Enquiry about courses related to Exotic Animals/Tarantulas

[HitokiriSessha]

Hi

Just as a general enquiry, does anyone know of any

a/. full-time courses

b/. any other training courses

involving exotic animals and/or tarantulas or other inverterbrates?
I would really love to have a career in the future that revolved around exotic animals, not so much the fluffier, common domestics (cats and dogs), but I'm not sure what my first step should be and how to start towards this eventual goal.
I live in West London so wouldn't be looking for anything too far (say, out of London for example)

If anyone could be of any assistance or provide advice/knows of such courses that would be suitable as a first step towards such a future career, I would appreciate it greatly if you could respond to this post

Any replies greatly appreciated

HitokiriSessha

[Adam Smith]

There are a few animal science courses at uni level, they are far and few between but are there and deal with all aspects of exotic animals. If there arent any courses in uni's in London try looking up for online courses. If you live in London why not try one of the zoos working as an apprentice for herpetologist/entomologist in the reptile houses. Or finally last but definitely not least there is the BTS tarantula sexing practitioneer course that you can do which will help you with a career in this field. I hope to have a career with exotic pets myself.

[Mike Conabeer]

One general Herpetology course which you could look into is run by Proteus Reptile Trust, they are based in the West Midlands, but run the foundation course as a coorespondence course, try looking them up on the net at www.proteus.uk.net it is a general course with no arachnid cover unfortunately, but seems quite good on other areas.

Hope this helps,

Mike