Cub Creek Science Camp is unique among camps for many reasons, including our animals. We have our own "zoo", and are home to more than 250 animals of 100+ different kinds. 

• Unlike  your typical zoo, our visitors are able to do so much more than just see animals.  We offer hands-on animal encounters, with more opportunities to get up close, feed, touch and even hold animals than any place else. Imagine feeding a grape to a lemur or a banana to a sloth, petting a porcupine or taking a llama for a walk.  You may also want to experience what it would be like to hold a 7 foot snake or a prickly hedgehog or hold a baby wallaby in a pouch, just like it's mom!.

• All of our resident animals are friendly and are accustomed to frequent visitors and handling. Many of these animals have even been raised by our campers during past summers.

• Our "Adopt an Animal" program is the most requested activity at camp.  Every camper is given the opportunity to "adopt" their favorite animal at camp.  As the adoptive parent campers learn about their animal and become responsible  for it's care, enrichment and general well being. (This is done under the supervision of an Animal Specialist)

• Campers at Cub Creek Science Camp can sign up for one of several animal related courses including; Jr. vet, adopt an animal, animal 101 or animal enrichment.  We are one of the only camps in the country where kids can learn what it is like to be a veterinarian.  They learn how to give injections, how to suture a wound, how to trim nails and flight feathers and more.  Campers also learn how to identify and treat both internal and external parasites, as well as how to handle, feed and care for all the animals at Bear River Ranch.

Our resident animals
Our resident animals include over 30 different species of mammals, 20 types of birds and 25 species of reptiles,  10 different kinds of amphibians as well as a variety of invertebrates.  Campers will have the opportunity to see, touch and learn about more than 100 different species of animals.

Below is a list of the animals that live at Bear River Ranch. 

Mammals

Mammals are one class of animals that have backbones, are warm-blooded, breath air and whose females have milk-secreting glands for their young. In the class Mammalia there are 19 orders and over 5,000 species.  Mammals range in size from the 2-inch shrew to the 120-foot whale.  

The following mammals reside at Bear River Ranch:

Campers help with the bottle feeding of the baby goats and other baby animals in our nursery.  They walk the llamas, miniature horses and donkeys, hand feed many of the other animals including our wallabies and cavy.  Our new monkey enclosures allow campers to hand feed the monkeys.  Campers can also make treats and toys for the animals which they can add to the animals enclosure. 

We work with the local shelter to bring in puppies and kittens that need homes.  We provide them with socialization, good nutrition and veterinary care.  Campers who are looking for a new family pet may find the perfect addition right here at camp.  The adoption fee is $65 which includes an examination by our vet, worming, it's first set of shots and spay or neuter (if the animal is old enough).

Birds

Birds are made up a group of animals that are warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrates.  They have forelimbs modified to form wings. Camp has many different species of birds.  We collect guinea and chicken eggs daily and put them in the incubator.  Chicks hatch every week during the summer.  Campers have the opportunity to help hand feed baby birds, hold cockatiels and love birds and talk to our Blue Fronted Amazon, Bonita (who loves talking back).  In our newly renovated Bird Barn, we have six flight rooms.  These rooms allow our smaller birds plenty of room for free flight, as well as providing campers the opportunity to add perches, swing and hanging treats.

Reptiles

Reptiles are vertebrates that regulate body temperature externally, have dry, glandless skin covered with scales, breathe through lungs and lay large eggs that develop on land. Reptiles include turtles, snakes, and lizards.

Camp has a fantastic variety of reptiles.  Our spurred tortoises can live 200 years and when fully grown you could ride on their backs.  We have snakes ranging in size from tiny hatchlings to ones bigger than you can hold.  Campers have watched a snake shed its skin and even lay eggs.  Ophelia (our 4 foot iguana) loves eating grapes and romaine lettuce from your hand.  Did you know that a Tokay Gecko can climb straight up a wall, or that there are lizards that have no legs?
 

Snakes Ball Python Banded California Kingsnake Black Rat Snake Corn Snake AKA Red Ratsnake Eastern Hognose Snake Honduran Milksnake Pueblan Milksnake Red Milk Snake Redtail Boa Ringneck Snake Prairie Kingsnake Sand Boa Speckled Kingsnake   Turtle / Tortoises Three toed box turtle Russian tortoise Yellow Footed Tortoise Spurred Tortoise Yellow bellied slider

Lizards Bearded Dragon Black Throated Monitor Savannah Monitor Blue Tongue Skink Chameleon - Jackson Five Line Skink Fence Lizard Golden Gecko Plated Lizard Tokay Gecko Leopard Gecko Green Iguana Mali Uromastyx

Amphibians

Amphibians are cold-blooded, smooth-skinned animals from the Chordate Phylum. This class of animals includes frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts. Some live on land and some in the water, but most species return to the water to mate and lay eggs. Most of our amphibians are found in the wild, right here at camp.  We allow campers to collect a few of each type to learn about and then they are released back to where they were originally found.

Arthropods

Arthropods make up the largest phylum of animals and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others. Arthropods have a segmented body with appendages on each segment. All arthropods are covered by a hard exoskeleton made of chitin. More than 80% of described living animal species are arthropods, with over a million modern species.   Like our amphibians local arthropods are collected, identified, studied and then returned to the wild.

 

Crickets Earthworms Giant Hissing Cockroaches Giant Millipedes Hermit Crabs Meal Worms

Praying Mantis Scorpion Sphinx Moth Swallowtail butterfly Tarantulas Walking Sticks