Posting by Caroline Seitz

Jennifer and I had a great time visiting with some old friends and colleagues at the National Zoological Park (NZP) in Washington DC.

First, we went to see the legendary Janis Gerrits, Senior Keeper at the Reptile Discovery Center (RDC).  Janis is a former Reptiles Alive keeper who left us in 2003 to join the NZP team.   The Zoo is very lucky to have Janis – she is a top notch reptile keeper.  She has an amazing ability to know an animal’s needs.

Here she is demonstrating target training with a monitor lizard.

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Why bother training a monitor lizard at a zoo?

Monitors are very intelligent animals that need something to do.  By training an animal at the zoo, it makes their life more comfortable and interesting.  The monitor in this video has become at pro at target training thanks to Janis’s expertise in training reptiles.

Speaking of monitor lizards, we couldn’t visit the zoo without saying hello to Murphy the Komodo Dragon!

What a handsome lizard he is, and big!  I was amazed as how calm he was around Janis.  (You can see Murphy’s head behind the glass of this picture of  Janis.)

Komodo dragon

We were very impressed with what Janis has accomplished at the National Zoo.  The animals were all healthy and their enclosures were super clean and well designed.  The enclosures had real live plants in them and very cool rock work.  The animals all had nice comfy places to hide while allowing the public to still see them.

Iguana eats a yummie lunch

After spending the morning hanging out with Janis and all the awesome animals at the RDC, we headed down to the Bird House to meet up with the renowned former Reptiles Alive Wildlife Educator and Keeper – Reade Harbitter.

Reade at the NZP Bird House

Reade left Reptiles Alive to become a full time Bird Keeper at NZP about 2 years ago.  Although we specialize in reptiles, both me and Jen love birds too.  She introduced us to some of her favorite feathered friends, including a toucan, some rheas, and lots of other exotic and strange birds.

As we were leaving the zoo, a car pulling out of the parking lot started honking.  I looked over and saw my friend and colleague Debbie Grupenhoff!  Debbie and I used to work together at the Reston Animal Park way, way back.  I had not seen her in years and I was so surprised!  Debbie said she is now working at the zoo’s commissary.  That is so cool – a professional chef for the animals!

What a fantastic day we had.  Thank you Janis and Reade for the tours.

The zoo is a great way to get close to nature in the big city.  Tell us about your trip to the zoo!

Posting by Caroline Seitz

I had heard stories of the black flies that live in the north, but I never believed that they could be that bad.  I was wrong.  I am trying unsuccessfully not to scratch as I write this.

Last week I went with my Dad and Kay to Mont Tremblant, a mountain resort area in Quebec, Canada.  It was a fantastic place, full of gorgeous rivers, lakes, and mountains.  We went fishing for trout, hiked on great trails, and ate LOTS of fantastic French food.

The area is full of lakes carved by glaciers that retreated long ago.  The lakes are full of frogs and fish.  I saw green frogs and heard their calls, along with the calls of gray tree frogs, bull frogs, and spring peepers.  I did not see any reptiles, but I was lucky to catch a speckled trout on our fishing expedition.  During our time on the boat, there were no insects to be seen (or felt).

Green Frog in Quebec, Canada

Speckled trout - Quebec

I was on the dock of a very nice restaraunt, petting a cat, when I had my first real taste of what black flies are capable of.  They were swarming all around my face and head.  I brushed them away and figured they were kind of like gnats – annoying, but basically harmless.

I went back inside the restaraunt to place my order for dinner (grilled venison, yum!), and noticed I was bleeding around my chest and neck.  The waitress who spoke mostly French, noticed, and began to explain what black flies can do to a person.  She said they liked to crawl under your clothes and hair where they bite throught your skin ans suck blood.  Their bites will cause bleeding, then later, the bites swell and become very itchy and in some people, very painful.

I excused myself from the dinner table, went to the restroom and shook all my clothes out.  I then noticed that I was bleeding from many, many bites on my face, neck, and back.  It was a bit gross.  After the bleeding stopped, I went back to the table and enjoyed a dinner that was magnifique.

A day later, all of the bites had turned into large red welts that itched like mad! I knew I had to avoid getting any more black fly bites.  I now had respect for them.  These were no gnats!

It turns out, black flies breed in clean, fast running creeks and rivers.  The larvae cannot tolerate pollution or still water.  The larvae and adult flies are a major source of food for trouts, birds, and many other insects and animals.  The adults typically come out around mid-May and stick around until the end of July, but the actual “black fly season” depends on location and weather conditions.

Black flies are a major problem for livestock.  Because black flies like to crawl inside nasal passages, cattle an other livestock are sometimes smothered by the swarming flies.  The flies can also spread disease and cause such stress to animals, that they die.

I had a great time in Canada – and I would love to go back.  But this time, I’ll remember to bring the bug spray!

Posting by Caroline Seitz

Memorial Day was a particularly busy day, herpetologically speaking.  I started the day in my garden with a cup of coffee and a Northern Brown Snake basking on top of some thyme.  I was careful not to disturb the little foot long snake, and he seemed happy to hang out.  I love having brown snakes in the garden since they love to eat slugs and snails.  I also just happen to like snakes in general.

As Rachel was getting ready to drive in to work, she spotted her neighbor about to hurt a Black Rat snake that was in his front yard. Luckily, she was able to save the snake and move it to the woods in the back of his property.  Black Rat snakes help control rodent populations and are not dangerous to humans in any way.

