recommends cali-sand because it "dissolves in the GI tract of reptiles". He says you can't use mulch, even on blood pythons, because the snake may get pieces lodged in their mouth.

Scary but he also does venom extraction of native species for the students. He calls copperheads and cottonmouths poisonious.

This is a teacher who says he was educated at Purdue University yet he is unable to use the proper terms for a venomous animal and doing a necropsy.

Originally Posted by vferra7777

We found a local pet store (Off The Ark Exotic Pets) that will buy/trade any animals that either outgrow our world or just don't fit.

Since I perused Vinnie's sites I know that this pet store used to be owned by Vinnie. Now Vinnie has his own pet store in his house and sells at reptile shows.

Actually, the pet store is owned by Vinny today, here is a news article about him and the Off the Ark pet store. As you can see, the article is dated April 13, 2006. There is a picture of Vinny in the article holding what looks like a Dumeril's Boa.

The Animals Are Off the Ark and in the Pet Shop
By Elliott Fausz
Apr 12, 2006, 13:43

Vinny Ferraiolo and his wife Cathy have recently turned what was once just a hobby into a well-structured business. It was just a dream at first, but they have worked hard to make it into a reality. "It’s great, because now we’re doing what we both love [working with animals]" said Vinny Ferraiolo.

The Ferraiolos opened an exotic pet store in the Water Tower Shopping Center on Ironbridge Road on March 31, just outside of Chester. They have been in business for about 3 years but not to the public. Until the recent opening of their pet store, they only conducted business online and with local pet stores. They would breed various reptile for pet stores and care for them until they reached maturity. Ferraiolo began to realize that the pet stores he sold to, made large profits off his animals. This got him thinking as to why he couldn’t start his own pet store; after all, he was doing all the work with the animals. Then one day he was riding down the road and saw a store front for lease; next thing he knew, he was signing the lease.

Ferraiolo has always had an interest in animals. He majored in biology at Purdue University and now teaches biology at Thomas Dale High School. He has been handling and studying animals for over 20 years.

As for the business side, Cathy Ferraiolo handles most of that, and also "keeps me in my place," Ferraiolo humors. She is also well skilled with all the animals that "The Ark" carries.

Not only do they carry a wide range of reptiles and amphibians, they also host a summer program teaching children about the biology of the animals and carry out different experiments. For example, this summer they will meet at a local park and take a walkabout to study various animal traits. And if you’re looking for something different at a school function, birthday or cub scout meeting, the Ferraiolos are open to bringing reptiles in to give an up-close look at exotic species and demonstrate ways of milking and feeding snakes.

Off The Ark Exotic Pets carries a number of creatures from around the world, such as bearded dragons, monitors, geckos, all colors of corn snakes, ball pythons, boas, tree frogs, turtles, chameleons, giant "rolly polly" bugs from Africa, scorpions, tarantulas and many more. "At some point we would like to breed all of our animals," Ferraiolo said. For the most part they breed all of their animals, except for the few that they have to import from other countries. They also have in stock of all the supplies needed to care for these animals. If you already have any of these animals and have questions the Ferraiolos love having visitors to talk to and share stories about the critters. You can also visit them online at www.offthearkexoticpets.com or pick up the phone and call (804)717-2282.

Off The Ark Article


Hmm, makes me wonder a bit.