Sternberg Museum of Natural History — Attraction in Hays

Hi, so the experience itself was fine. I really liked the aquatic fossils and the gift shop was set up with a great worker. As said the experience was fine, but what i can’t stop thinking about it the way they treat their animals. I’ve seen no one else talk about this, but what about the tortoises in the first bit? They have nothing, I’m aware that turtles don’t need extensive care and are fairly easy to take care of. But the fact that these animals didn’t have any access to basic needs like bedding and water, my friends couldn’t see any either, and their food is some hay they just pushed against the barrier for who knows how long, bothers me greatly. Other examples is their bearded dragon just before the stairs his name is see-soo, he gets the worst in my opinion, while the tortoises get virtually nothing and are practically just shoved in a corner, this guy gets a doll’s tea house and a small plastic container of water in the back. Now as a artist myself, I love it so much when people get creative with their animal’s enclosures, but these lack a fundamental understanding; these enclosures are a livings thing home, for most likely their entire lives and they should have some basic respect and not leave the dead remains of their predecessors in with them and the shells being taken care of better.

Although I understand doing what you can with whatever money you may have; if you decide to bring in live animals, those take precedence over anything, you take up that responsibility you take care of...

This review is for the "planning" part of Sternberg. I scheduled a baby shower, and a week before the date they let me know they over booked the exhibit room and I would be in a classroom. The classroom was more expensive to rent, but would give it to me for the same price as the exhibit room $75. She was very apologetic for her mistake and sent me photos of the classroom, she let me know they would move tables in for me and be accommodating as possible. I couldn't change the placement of the shower because my invites had already been sent out a month in advance. I wasn't happy with the room so she told me she would move the price to $50. The day of the shower I went into the classroom and it was hot, the windows were open with no screens (we had little ones there). I complained about the heat and how I just wasn't happy about the room. I wanted the exhibit room because it was nice and very welcoming for all of our out of town guests. I understand people make mistakes and things get overbooked. But I teach and if I wanted a classroom I would have made the arrangements at my own school and used our own classroom. I felt the price was to expensive for their mistake and the heat...

We had such a great experience overall. The museum is super clean and easy to navigate. They have a variety of things on display from mineral and fossils to live animals and interactive activities. We throughly enjoyed the dinosaurs on display now and my daughter had a great time in the discovery center.

I work with reptiles professionally, venomous snakes specifically, and was thrilled to see an exhibit a about rattlesnakes. I enjoyed the spread of North American species on display. Lots of nice information was available on the boards to read. The enclosures of the rattlesnakes (and other herps throughout the museum) are smaller for some species than I'd prefer but I understand that space is limited and all of the enclosures were clean with various textures, hiding, climbing, and visually appealing decor so it appears that they want to do as well for the animals as they can. A couple of rattlesnakes and the boa were quite overweight though so I'd love to see them again a little bit slimmed down. Regardless, I would absolutely...