Eastern Glass Lizard or Legless Lizard

Ophisaurus ventralis

Show Name: “Ophisaurus”

Hissstory: Zoo Transfer.

eastern glass lizard

Zoo Diet: Ophisaurus munches on crickets, roaches, earthworms, and superworms.

Natural Diet: Glass lizards enjoy insects, larvae, spiders, arthropods, small snakes and lizards. They especially love grasshoppers.

Size: Legless Lizards can grow 24 – 36 inches long.

Range: Southeastern United States as far north as southeastern Virginia.

Habitat: Legless lizards like to hide in sandy soil in pine forests and hard wood pine mix forests.

Lifespan: These small lizards can live over 10 years.

Reproduction: A female will lay 8-17 eggs from June to August. She will coil around the eggs, but not protect them. They will take two months to hatch.

Conservation: Virginia classified the Eastern Glass Lizard as an “Endangered Species.” They are only found in one small part of Virginia and require special protection.

Cool Facts: The Eastern Glass Lizard is a lizard – not a snake! This lizard has no legs, but does have eyelids and ears that snakes do not have. This lizard also has the ability to detach its long tail in case of attack. The tail will re-generate as long as the lizard finds food and stays healthy.

September is a busy month in the office at Reptiles Alive.  After a super busy summer filled with performing shows at summer camps, fairs, libraries and more, we are ready for the change that fall brings.  Summer is very intense – there are many days where all of us start work at 7 am and don’t finish until 10 pm.

In September, the number of shows we do becomes much more reasonable.  Fall festivals and birthday parties still fill our weekends, and scout meetings eat up our nights, but the weekday school programs are just getting started, so we have time during the day to catch up on all the office work we couldn’t get to during the summer.

As soon as the school year starts, our phone starts ringing and our email inbox fills with requests for school assemblies, classroom visits, and after school classes.  Since we work as animal keepers in addition to working in the office, there are many times that the phone starts ringing right when we are opening the door to a large python or getting ready to feed an alligator – YIKES.  There are even times when we answer the phone and take an animal with us, so while we are talking to you, we might have a snake in our other hand.

Most people only think about the shows they see us perform, but a lot of work goes on “behind the scenes” to get ready for your show.  And don’t worry – we will be sure that none of the animals eat the paperwork for your booking.

American Alligator

Alligator mississpiensis

Show Name: We currently have two alligators: “Dean Martin” and “B.A. or Bad Attitude”

Hissstory: We received Dean Martin in June of 2003.  He was a wedding “gift” that did not work out!  Dean’s original owner had purchased a baby gator for his new bride and she decided a pet alligator was not what she was looking for.  Not only do alligators bite – they are against the law to own as pets.

B.A. came to live at Reptiles Alive in August of 2004.  He was also an illegal pet that became unwanted.

Zoo Diet: Our young alligators eat roaches, crickets, fish, and their favorite: dead, defrosted rodents.  Yum-O!

Natural Diet: Alligators are opportunistic feeders; they will eat almost any animal that is nearby including fish, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles.  Alligators are one of the only animals with jaws strong enough to crush a turtle shell – so they love to eat turtles.

Range: American Alligators live in the south-eastern United States from eastern North Caroline south through Florida and west to eastern Texas.

Habitat: Almost any place there is freshwater in the south, you could find a gator.  They live in lakes, rivers, ponds, ditches, golf course water hazards, and sometimes, they try to move in to back yard swimming pools!

Size: Female alligators can grow 8-9 feet while males grow to an average 10-12 feet.

Lifespan: Can live 40+ years.

Reproduction: Female alligators build a nest out of grass and leaves that measures four feet high by about six feet in diameter.  As the vegetation decomposes, the nest heats up – like a compost pile.  The mama gator then lays up to around 60 eggs.  Unlike other reptiles, mother alligators guard their nest against attacking predators like foxes, raccoons, or even humans.  When the eggs hatch, the baby alligators cry for their mom to come and get them.  The mama gator carries her little babies inside her toothy jaws carefully to the water and will continue to protect them for up to a year.

