advice please???

[ANT22]

Hey everyone,
I have possible work experience lined up at the Gosford Reptile Park.
I have been considering a career in the Animal Husbandry Industry.
If anyone has any opinions, past experience, or just your 2 cents worth, i would be more than happy to hear from you.
Thanks everyone,
Ant.

 

[ANT22]

anyone???

 

[bpb02]

Do it. I'd love to have followed that path may not be the best paying job but very rewarding

 

[ANT22]

ohk...yea i was kinda thinking that. thanks

 

[HILDY]

Hey mate, ifs thats what you want i say go for it. ive been working as a keeper for a bit over 3 years now, pay sucks, long hours with no overtime, but i still love it.

 

[ANT22]

ohk thanks hildy. what do you keep?

 

[HILDY]

Im lucky, i get to work with many species, spidermonkeys, koalas, roos, dingoes, quolls many types of birds, my fav reptiles and many more.

 

[ANT22]

No matter what they pay, that is incredible. Where bouts do you work? did you have to study at uni or anything?

 

[HILDY]

I work at the wildlife park in port macquaire, did a few tafe courses in captive animals and alot of volley work. Lucky for me a few people were leaving and the boss was happy with what i was doing, so i got a job.

 

[ANT22]

ok...what are the dingoes like?

 

[HILDY]

They're great, so much fun to play with and big sooks.

 

[crocodile_dan]

Im a zoology student at Uni Qld and Volunteer at a Zoo and work casually at a Wildlife Park in SA and it is great if you love animals and for me it doesn't feel like work so it is great to do but as said before pay is very low, Government run facilities such as Melbourne and Taronga have a slightly higher keeper wage than privately owned facilities but it is still not a high income. I am definitely expecting that I will need to have some form of supplementary income if I choose a long term career at Zoo keeping which is what I want to do. if you can make the money work then it is an amazing opportunity to experience things no one else can, for instance I got to play soccer with asian elephants and the keepers as their enrichment which was one of the highlights of my life!

 

[pythrulz]

Sure if you get a chance to get into that industry do it im sure there are many people who would love to work with animals

 

[Carpetpythonmorphs]

Always try and get a career in what you love, but keep in mind that zookeeping is mostly feeding animals then cleaning what comes out the other end!

 

[ANT22]

Thanks heaps guys. might have some work experience lined up at taronga hopefully as well...is the pay really that bad? I still would go for it tho

 

[reptishack101]

hey ive done work experience at the Gosford Reptile Park in 2009 when i done it they got me to mainly clean all the reptile enclosures just alot of poop really but the part i liked the most there was getting to hold all the differant reptiles australian and american and when they done the shows me and the other guy got to carry the burmese python back to the reptile room but instead of goin strait back to the room they made us walk all over the park to let people see it up close and pat it we had to feed all the bearded dragons shingle backs bluetoungs kameleons tegus and heaps more we had to clean the hatchling alligator tank and the green iguana cage it might not sound all good but if they asked me to stay another week or month no pay i woulda done it no hesitation apart from me living in the riverena lol so my advice is go for it if thats wat you wanna do i would recomend it to any 1 who would like to get into Animal Husbandry. also they get you to run around with the dingoes for 10 -20 minuets a day ( not the same people every day i had to ask can i see the dingoes) they get you to feed the wambats kangaroos emu and ekidna you've aslo gotta clean the bird and bat cages but if they ask you to walk into the middle look up b4 you walk out the becoz if the bats are in the middle you will smell like them for the rest of the day lol but yer go for it it great.

 

[ANT22]

thanks heaps 666zac 666. sounds like you had a great time. was the selection process hard for you?