Another busy day in the Florida Keys! Hal, Marianna and I spent the morning at our local Tropical Forest & Botanical Gardens at a Snake Fest. Marianna had this to report afterwards.

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A few days ago we went to our local Botanical Garden for a seminar on reptiles. Mostly little kids came. So we talked about how you can tell a reptile from an amphibian. After that they brought out a Ball Python. So that caught my attention. I love snakes. Yes especially the Pythons. So they let them touch the snake and put them on their shoulders. Then the kids started drifting out. Some of the kids went out on an Iguana hunt.



I was happy to stay in my seat with a snake in my lap. I had 'No Feet'. The other snakes name was Ashly. I was sitting kind of slumped in my chair when 'No Feet' found that my back and the chair's back kind of made a cave. Well, it felt kind of weird to feel a snake go back and forth across your back to make a little ball. If snakes snored this one would. She was pretty tired looking. One of the volunteers said that they had not had so much excitement around them in a long time. So I too would curl up and take a nap after that!

If we had room I would get one. They say that they make great pets because they don't grow like some snakes do and don't require much food. One guy had one that did not eat for a year. Of course that is not healthy for them to do that.



I found out some information about them.
Ball Pythons, (Python regius) also called Royal Pythons, are a ground dwelling, constrictor (They posses no venom.) The snake is native to the savannahs and rain forests of western and central Africa.

These Pythons get their name ''Ball'' from the snakes habit to curl up into a ball with their head hidden in the center when they are stressed or frightened.

The Ball Python is typically light brown-green or black in color, with a tan-yellow underbelly. However, Ball Pythons come in many morphs, which are genetic mutations that alter the colors and patterns of the scales. Adults range in length from 1 to over 2 meters (3 to 6 feet), with the common female reaching 1 to 1.5 m (3 to 5 feet) and the average male, 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 feet). A mature female will commonly grow larger than the male.


Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Pythonidae
Genus: Python
Species: Python regius

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Locally pythons, Burmese not Ball, made the news again. I may have mentioned previously that the Florida Keys has two endangered rodents, the Cottonmouse and the Woodrat. In North Key Largo on April 17 researchers tracking a Woodrat's radio signal found instead a 7 1/2 ft long python with the collar securely tucked inside it's belly along with the remains of the endangered Woodrat.

Aaah!
(you can decide if that is a sigh of contentment or a scream of horror!)
Just another day in the Florida Keys!!!