Scales And Tails Utah | Blog

Chelonians and the Hare

This month we are focusing on Chelonians!!  For those of you who are new to the reptile world, Chelonians are Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins.  These are truly amazing creatures and we are going to take a closer look at where they live, what they eat and whether or not they can really come out of their shells!  Also, for the first time in 3 years, we’ve finally been able to hatch a couple Redfoot Tortoises of our own! You will be some of the first people to get to see the babies up close and personal!  Oh!!  And don’t forget the race!!  Our annual Tortoise & the Hare race will be up for grabs.  The first year the Tortoise won, then last year the Hare won.  Who do you think will win this year for the tie breaker???  You will have to come to find out!

**Please note that this will be our last Reptile Rookie night in our current shop.  Next month we will be moved into our new location.**

SLC

When: Wednesday, August 17th @ 6:30pm
Where: Scales and Tails Showroom, 152 W. Burton Ave., Ste. F, SLC, UT
Cost: $5/child (parents free with paid child admission)
Reptile Rookies: FREE

UTAH COUNTY

When: Wednesday, August 24th @ 7:00pm
Where: PGCC – 547 S. Locust Ave.,Pleasant Grove, UT
Cost: $5/child (parents free with paid child admission)
Reptile Rookies: FREE

Please RSVP to: info@scalesandtailsutah.com or on our FACEBOOK page.

Want to be come a Reptile Rookie?  We sell memberships at each of our Workshops.  Find out more about the Reptile Rookie program by visiting our FAQ page on our website!

March is Dinosaur Month!!

Boy do we have a workshop for March!!  We are going to dive into ancient reptiles this month and focus on Dinosaurs!!  We have a special guest speaker who is a real live paleontologist, Dr. Paul Bybee! Among other degrees, Dr. Bybee has a Ph.D. in Zoology with specializations in Vertebrate Paleobiology and Evolutionary Biology from Brigham Young University, emphases in statistics and mathematics. Dr. Bybee’s interests are basically Dinosaurian in nature. The aspects of how evolution has shaped the life on earth is of prime importance to Dr. Bybee’s research. Dr. Bybee works with some of the best scientists in the field of dinosaur paleontology. Many of the projects include: work on bone histology and evolution in conjunction with Dr. John Horner, who is the main advisor to the “Jurassic Park” movies. Dr. Bybee is also a consultant to the BBC’s “Walking with Dinosaurs” and has appeared in some of the episodes.

After Dr. Bybee’s presentation we will get a chance to dig for dinosaur bones!!  This is going to be so cool you won’t want to miss it!

We hope to see you there!

Where: Scales & Tails Showroom: 152 W. Burton Ave., Suite F, SLC, UT
When: March 16th
Time: 6;30pm
Cost: $5/child (adults free with paid child admission)
Reptile Rookies: FREE

Please RSVP to riindy@scalesandtailsutah.com
For more information on our Reptile Rookie program contact Rindy at e-mail above.

VENOM NIGHT 2010

April 21st @ 7pm

Scales and Tails will be hosting the second annual Venom Night on Wednesday, April 21st at 7pm.  This workshop will be held at Wheeler Farm in the Barn building.  This workshop is open to the public. 

The focus of this workshop is to educate the public about the venomous animals that live right here in Utah in our backyards, mountains, and deserts.  Shane Provostgaard and a representative from the Utah Poison Control Center will be there to teach us about how to avoid these venomous animals and what to do if you do get bit.   Jim Dix with the Reptile Rescue and Jill Weeks with the Living Safari Pet Store will be there to exhibit some venomous animals many of which are local to Utah.

This is a great event for families and we invite all to come and learn about our local venomous animals.

Cost: $5/child, $7/adult (16 yrs and older)

REPTILE ROOKIE MEMBERS: FREE

Contact us at 801-577-7182 or info@scalesandtailsutah.com for more details.

How do YOU catch lizards??

November’s public workshop was so cool!  One of Scales & Tail’s entertainers, Jeremy Westerman, came and taught us all about finding cool things in the wild, like skulls, skins, bugs, and reptiles!  We talked about how sometimes its ok to take things we find out in the wilderness home and other times it is better to leave what we find, right where we found it.  Jeremy reminded us to take a camera with us so that if we find something cool that we can’t take home (because it is prohibited by law or because it just might not make a good pet) that we can still take a picture of it to remember it later!  Afterwards we had to practice researching about cool stuff we find in the wild and then we learned how to catch lizards using a 50 cent dowel and some dental floss!  It was a great night and I’m looking forward to next month already!  I hear it will be on Crodillians…

Halloween Parties…Even Better with Snakes & Spiders!

