Ben Dessen
Thankfully Ben and his friends lived to tell the tale and had an amazing story after their surprising encounter !
When Ben finished university , he got a job at the Australian Reptile Park as a keeper . Part of his job was to educate visitors to the park at the regular shows they have on different reptiles .
At one show he told me about an
Rosie the python was Ben ’ s first reptile pet . unfortunate experience with one of the animals .
“ While I was working at the reptile park , I was doing a talk about our Galapagos tortoise in front of a large crowd of people . The little microphone was usually hands free but it had broken so I had to hold it with my hand and I was feeding the tortoise a carrot .
“ The tortoise had finished the carrot and bit my thumb instead , he could have sliced my finger off without a second thought , but I managed to get my thumb out and blood was going everywhere . I explained to the crowd that ’ s part of the job , but I had to call the show short to fix myself up .”
From the reptile park , Ben went to Kellyville Pets , where he had been working on and off since he was at high school .
“ I ’ ve worked at Kellyville Pets for 15 years , through school and uni . I ’ m now there full time as the Manager of the Reptile Department and we have got one of the biggest collections of reptiles in the world .”
As well as managing the department , Ben used to regularly hold training sessions in the pet shop to teach people how to care for their precious pets correctly , as reptiles need specific care to help them thrive .
COVID stopped this side of his work so Ben and the team at Kellyville Pets came up with a new way to reach their customers , a new venture called Petopia ® - an online animal masterclass . The classes are currently for bearded dragons , pythons , turtles and frogs and
“ I ’ ve worked at Kellyville Pets for 15 years , through school and uni . I ’ m now there full time as the Manager of the Reptile Department and we have got one of the biggest collections of reptiles in the world .”
are all under $ 40 , so are a very affordable introduction to caring for your pet . They are also very entertaining .
“ Petopia ® was born out of COVID and I ’ m really proud of the classes . I ’ ve been running educations courses for over 15 years . We ran training courses in store where we did an intensive in person session . With COVID we couldn ’ t physically have people in store or in the training room and we were originally going to do a zoom , but we thought we could do something so much better .
“ We realised there was nothing online to educate people who want to keep various pets and so created the masterclass to fill the gap . They are a good combination of entertainment and education . We are proud to make them in house with our own team .
“ They are available online through the website , so we can now reach beyond the Hills District and local area .”
Ben ’ s enthusiasm for animals doesn ’ t stop at his day job , he volunteers his time to help out at the Zambi Native Wildlife Sanctuary in Dural , where he is the Sanctuary Manager . The sanctuary rescues , rehabilitates and releases native species such as reptiles , possums and kangaroos .
He is also a volunteer at Sydney Wildlife Rescue and is on call 24 / 7 to relocate reptiles , including venomous snakes .
If you are interested in having a reptile as a pet , head to Kellyville Pets where I ’ m sure Ben and his team would be more than happy to help you choose the right one for your family . To find out more about Petopia ® go to the Kellyville Pet ’ s website at www . kellyvillepets . com . au and click on the reptile masterclass link to find out more .
THE HILLS INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 77 // NOVEMBER 2021 7