Reptile Camp staff is carefully selected to provide your children with the best care and experience possible. All of our camp staff have experience working in a camp setting with children of all ages and have had hands on animal training.
All camp staff has successfully completed their First Aid and C.P.R. training, have a police clearance form and have attended the staff-training seminar prior to the start of the camp season. All camp staff was also required to complete a pre-requisite portfolio prior to completion of the hiring process this year. This portfolio included 10 crafts, 10 games, 10 activities, 5 research papers on specific zoo animals and 5 papers on reptile animals. This process ensures that our staff is ready to accomplish anything this summer throws at them!
Our summer camp runs at a ratio of 4:1 at the maximum. We feel that to provide the best overall camp experience for each and every child we need to have an excellent camper to staff ratio! You can feel confident, and secure that Reptile Adventure Camp Staff is one of the best camp staff assembled, year after year!
Steve Featherstone, aka “Savannah Steve”, graduated Mohawk College’s Recreation and Leisure Services Program in June 2000, and Sir Sanford Fleming’s Parks and Recreation Program in June 2002. He has worked for numerous camps in the Hamilton area since high school including S.T.A.R. of Hamilton Wentworth, Camp Kidaca, City of Hamilton Summer Camp, March Break Camps, and most recently, Hatts Off Specialized Services.
During his time of study at these courses, and work at these camps, he developed the skills needed to run a program of this caliber. Steve is always looking for the best possible experience for each and every child. The program is designed to be a week filled with valuable animal experiences and understandings. It is his goal that the children will develop a life-long respect for all living creatures through this program.
His love for wildlife and children show through in his reptile educational shows that he has been performing since 2001. Prior to working at The Reptile Store in Hamilton, he was a staff member at Jungle Cat World Wildlife Park (JCWWP) in Orono, Ontario. It was at JCWWP that he developed his love and understanding of all species of animals, not just the animals that were his first interest, predatory cats! His favorite animal to this day is still the Puma concolor, the cougar.
Steve Featherstone is certified in First Aid and C.P.R. both standard as well as instructor’s level. He has numerous other certificates involved in the recreation field including O.R.C.A. (Canoeing level one), 3M National Coaches Certification Program, High Five Training, W.H.M.I.S. Training, People Savers, People Savers Instructors Course, Super Host, Project Wild, National Interpretive Guide Training and U.M.A.B.. Steve Featherstone travels to St. Augustine Florida each year as a guest instructor in the American Zoos and Aquariums personal development course titled “Crocodilian Biology and Captive Management”.
Steve has also traveled extensively. He has found a second home in Central America. His favorite eco-tourism country is Costa Rica, but has traveled throughout Belize, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Costa Rica is held so highly on his travel plans that he and his long-time girlfriend Holly were married there on April 7th, 2007! Steve can teach children about his lifetime experiences in other countries and share about their animals, cultures and beliefs. “You can learn more in a week in a Central American rain-forest or Jungle then you can in a month in a library”.
Steve’s professional highlights include his large charitable event called Steel City Safari. Steve and his friends ran the event for 5 years and helped donate over $72,000 to the CHML Children’s Fund.
Steve was a Manager in a retail pet store in the Hamilton area where most of these programs developed until March of 2013 when he opened a franchise zoo with Little Rays Reptile Zoo in Hamilton. In November of 2016 Steve and his family moved to Bonfield, Ontario where they purchased a large land with the goal of starting a residential camp program.
When Steve is not working at the zoo, or camp he is usually found participating in hobbies including photography, kayaking, hiking, jiu-jitsu, baseball, volleyball and camping. Steve and his wife Holly continue to be foster parents to teenager’s in their home full-time.
Hey, my name is Brayden! I started keeping reptiles when I was six years old, and haven’t even come close to slowing down, as my love for reptiles and all animals has done nothing but grow. I started my professional career with wildlife volunteering at 13, and have since worked with exotic pet stores, specialty reptile breeders, been a zookeeper at multiple facilities, including achieving the rank of head keeper where I had the amazing opportunity to work with animals such as primates and big cats, a falconer training hawks and other birds of prey, have started my own company and in the past a camp counselor for Reptile Camp, here to make my return! I look forward to learning SO much more with camp and I am so excited to see everybody there! I can’t wait for a WILD summer!
Hello, my name is Kristen, and I am so excited to be working at Reptile Camp! I am currently studying Biology at Nipissing University, working towards a career in marine reptile and mammal conservation ecology. I have always had an affinity for wildlife and advocating for animal and habitat protection. I have spent most of my life learning about marine animals, so I did not have an abundance of knowledge on terrestrial and freshwater reptiles before joining Reptile Camp. Over the last few months, I have had the opportunity to work with many different species one-on-one, and I have learned so many interesting facts and witnessed tons of unique behaviours. I look forward to educating others on what I have learned and hopefully inspiring future generations to love and protect our planet and the extraordinary wildlife with whom we share it.
