We discussed the condition of polycephaly, when animals are born with two heads, in reptiles. It occurs in approximately 1 out of 100,000 reptiles born. I saw a two-headed turtle for sale at a local reception, and it prompted the discussion.
We discussed facts about our most common local species of rattlesnake, the Eastern Diamondback, which is the world's largest species of rattlesnake. We then did a quiz matching pictures of juvenile snakes to their adult counterparts. Ben did great ID'ing and matching them.
We talked about how and why snakes shed their skins. I had a fresh, intact shed from my pet rat snake, and we looked at it in detail and measured it's length to get an accurate measurement of how my snake has grown. We also discussed an Asian snake species called the Redneck Keelback, which is the only species of snake in the world that is both venomous and poisonous.
Ben told me about his experience catching a wild nonvenomous Southern Black Racer. He was really excited and told me about the snake's behavior and details about its identifying characteristics.
We looked at some photos of different snakes and I quizzed Ben on their identifications. He is getting very good at ID-ing local snake species. We also looked at some different, aberrant color patterns in coral snakes and discussed why the identification rhyme is not 100% reliable.