Conservation: Success story! Populations of alligators were once nearly hunted to extinction for food and leather goods. They were even used as a food source during the Civil War. It is now illegal to hunt, harass, collect, or even feed wild alligators.   All ‘gator products found today are from captive farmed populations. Just like cows!

Cool Facts: Alligators have the most powerful jaws in the animal kingdom. Their jaws have a crushing power in excess of 3,000 pounds per square inch! Alligators cannot chew, however, so when they eat large prey, they “death roll” in the water to break food up into swallowable portions.

Alligators do not naturally attack humans – they are ususally afraid of us. Sometimes, people illegally feed alligators which can cause the gatro to lose their fear of humans and look to them for food.  Feeding wild animals can create a dangerous situation for humans, that is why it is against the law.

Prehensile Tail Skink, Solomon Island Skink, or Monkey Tail Skink

Corucia zebrata

Show Name: “Mortimer”

Hissstory: Mortimer belonged to a former Reptiles Alive animal keeper who left for another job and left Morty here  in May 2002.

Zoo Diet: Greens, vegetables, and fruit.

Natural Diet: New leaves, epiphytes, blossoms, and fruit.

Range: Solomon Islands near Papua New Guinea and Australia.

Habitat: The canopy of old-growth tropical rainforest.

Size: Prehensile tailed skinks are one of the largest skink species in the world!  They can grow 18-24 inches long, most of which is tail.

Lifespan: Prehensile tailed skinks can live over 25 years.

Reproduction: Unlike most lizards, prehensile tailed skinks bear live young and even care for their babies!  They become very protective of the one or two large baby skinks for about a year after giving birth.

Conservation: Prehensile tailed skinks are sometimes eaten by indigenous people, but their biggest problems are the pet trade and habitat destruction.  They are now listed as CITES Appendix II and are  no longer legally imported for the pet trade.

Cool Facts: Prehensile tailed skinks are nocturnal – they come out at night and sleep in the day.  Because of their funny faces and nightime habits, they are sometimes referred to as “Island Gnomes” or ghosts, by the people who live in the Solomon Islands.

Learn about creature camouflage and color an animal to match its surroundings.

Grades: Prek-3

Description

Many animals use camouflage in order to blend in to their surroundings.  The animals can hide from predators (animals that want to eat them) and hide from prey (animals they want to eat for dinner!)

Many animals are the same color as their surroundings. If an animal lives in the desert, it might be a brown color that matches the color of the sand.  Animals that live in trees may be green or brown to match with the bark of the trees or the leaves on them.

Can you think of some animals that can blend in really well?  A good example is a box turtle.  They have a dark shell with an orange pattern on it.  This helps the box turtle hide in the leaves that had fallen from trees in the fall. Show students pictures of animals blending in with their surroundings and talk about them.

Materials

Chameleon picture – one for each student
Photos of habitats – one for each student

Activity

Give each student a habitat picture and chameleon coloring page.

Instruct the students to color the chameleon so that it will blend in with the habitat picture they have.  (You may want to help younger children identify and choose crayon colors to match those in the habitat picture.)

After the students have finished coloring the chameleons.

Cut out the chameleon and glue or tape it to the habitat picture.

Hang up on the wall for everyone to admire!

This is a great lesson to teach students about their senses and how valuable they are in their observations.

The Blind Naturalist

Grade Levels: K-5

Discussion:

Naturalists use all their senses to explore the world. This activity encourages students to describe objects using their sense of touch.

Discuss how a scientist may use their different senses to learn things about the natural world with the class.

For example many ornithologists, bird researchers, study bird songs to learn more about the animals. Botanists use their sense of smell to learn more about plants. Ask students for more examples.

