Under contruction

Let our years of experience recommend ideas for a better animal encounter.

These are merely suggestions for smoothly running shows that will be enjoyed by all.

From the time that your guests are invited and the animal show starts, we recommend a good 90 minutes. This time guarantees that your party guests will socialize, run around, snack, and allow for those who will be 30 minutes late.

This is especially important for younger children with shorter attention spans. Each child is an individual. For a particular 2 year old, the show lasted 2 hours with only 5 friends. Other 8 year olds will last 30 minutes before they want to jump in the fun jump. On average, most children will be engrossed and spell bound. No child wants to sit down as soon as they arrive to a party. They are excited to play with their friends.

Our focus will be on the safety of the animals being shared and your birthday child's enjoyment. Younger toddlers and babies roaming around, or touching the containers of animals behind the presenter will be another adult's responsibility. Containers are for the protection of the animals and are not meant to be touched.

It takes two trips to the car to unload all of the critters. This means that half of them are still in the car while out of sight. For this reason we need a close, safe, and reserved parking spot. Especially at public parks and very hot days. Or one adult volunteer to wheel in the other half also works. While the animals are on wheels, they are 3' wide. Please consider this for driveway parking where your car is also parked. We cannot illegally park even with your permission. Our vehicle cannot be on the sidewalk, blocking your driveway, or near a fire hydrant. We don't have off-road wheels on the carriers.

We arrive 30 minutes prior to our scheduled start time. If we have a show after yours, we will be on a strict schedule. Otherwise, we don't wear a watch. We are having as much fun as the children are. The show is designed to share 25 animals in an hour. Digital cameras and many photos taken, do slow it down. We will do our best, but we can't wait for slow phone cameras when it takes away our attention from the birthday child.

We do our best to answer the many questions during a "performance", but most of the answers are already built into the "routine". We do have valuable information that we would love to be known by all. Entertaining your guests is a priority, but educating everyone is an underlying goal. Our years of actual experience can not easily be found. Personally, I have been working with 100s of reptiles and amphibians since 1989. What you see is not the extent of what I have maintained and tended. The show is for children. I never get too technical about specifics. I will lose their attention spans. For detailed information, please use our email.

These are small animals with restrictions on the handling methods. Often grown ups are in the back row sharing their own reptile stories and the children in front will be straining to hear the rules of proper animal handling. This is completely understandable. After all, it is a party atmosphere. Yet more children will be able to touch and hold when they can hear how to properly pet and hold animals. The animals are handled in the same manner as the presenter. That is the way in which these animals are used to. For this reason, we don't allow others to help share them. The LW of S.D. has never had an incident in over 16 years.

Before we even arrive, young and easily influenced children will hear words between adults of how scary, mean, slimy, and dangerous reptiles are (especially snakes). Maybe someone will share an experience that they had with a reptile that wasn't so pleasant. Fears are never real. They are passed on. When someone fears something, its usually a lack of knowledge or worse, belief in a myth. Its an amazing fact that when myths are repeated throughout the years, they become the truth for many. Did you know that there is no such snake called a Garden or Gardener Snake? It may be repeated by owners of one, found in books, but it still doesn't make it true. Garter snakes are popular pet snakes, often seen in the garden in our backyards. They were named Garter snakes because of their pretty stripes similar to a man's garter that were worn to hold up socks. 

Keep in mind that your stories told for fun with an element of fear, do actually scare children. It is a shame when a child will not participate because of this. On the other hand, if a child is told by their parents not to participate, we will honor this request. We never force anyone to touch an animal before they are ready to do so. Remember, these are mainly captive bred and raised animals. They are not wild animals that are threatened by our closeness. When you approach a wild animal, instinct is alerting that animal of danger. 

Much more later.....