Re: Vandalism to School terrarium

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Posted by Ed Stone on December 18, 2001 at 23:13:05:

In Reply to: Vandalism to School terrarium posted by Esther on December 18, 2001 at 06:19:41:

Sorry you had to learn the hard way. I do educational presentations and in the past have set up long-term displays in public places, but would never rely on glass or screen tops for security. I have used Neodesha cages with 1/4" poly carbonate one-piece fronts that padlock to the cage flanges. I enlarged the predrilled holes slightly to accomodate heavy-duty padlocks, and have never had a problem with this equipment. I would highly recommend it in the future. Its not just an issue of animal welfare. Legally, you could be considered negligent and be legally responsible if an incident occurred that resulted in harm to someone (you think about all the scenarios-someone walking down stairs doenst see the lizard, steps on it, and in alarm trips and falls down stairs. someone finds escaped herp, handles it, puts hands in mouth, gets salmonella, escaped lizard squeezes into an electrical appliance, causes a short, and burns down building. and on and on. all of these things have actually happened at one time or another. it doesn't pay to be too careful. good luck.
Ed
: I had a 20 gallon long terrarium in one of my school's laboratory classrooms, which was called The Arizona Desert Tank and was a faithful recreation of the AZ desert. It contained several species of small lizards which could be found either in AZ or NM. Despite my putting a sign in the door asking it be kept locked, and asking colleagues to keep it locked, some of these colleagues were careless. I came into the lab Friday to find the cage clips off, the logs and rocks within disturbed, and 5 of my precious small lizards gone. I will keep the tank there until Friday, when I was going to put them into an unheated bookroom to brumate anyway, and after they emerge, I will take them home.

: Isn't it a shame that a nice educational exhibit, that the kids really liked, has to be removed due to the apathetic carelessness of colleagues (the chief perp of unlocked doors recently had her CAR stolen from school by a student, after he stole her keys from her purse--that's how security-minded SHE is, the idiot)?

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Re: Vandalism to School terrarium Esther 12/19/01 (2)
- sad, ...i've had something kinda like that..... ECO 12/19/01 (1)
  - No, she's an EASTERN fence lizard, and... Esther 12/19/01 (0)

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: Sorry you had to learn the hard way. I do educational presentations and in the past have set up long-term displays in public places, but would never rely on glass or screen tops for security. I have used Neodesha cages with 1/4" poly carbonate one-piece fronts that padlock to the cage flanges. I enlarged the predrilled holes slightly to accomodate heavy-duty padlocks, and have never had a problem with this equipment. I would highly recommend it in the future. Its not just an issue of animal welfare. Legally, you could be considered negligent and be legally responsible if an incident occurred that resulted in harm to someone (you think about all the scenarios-someone walking down stairs doenst see the lizard, steps on it, and in alarm trips and falls down stairs. someone finds escaped herp, handles it, puts hands in mouth, gets salmonella, escaped lizard squeezes into an electrical appliance, causes a short, and burns down building. and on and on. all of these things have actually happened at one time or another. it doesn't pay to be too careful. good luck. : Ed : : I had a 20 gallon long terrarium in one of my school's laboratory classrooms, which was called The Arizona Desert Tank and was a faithful recreation of the AZ desert. It contained several species of small lizards which could be found either in AZ or NM. Despite my putting a sign in the door asking it be kept locked, and asking colleagues to keep it locked, some of these colleagues were careless. I came into the lab Friday to find the cage clips off, the logs and rocks within disturbed, and 5 of my precious small lizards gone. I will keep the tank there until Friday, when I was going to put them into an unheated bookroom to brumate anyway, and after they emerge, I will take them home. : : Isn't it a shame that a nice educational exhibit, that the kids really liked, has to be removed due to the apathetic carelessness of colleagues (the chief perp of unlocked doors recently had her CAR stolen from school by a student, after he stole her keys from her purse--that's how security-minded SHE is, the idiot)?

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