Materials:

cardboard boxes with hand sized hole cut in one side
various natural objects that are interesting to touch
(snake shed, pine cone, skull, feathers, fur, large seed pods, turtle shell are a few examples)

Activity:

Place a different object in each one of the boxes. Make sure the boxes are closed and the hole is located on the side of the box. Sometimes it is a good idea to tape a piece of paper on the top of the box to discourage students from looking into the box through the hole cut in the side. Write a number on each of the boxes so the students may reference them on their paper.

Each student takes turns touching the objects in the boxes. No talking, peeking, or showing each other what they have written!

They then write down a description of each object. Was it rough, smooth, hard, soft, big, small, bumpy? Encourage the children to be as detailed as possible. Have the children guess what is in each of the boxes. To add time to the activity, ask each student to try and draw what is in the boxes by feel alone.

Closure:

Have a class discussion about their experiences. Have the students share descriptions of the objects. What did they learn about each object by touching it?

Reveal each of the objects. Were any of the students correct? How did seeing the object compare to how it felt? What would the benefits be for a scientist to use all his senses when learning about something?

Spotted Salamander

Ambystoma maculatum

Reptiles Alive Name:”Spot”

Hissstory: Spot was donated to us by a nature center.

RA Diet: Spot eats earthworms, crickets, and mealworms.

Natural Diet: Adults eat worms, slugs, millipedes, termites, and other insects.  Larvae (tadpoles) eat aquatic insects including mosquito larva.

Range: Spotted salamanders are found in the eastern United States west to Texas and north to Canada.

Habitat: Spotted salamanders live in hardwood forests where vernal pools form each year.

Size: They can grow to 4-7.75 inches, record length is 9.75 inches.

Lifespan: Spotted salamanders can live to 20 years.

Reproduction: Spotted salamanders emerge from hibernation in late winter and early spring.  They sometimes have to walk across snow to reach the vernal pools they breed in.   After mating in the water, the female salamanders lay egg masses of  consisting of around 100 eggs.  The eggs hatch depending on the temperature in the water.  Transformation (metamorphosis) takes places in 2 to 4 months.

Conservation: Acid rain can damage developing eggs, causing some populations to decline in certain areas.  Many salamanders are killed each year as they migrate over roadways in search of the vernal pools they were born in.  Spotted salamander populations in heavily urbanized areas have been mostly wiped out due to the destruction of the vernal pools they rely on for reproduction.

Cool Facts: Salamanders are an indicator species.  Amphibians need a clean and healthy habitat in order to survive.  Amphibians breathe through their skin, so toxins and pollution can easily kill them.  When salamanders disappear, it means something is wrong with the habitat they live in!   Salamanders can help scientists determine if an ecosystem is healthy or unhealthy.

We had a great Question from Sujan at our After School Class last week.

“What is the name of the lizard we met in class?”

Well Sujan, the Sudan Plated Lizard has TWO names!

The lizard we met is named Gerrhosaurus major, or “Gary” for short.  Why such a long name?



All animals, rocks, plants, even types of clouds are given a special name called their “scientific name.”  This helps scientists put things in groups with things that are all alike.

For example:

Tree frogs that have sticky feet may be put in one group while frogs that have webbed feet and live in the water are put into another group.

They are grouped by the type of feet they have.

You can have fun doing an experiment in your own house!

Think of different ways you can group things in your house.  Some ideas may be.  Arranging things by color, size, or what it’s made of.

Choose a way to group things, then write down the different categories of groups.

Say you chose to group things by color.  Your categories will be different colors; red, blue, green, yellow..etc.

Then walk around your house and put objects in your house in its correct category.  (Yellow things go in the “Yellow” category.)  Write it down.

For extra fun, do this experiment with other people in your house.  Have them choose a different way to group things.  Compare your lists at the end!

You will find things that may be hard to put in one group.  (maybe it’s blue & yellow)  You can only put it in one, that means you have to decide!

It is lots of fun to be a scientist that classifies things!  They are called Taxonomists.