This will be the 2nd time one of the dogs has assisted in educating the kids Yesterday morning, my lab/great dane mix cornered a snake in the yard. After determining it was probably harmless, we captured him & looked him up online to see what we had. Eastern Hognose Fascinating little critter -- & very entertaining. It's first line of defense, of course, is to try an escape... but if that doesn't work, it coils up and "bluffs" you -- strikes w/o every making any real contact. Between 'strikes' it puffs it's body up to 3 times it's size/girth & flattens out... hissing & breathing heavily. Really neat to watch & sounds like some deranged obscene phone caller! LOL Then, when all else fails, it's time to play dead. Flips over on his back... mouth agape... tongue hanging out. Hilarious! Reminded me of those fainting goats. All trying to get away and puffing at me... but tap the side of the bucket and *BLAM*... "dead". Anyways, I highly recommend if you ever come across one, try & capture it for a few minutes -- great little lesson. Although they come in several colors & patterns, they're easy to identify: Have a flattened upturned nose.
ACCK! Your braver than me! NOOOOO snakes for homeschooling, actually NO snakes for any reason. I went as far as the Iguana, but NO WAY would I do snakes!
Coo OOOOOOllll!!!! how awesome is that! All we ever found were the green racerbacks or whatever they were called.
How cool, i just know my boys would enjoy that one. Seeming as how the can happily follow a trail of ant for at least an hour!
A few summers ago, my dh killed 2 rattle snakes within about a months time. I wish I still had the picture of him holding it up beside my dd! The look on her face was priceless! We have so many yard cats right now that we rarely see any snakes nowadays.
Oh that is soo cool! In Norway you hardly ever see any snakes. And there is only one poisonous kind. I have seen a few rattlers though, when I have been in the US. Once I even saw a rare green rattler, sunning himself right outside the shower house at a campground. I like reptiles! JenniferR, do cats really kill snakes?!?
That's very cool! I don't think I've ever seen one of those "in real life" before. If you are into pets and can deal with the idea of snakes, I really recommend them as a very cool pet that gives lots of educational opportunities. My son LOVES snakes and I like them myself. We got him a corn snake from a pet store about 2 1/2 years ago and "Quincy" is a pretty low-maintenance pet. Things we've talked about and looked up as they were happening: the fact that they can unlock their jaws and eat something much larger than their own head; shedding their skins, not eating for months during the winter (and turning out fine!); how their muscles work to make them move and climb; no eyelids!; "smelling" with their tonges...the list goes on and on. And as a bonus, captivity-born snakes don't have to be fed live critters (although the frozen rats in my freezer have started a few conversations). Julie (zoo-master to 2 dogs, a snake, a hamster, a ferret, and one 10 year old boy)
Several years ago my boys wanted a pet snake. I am terrified of snakes but let them have an Iguana instead. That thing was bad enough. It would head bob me every time I went to feed it, and hiss at me. When it was time to clean the cage it would claw me till my arms looked like hamburger and wack me with its tail. I agreed to the Iguana because it only eats veggies, no bugs or rats or any of that stuff but really it was an awful amount of work and not a very friendly pet at all. Cleaning up after it was a bear and there was always the worry of salmonella from its poo. It also grew ALOT in a very short amount of time. We had to give it away when we moved cross country and it was about 4 foot long if you counted the tail (it had a very long tail). Every since then I have sworn off reptiles for pets. They may be for some people but not for me. I think I will stick with my kittys and Pekingese.
I love the pictures!!! We collect spiders around here. I would love to keep a snake but Handsome can't stand them.:lol:
