Where employees, animals share space, it’s all about enrichment

A python slithering across your cubicle wall? Normal.

A tarantula perched on your co-worker’s shoulder? Just another Wednesday.

At the Butterfly House & Aquarium at Sertoma Park, employees and animal ambassadors share space. While it’s always a good opportunity for a photo, it’s primarily to offer the animals something new or enriching outside of their enclosed habitat.

Nagini the carpet python is taken for “walks” outside in the summer to feel the grass, asphalt and parts of the garden. She’s also held regularly to be trained on human interaction and is allowed to roam around the building, including on people’s cubicles, up walls or on the carpet.

“If she stayed in her enclosure all the time, it would be easy for her to curl up and just wait for food, which isn’t healthy for her,” said Colton Eckstrand, a biologist at the Butterfly House and one of Nagini’s primary caregivers.

She particularly likes hair during her enrichment sessions, Eckstrand said, so she’ll play in people’s ponytails or curl up on their heads like a hat.

“These are sights you’d see most mornings at the facility. It’s the same with all the other reptiles. They come out of their enclosure at least every day,” Eckstrand said. “When I first entered into the zoological industry, it was a little confusing to have snakes and birds and tarantulas in people’s offices, but it quickly became normal. You get used to it.”

Nagini is an animal ambassador whose primary job is to educate visitors about snakes — like how they look, how they feel and how they behave — but also to educate visitors on the risks of owning exotic animals and not meeting their needs properly.

The snake was someone’s pet before she was surrendered to the facility. The enclosure she was kept in as a pet was too small, so her growth was stunted. She’s 6 feet long, though she normally would have grown between 8 and 9 feet in the wild.

“We let people interact with her and learn about that danger and how it’s really easy to stunt them or let them live unhealthy lives as pets,” Eckstrand said.

Now, Nagini lives in a much bigger enclosure with enough space to stretch out in at least two directions or climb, given that she’s a natural semi-arboreal animal. Eckstrand estimates she is 10 to 12 years old, and that she’ll probably live until she’s 20 to 25 years old.

While Nagini is an example for keeping such wild or exotic animals as pets, Eckstrand said the more common situation in South Dakota is taking home a wild turtle and not giving it the proper enclosure or enrichment.

Other animal ambassadors that are used to educate visitors include another snake, millipede, cockroaches, a tarantula, a skink and a painted turtle.

They all receive enrichment opportunities as well: The tarantula will ride on someone’s shoulder to see new things, and the resident octopus will play with puzzles to test their intelligence.

“They get to interact with new items or environments, stimulate their brains and keep them happy, healthy and in normal behaviors,” Eckstrand said.