Reptiles

We are looking at snakes and other reptiles this week. Reptiles include snakes, lizards, crocodiles and turtles. We will take this opportunity to teach the children about some common venomous snakes in our area, and what venomous means. There are coral, copperhead, cottonmouth and rattlesnakes in our area of Texas. We will talk about how snakes are to be observed, not disturbed! We will make a paper coral snake and rattlesnake to help familiarize the children with the color patterns of these snakes. They will be fun to play with too!

Some interesting reptile facts are they are cold-blooded, have a bony skeleton, scaly skin, and most lay eggs which hatch on land. The longest living reptile recorded is a tortoise which lived 152 years! Tortoises live on land versus turtles which live in and near the water. Their shells are actually a part of their skeleton and cannot be separated. Our local ponds are home to many red-eared slider turtles which do have feet with claws, whereas sea turtles have fin-like feet and live only in the ocean. Frogs are not reptiles; they do not have scales and they lay their eggs in the water.
We will have a native green anole lizard in our tank for the children to observe. It has the ability to change skin color from green to brown and our tank will have brown sticks and green fern so the children might have a chance to see this in action.  This native lizard eats crickets, moths and grub worms, and it plays an important part in your backyard environment.

This is the time of year where you may start seeing more snakes as they come out to sun themselves on the warm cement. They are not friendly, but they are our friends in that they keep down the rodent population, one of their favorite meals. For our snack this week, we will use licorice strings and cereal to make a fruit-loop patterned "snake" to eat.

Books: Miles and Miles of Reptiles by Tish Rabe, various science reptile books