The excitement just doesn't seem to stop around here! Zadan found a hatchling Brown snake (also known as a DeKay brown snake) inside the school today by the nest and Quinn captured it unhurt with the help of Ms. Jane. The excited crowd came running upstairs, gathering more people in their wake to present the tiny snake to the science department. We identified it as a baby brown snake. These are not very big snakes and grow from about 23 cm to 58 cm. They eat slugs, snails and worms, and will also eat grubs. They typically live under the leaf litter. Snakes are ectothermic, which means that they rely on their surroundings to control their body temperature. As the temperatures outside get cooler, you can imagine that the nice warm school would be a good place to warm up. The only problem is that they can get stepped on - one of the many reasons why baby brown snakes do not survive to adulthood. We'll see if we can get it to eat while it stays with us, but we won't keep it. Great find!!
MaggieThis is a blog for my science students at Eagle School of Madison Archives
October 2017
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