Snakes Alive!
Today Mom and I went to see a very interesting program at our local library - Snakes Alive! We saw this presentation twice many years ago at the library in Williamsburg, and so when I saw that it would be here, I definitely wanted to go again. :)
It was quite an ordeal just to get into the room where it was being held--there were so many kids, it was a far too small room, the air conditioning was broken, and the herpetologist, Ron Cromer, had trouble getting his large snake cage in the elevator.
Once everybody was squeezed as tightly together as possible, he started his talk. He explained the five catagories of markings: stripes, solid, bands, rings, and spots. There was a slide show of snakes with different markings...one of which was the copperhead. One of two poisonous snakes in this area, it has hourglass shaped brown bands. He explained how identifying snakes by the shape of the head is hard, as many NON-poisonous snakes bluff having a diamond shaped head by flattening it out on the ground. Baby black snakes are often mistaken for copperheads, but if you study the markings, they have spots instead of the bands.
Then Mr. Cromer started to take out several kinds of his snakes from the bins you can see behind him. He asked for volunteers to hold a couple, and of course all the kids raised their hands. One little boy held a hognosed snake called "Bacon Bits." There were several of those, all named things like "Miss Piggy." :) Another girl held a large gopher snake that wrapped around her neck.
In the top picture, Mr. Cromer is holding a black snake, which is the largest snake in this area. Another demonstration was of feeding a large iguana; Tarzan was his name. He came up out of his cage, and all the kids were screaming. He got a piece of sweet potato from a little boy who wasn't scared up until that big lizard actually started coming close to him!
Next came the fun part - Mr. Cromer called for adult volunteers to come forward, and he would give them snakes to take around to all the kids. I went up...I actually can't remember what type of snake I got, only that it comes from Texas. Her name was Gracie, and she seemed pretty strong for a small snake - especially when she wrapped herself all the way around my wrist. This part was quite fun, helping the kids hold it and rub it. Since it was so hot in the room, the snakes were only able to be held for a little while before getting too "tired." We were informed to bring back any snakes that became wiggly - mine did. :)
The grand finale was taking out a very LARGE Burmese python and standing in a line holding it for everybody to see. I got to help with that too - but Mom just took pictures. Penelope the python was 35 years old, 15 feet long, and weighed almost 200 pounds! Very neat to hold part of it. I can remember seeing all the adults do that when I was little, and now I've gotten to! I even got a sticker to prove it...it says "Snakes Alive Python Holder." :)
All in all, an informative, enjoyable afternoon.
~Sarah










Recent Comments