From the scaly feel of slithering snakes to watching turtles wade around in small tanks, Longwood students got to interact with a variety of reptiles and amphibians on October 17th, 2019.
Ty Smith, also known as "The Snakeman," presented a slideshow, first defining the distinctions between reptiles and amphibians. He then went into detail about reptiles and amphibians that are both common and uncommon in Virginia.
Some of the more recognizable creatures include the Eastern Fence Lizards, Eastern Ratsnakes, and Eastern Boxturtles, since these are all creatures that natives to Prince Edward county may recognize because they're usually seen crawling through people’s houses or crossing the road.
Green Frogs are also common and grow up to three or four inches, compared to eight inches that mice-eating American Bullfrogs can grow to.
Smith also gave details about the different diets of some of the reptiles. For instance, Copperheads should be fed insects like cicadas.
One interesting fact told at the event involved how Cottonmouth Snakes are named as such because their venom has the ability to turn human blood into a gelatin-like consistency. Smith further stated that this type of snake is defensive, tending to have their mouths open a lot.
Another little-known fact revolved around Common Muskturtles, because they have odor glands to defend themselves, which is reminiscent of skunks.
Smith further commented about the reptiles that represented Virginia at one point or another. Ironically, the Red Salamander is the state salamander but not that common to find.
The Eastern Gartersnake used to be the state reptile when a five-year old boy wrote a letter asking for the creature to be the reptile of Virginia.
There were creatures mentioned that are common in other places in Virginia like Southern Leopard Frogs which are common in Virginia Beach.
Smith notes that despite popular belief, turtles are messy animals. He elaborated that many families who keep them as pets tell him how they want to keep a pet turtle at first due to their cuteness, but they end up giving the creatures away when they grow up due to the extensive care required to maintain them.
When asked about transporting the animals to Longwood, Smith said, “There were four animals total. It wasn’t bad; they weren’t too much of a hassle except for the turtle. I knew that one would need to be handled carefully.”
The Ridiard Slider Turtle that Smith brought was only three and a half inches long, and has only grown half an inch since he’s had the animals.
Every student had a chance to learn something about Virginian wildlife that they may not have known before.
William Kish, President of the Wild Life Club, mentioned, “I didn’t necessarily know the salamander. I usually do stuff with spiders. I also didn’t know some of the identifiable features of snakes, so I rely on Ty for all my identifications.”
With such a big variety of animals to learn about, students admired their favorites out of the live creatures available at the event.
Kish also commented, “I really like the Three-Lined Salamander because I had never seen one before, and it’s a really cool gold and black color.”
Towards the end, Smith gave a pop quiz by having students in attendance guess different types of turtles and frogs just by looking at pictures.
After the presentation, the first creature he pulled out was a rescue female Cornsnake which is similar to other snakes in Southside Virginia. This was the creature that several students wanted to hold, and no one seemed to have any hint of fear on their faces when they allowed the snake to crawl on their arms.
When asked how he started working with wildlife, Smith stated, “I’ve kind of been interested since when I was young. I always liked snakes, working with them, but there wasn’t like a defining moment when I said I wanted to work with reptiles.”
Ty Smith holds one of the two turtles he brought to the talk. He explains how turtle's scales can come off easily and how he must change the water in their tank weekly.
