Over the course of my first week, I was trying to figure out what I could do to help the business, aside from daily work. I want to do something that can have a lasting impact on the business. When I was researching Sandfire before internship started, I noticed that their website was 'under construction'. Once internship started I asked my mentor about their website, and he explained that a senior from the other HTH campus (Point Loma) was building a website for him, but it was hard because it is so far away and it was hard for the senior to come to the ranch to take pictures and discuss the website.
This gave me a really good idea, because I have already taken a lot of pictures from around the ranch for my internship photo blog. I thought that I could help the senior with the website, or work on some of the informative pages that Mr. Malloux wants to include. I could be the person who communicates what Mr. Malloux wants to the senior, who could put everything together into the website. So far, this internship has been an amazing experience. I just finished giving medication to the last group of Bearded Dragons today. After I finished the nursery rooms, I had to give medicine to the dragons that live outside, and that was a little harder because they are so much bigger. So far I have not been bitten by a big dragon, even though some of the big ones were quite grumpy. I was amazed by the colors of the dragons outside, they get more color as they grow. The babies were a few different colors, but mostly gray/brown. The dragons outside were all so unique, they were red, yellow, white, and black.
Some skills that I have developed so far are being able to do quick calculations in my head to figure out the proper dose of medicine for each dragon, as well as gaining experience handling the dragons. I eventually figured out how to understand each dragon's behavior and predict how it will react to being handled. Today there was one dragon who was really aggressive and tried to bite me when I reached into its bin, but I managed to give it the medicine without being bitten. Now that I am done giving medicine to all of the dragons, I do not know what I will be doing. But my mentor told me that he has plenty of tasks that need to be completed My first day at Sandfire Dragon Ranch was so much more exciting than I could have ever expected. I have only been here once before, for a tour. When I first arrived at the ranch, I was struck by how quiet it was. The weather was perfect, and all I could hear was the quiet chirps of birds and the wind rustling the trees. I found my mentor and he assigned my first task. We went into the 'egg room' where all of the bearded dragon eggs are kept. The room is small, with shelves on both sides. Bins line the shelves, each bin containing a clutch of bearded dragon eggs. My job was to organize the bins into date order, so the ones that would hatch next could be monitored. I also had to look in each bin and remove any eggs that were dead, moldy, or eaten by fly larvae. Bearded Dragon eggs are quite small, they are about 1.5 inches long, and they are oval shaped. I had to be really careful not to turn any of the eggs over, because the baby dragon will not get the nutrients it needs from the yolk if it is moved from its original direction.
My next job was much more intense than egg checking. We had to give every single dragon (there are hundreds) an anti-pinworm medication. We started in the 'big dragon room' where the dragons are between about 4 and 14 ounces. Each dragon had to be weighed, then I had to calculate the proper dose (.03 per ounce of dragon). Then, the hard part was to give the dragon the medicine. Some dragons were easy and would open their mouths when you tap on their nose, but others were not so easy. For the hard dragons, Mr. Mailloux would hold his fingers over the dragon's nostrils forcing the dragon to open its mouth to breath. When it opened its mouth, I would stick the syringe of medicine down its throat and administer the medication. Some of the dragons, especially the bigger ones, would put up quite a fight. One dragon even bit Mr. Mailloux! After all of the big dragons were done, we moved on to the nursery, where the baby bearded dragons live. These were easier, except that calculating the dose for a dragon that weighs less than an ounce was hard. Some were so small that they weighed 0.1 ounces. It was harder to get the little ones to open their mouthes sometimes because they were so small and I did not want to hurt them. After I got the hang of it Mr. Mailloux let me do the rest by myself. I did not finish yet, because there are so many dragons in the nursery but I will finish tomorrow. Overall, my first day at Sandfire Dragon Ranch was amazing. I can not believe I was able to do so much hands on work on my first day! I had a lot of fun with the dragons, and it was fun to notice their individual personalities. I am so excited for the rest of my time at Sandfire Dragon Ranch. Q: How did Sandfire Dragon Ranch come to be?
A: It began with Mr. Mailloux's love for frogs. He breed frogs for a long time, and eventually traded a few frogs for some bearded dragons. Then, he acquired some bearded dragons with unique red and orange coloring on their heads and beards. Over many generations of selective breeding for color, he created animals that are completely red and orange. After that, Mr. Mailloux purchased a new property and began breeding large scale. He told me that he was so happy that he found a way to make a living doing what he loves. |
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