Hey! What you have established sounds really really good. Clearly I did not have my thinking cap on when I replied. Should have realised you would have had a sound basis of environmental ed in the school to warrant an appointed coordinator.
I would lay odds that you work in a private school. Myself and a couple of good friends struggled for many years to try and give environmental ed a profile in the state based high school we worked in over here. We had some success but it was a long hard road.
I absolutely see some real advantages to keeping reptiles in the classroom or school, especially snakes. It would give you the ability to engender informed attitudes towards them amongst students. The reality is that it makes such a difference to kids when they can get up close and personal with reptiles. Just being able to watch a carpet snake coiled on a forked branch, or to handle a central bearded or a bluey, can make a difference for life. And the opportunity to assist with or just watch feeding these animals is such a huge buzz for most kids. They will literally clamber over each other for the opportunity to do so. And their eyes fairly pop out of their heads watching a python walk its jaws over a rat. I don’t think it even matters that such reptiles may not be particularly active for the most part, other than maybe when feeding. Observing them and any feeding or handling session quickly totally changes how they view reptiles. They invariably see them in a whole new light – one of wonderment and captivation instead of irrational fear and mistrust.
Love the idea of a pit. If you are able to set one up, with say a chicken wire roof on it to keep out the fox, there’s any number of species that would be eminently suitable. Cunningham’s Skinks, as mentioned, are great as they can be kept as a small colony. Specimens from the granite belt on the western slopes are particularly colourful and very cold tolerant, remaining active well into autumn. I kept a group for years as a kid. Jackys and Mountain Dragons are social and day active lizards, chasing flies and any wayward Cabbage White butterflies. I am sure the kids would get a real buzz out of feeding them woodies or mealworms and the like. Actually, cultures of live food could be a responsibility given to the students. With active dragons one thing one does need to be a little careful in pits is that these rather athletic little blighters can run and launch themselves over the walls, if the geography allows it. This is something I found out the hard way with my Tawny Rock Dragon colony.
From personal experience, I found when trying to get finance for a pathway and possible boardwalk to access degraded swampland adjacent to the school I was working at, that virtually no-one viewed the expense involved as worth the outcome. However, when the proposal was couched in terms of enabling access to allow weed removal and then revegetation, with a view to ultimately providing access to a rejuvenated natural swamp ecosystem, then a number of community organisations showed a genuine interest. Unfortunately I left the school before we could put anything into practice with respect to this intended project and, unfortunately, no-one picked up the baton. The regional council did ultimately build a walk path around the swamp, with a couple of boardwalk access ramps into a couple of the least disturbed sections of the swamp. It would be a major long-term undertaking that presents a number of facets and phases, and would likely involve partnerships with community groups and local council, all of which would provide invaluable learning experiences for kids. These types of partnership and the potential outcomes tend to be viewed rather favourably by school admin. Of course it depends on the attributes of your particular area and these may well render a project of this nature as impractical.
In my initial response I mentioned providing habitat for EWS around the pond. The specific reason behind this is that often these skinks do become accustomed to human presence and can actually get quite cheeky in their interaction. On the other hand, wild bluetongues tend to remain quite flighty, quickly disappearing into cover at the approach of a person. Regular offerings of appropriate food treats can help overcome this to some degree. In my experience with them the only ones that seemed to ultimately lose their fear of humans were those that were captured and regularly handled. This is based on a couple of decades of having wild bluetongues living in the yard of my parents’ home and at the same time interacting with a substantial number located in the remanent bushland directly across the road at the rear of the property.
One lizard I have had a lot of experience with is Copper-tailed Skinks. These can also become quite accustomed to human presence and are, like water skinks, quite active foragers. They really are brilliant when observed basking in full sunlight... really great little skinks! Another possibility for a pit is the White’s Skink. They can also be kept in multiples but are a bit more territorial. They are an attractively patterned skink that gets to a reasonable size and are not reluctant to show themselves once they get used to you.
You know, with plenty of logs, old fallen tree limbs, sandstone rocks and tussock grasses, such as the many varieties of tough but highly ornamental Lomandras now available, plus a few Gymea Lilies and eucalypt leaf mulch, you could create a superb mini Hawkesbury Sandstone ecosystem.
What I can say with certainty is that you are clearly doing an awesome job. The sorts of educational experiences that you are already providing kids with will be informing them, engendering skills and forming attitudes that will all play an important part in their future lives. It’s hard enough just to teach the 3 R’s, let alone impart values and understandings that can contribute to their future values and quality of life and how they might they might live it. You quite deservedly have my admiration. Keep up the great work!
Might need a label update. I think an enormous biotype freshwater tank would be fantastic. Being a school you would probably focus on local habitats and species. That is something I have thought about doing. We have a horticulture program for 10s that opt out of science (how dare they!) that ties in quite well. They maintain a bit of a food forest with a section of that being focused on native food plants. They also maintain a large vege garden, some of the grounds and do a few paths and things. Might be something to consider.