Later, while Rachel was loading animals to go to her show, she heard our next-door neighbor scream!  She asked if he was ok and he said he just saw a snake in his golf bag in the garage and would she please come and get it.  Rachel had to leave so she would be on time for her reptile birthday show, so she came and got me.  I went over to my neighbor’s and found the 4 feet long Black Rat snake hiding behind a shelf in the back of his garage.  I gently picked it up, carried it to the bushes in my front yard and released it.

Whew – but that was not all!

As usual, I saw the Five-lined Skink lizards that live in the my compost area.  These beautful blue, yellow, and brown striped lizards are fantastic insect hunters and are a fabulous addition to any garden.  They are also fun to watch.

The grand finale of the reptile day was in the evening.  We had a Reptiles Alive Memorial Day barbecue with Jen Pennington, Jen Rafter, Rachel and a few other friends and family members.  As Rachel was walking in the garden, she found a young Eastern Box turtle!  We all looked at the turtle and noted how young and healthy it looked before returning it to the garden.

So, to review, in one day in one neighborhood we saw:   One Northern Brown snake, one Black Rat Snake, two Five-lined Skinks, one Eastern Box turtle and Rachel saw one more Black Rat snake in her neighborhood before she came to work.

The staff and friends at Reptiles Alive have a great time hiking in the winter.  While many of the warm weather loving reptiles are hidden away, other wonders of the natural world reveal themselves. Last week, while my brother Will Seitz was visiting from his home in Volcano, HI, we went for a hike down Difficult Run to the Potomac River in Great Falls, VA.

You might not think about it, but poison ivy is still around in winter. Poison ivy is deciduous, so it loses all its leaves in winter – but BEWARE – the bare stems and vines still contain the poisonous oil that can cause itchy rashes in many people. This fuzzy looking vine might look fun to touch, but trust me, don’t do it!

Stay away from Poison Ivy!

Lichen is a combination of plants and fungi living together. You can find lichens growing on rocks and branches throughout the forest. The gray tree frog is a native frog that has camouflage to look like a lichen. The tree frogs are hibernating now, but lichens are out for you to enjoy.

Lichen growing on moss

There are many native plants that produce berries, but there are also certain landscape plants that have escaped and begun to grow in the wild. Some of these exotic plants can out-compete native plants, which can create problems for native wild animals.

Exotic winter berries

We had a GREAT time at GREAT Falls! The winter is an awesome time to get outside and take a hike in the woods.

Caroline and her brother Will overlooking the Potomac

Black lichen doom

Are reptile pets for Christmas a good or bad idea?  For most people, a pet reptile is probably not the greatest idea for a variety of reasons.

Two reasons not to get a pet reptile are:

1.  Reptiles require specialized care that changes with the species being kept.  For instance, green iguanas require huge (4′X4′X6′) enclosures that can be heated to 80-100 degrees F with high humidity, good ventilation, and full spectrum lighting.  Iguanas also need a specialized diet of calcium rich leafy greens and other vegetables fed to them every day.  A red-eared slider turtle will need a 75-150 gallon aquarium with clean water, a dry basking area, and full spectrum lighting.  Many people don’t think of the space and cost of housing a pet reptile until it is too late.

2.  Reptiles will never become a companion like a dog or cat will.  Dogs and cats are part of the family.  They liked to be petted, played  with, and cuddled.  Even the friendliest reptile pet will not ever play with you, go for a walk with you, or want to cuddle with you.  Some reptiles will even become ill with stress if they are interacted with too frequently.  So many reptiles become unwanted simply because they are seen as objects that require time and money as opposed to loved members of the family.

More great information to consider before getting ANY pet at Christmas, or any other time, can be found at Orlando Sentinel – Pets as presents: Think long-term

So what to do if your child loves reptiles?

You have many options for budding herpetologists on your Christmas list.  There are some very cool reptile toys out there that I would have LOVED to get at Christmas.  Remote control cobras, anatomically correct rubber reptiles, plush and wooden reptiles and more can be found at many zoo gift stores, nature specialty stores, and science related stores.   Books featuring cold blooded critters are also a huge hit with reptile loving children.

Other exciting gift ideas include:

• Zoo “adopt and animal” programs.  These programs offer people the chance to sponsor a zoo animal.  Most programs will send you pictures, updates, and natural history information about the animal you “adopted.”  You can also take your child to the zoo (always fun!) to visit his or her animal.

• Nature journals are a great way to encourage children already excited about reptiles to learn more.  Buy a special blank notebook/journal and help your child get started.  You can learn a lot more about keeping a nature journal at  Keeping a Nature Journal – Environmental Education – Sierra Club,
  or check out our earlier post How To Keep a Nature Journal.
  

• Give you child “coupons” for reptile-related family field trips.   Trips to the zoo, nature center, museum, aquarium or park where you can search for reptiles and amphibians in the wild can all be part of the coupon book.  Remember to take pictures of animals you see, but not to touch or bother wild animals. You can then add these experiences and pictures into your nature journal.

• Subscriptions to reptile magazines and journals or a membership in a nature or reptile related club or society is a great gift for young herpetologists.  Most states and some local jurisdictions have herpetological societies that anyone can join.

• A gift of a live reptile show performed for your child at a holiday party is a great way to give your child the opportunity to safely interact with live reptiles.  Most areas have at least one professional traveling animal show company, and if you are in the DC area, you should, of course, hire Reptiles Alive!

Merry Christmasssssssss and have a sssssssuper New Year!