Are you looking for something cool and different than the average Halloween Party?

Bring Scales & Tails to your Halloween Party!  What could be better than Snakes and Lizards and Spiders for Halloween??  Save $20 off your Halloween Party when you book today.  Just mention the blog!

(Discount can not be combined with any other coupon or discount)

Thank you to all that attended Venom Night!

All of us at Scales and Tails Utah want to thank those of you who attended our “VENOM NIGHT” last week at Wheeler Farm.  It was a huge success!  We had almost 200 people in attendance. 

This was a very informative workshop, which is a just a little bit different than our normal monthly workshop.  We were able to have Shane Provstgaard, a local serpentologist, come and present information on what type of venomous animals we typically find right here in Utah. We also learned what to do if we come upon one.  The best practice is to turn around and walk away.  Leave it alone! 

We took a short break after his presentation so that everyone would have a chance to visit the VENOM booth. Jim Dix of the Utah Reptile Rescue brought in several rattle snakes, poisionous spiders, and scorpions for display.  It was really cool to see things like a rattle snake and a black widow up close and personal!!  We even got out the magnifiying glasses so we could get an even closer look.  It also gave everyone a change to try out a scorpion sucker!  Did you know you can eat scopions and it WON’T hurt you!?!

The second half of the night was presented by Brad Dahl of the Utah Poison Control Center.  He gave us a very detailed description of what happens and what do do if you do become invenomated.  We learned that the majority of rattlesnakes bites were typically obtained by young men in their late teens to early twenties….and who were usually inebriated.  Funny that…   

Brad and Shane both gave great presentations and we are very greatful that they agreed to come.  Thank you guys!  We also want to thank Jim Dix for bringing out his collection of venomous animals.  He has a special permit to keep them that we do not have so we were very thankful that he could come as well.  

Thanks again to everyone in attendance.  We hope you had a great time and that you learned something helpful about living in proximity to venomous animals!  See you next month!

S&T Workshop!! Wed. Oct. 22nd, 6:30pm

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 22nd

Time: 6:30pm

Place: Scales & Tails, 152 W. Burton Ave. (2360 S.), Ste. F, SLC, UT

Cost: $5 for Adults, $3 for kids 12 and under (FREE for Reptile Rookies!)

The Details:

It’s going to be EXCITING!! COOL! FUN!!

Scales & Tails will be holding the first workshop in a series of workshops we will be having through out the year.  This first workshop will be focused on “Colubrids” and how to take care of them.  Colubrids are pretty much all snakes not considered Python, Boa, or Viper.  So this would include: Milk snakes, King snakes, Garter snakes, Gopher Snakes, Corn Snakes, etc.  Basically many of the snakes that are considered “Good Pets”.  This workshop will last about 30 minutes and then allow for time afterwards to quiz Shane Richins and the rest of the crew about specifics on a pet you might have questions on.  We might also allow the kids to help feed some of our plant eating animals that night! This should be a lot of fun and should help kids learn how to good pet owners.

We will also be continuing to sell memberships for our “Reptile Rookies” program that night (or feel free to request more info via e-mail: shane@scalesandtailsutah.com or go to our “contact us” page on our website).

Danny Conner at the State Fair!

Danny is a great friend of ours from Texas.  He is the one that got Shane into doing reptile shows.  Danny will have crocodillians and alligator snapping turtles. These are animals that we are not allowed to own here in Utah without special permits.

 

   

This is a show and exhibit you don’t want to miss!!

We are getting there!

Name our greeter!

We have been working hard and are getting very close to getting the new place ready for the public.  This new place will have a space inside where we can host your parties!  (Space will be limited).

If you would like notification of our grand opening, please go to our “contact us” section and send us an e-mail with your return address listed inside.

New Pictures by Weston Hall Photography

We had another photo shoot with Weston Hall Photography to have the rest of our animals photographed.  Weston does an amazing job!  There are new pictures in the “Our Stars”, “Snakes”, “Lizards”, and soon the “Tortoises” galleries.  Check them out and let us know what you think!  Also, check out the link to Weston’s website in our “Links” section on our website to see some of his other work. (Parents: Weston does have one gallery on his site (called S&T Gone Wild) that is not appropriate for children, please supervise them if they want to check it out.)