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.