SYP's creature feature! (Ants on a Rock)

13 young people gathered at Weymouth group , young people from Bridport, Dorchester and Weymouth group were all excited to meet Tom from Ants on a Rock who set up his display and invited the young people to gather around, learning about ants, explaining how ants in the UK mate and fly. Moving on to Tarantulas and how to handle them, woodlice or isopods and their needs, vinegaroons, who defend themselves by releasing a vinegar smell, assassin beetles, millipedes and the difference from centipedes, Tom showed us a preying mantis and told how easily they will leap around, which was  demonstrated by one deciding to go on a hop about, the mantis was recovered safely and Tom turned our attention to pythons.

All the young people lined up to take turns holding Buttercup the python, learning how to handle the snake with care. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

From there people spit off into separate groups with most remaining totally engaged with Tom and his creatures.

Tom shared his knowledge of laws around creature ownership and the black market trade in endangered animals, research is happening by DEFRA but Tom says it’s too slow to save some species.

They then returned to handling different creatures with Tom making sure they were handled correctly. the millipedes seemed to be a strange favourite for several of the YP.

Everyone enjoyed the experience, it was good to see how all the young people engaged so well with Tom and his creatures, they all said how much they enjoyed the evening with Tom getting loads of thanks.