Reptile & Amphibian Forums

GLENCOE NEWS (Glenview, Illinois) 09 March 06 Snakes and turtles alive (Robert Elfinger)
Rob Carmichael walked into West School recently, carrying various slimy and sometimes toothy reptiles, including a 15-foot, bright orange and yellow python.
After a couple of initial gasps, the fourth-graders calmed down to listen to Carmichael's tale of reptiles and habitat conservation.
Carmichael, the curator and founder of the Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm in Lake Forest, recently visited fourth-graders at the Glencoe school for a special program.
"We're building houses and roads in their territory," said Carmichael, clutching an eastern indigo snake. "It's called fragmentation. But we're trying to save them by breeding them in captivity."
The Lake Forest center has bred more than 200 indigo snakes, which have been released into the wild. This shiny, bluish-black snake with cream coloring around the chin and sides of the head, grows to a maximum length of about 8 feet.
It's docile and non-poisonous, Carmichael told the students.
One student asked why wildlife experts keep snakes in pillow cases. Carmichael explained that snakes hide in caves and feel at home inside the pillow cases because it's dark.
Grabbing an alligator snapping turtle out of its plastic container, Carmichael warned students not to reach with their hands.
"This animal will take off a finger," he said.
Once taken out of the container, the turtle remained stiff with its mouth wide open and neck scrunched in, ready to snap.
This turtle species is endangered Illinois and was harpooned by a man in Illinois who was looking for dinner, Carmichael said. The turtle lost its left eye and sustained a broken jaw and skull. An Illinois Department of Natural Resources employee saw the incident and rescued the turtle.
Carmichael also brought out a baby alligator that elicited sighs of delight from the youngsters.
The alligator is an American conservation success story, he told the children.
"We were down to about 50 alligators in the 1970s when the government came in and saved them from hunters," he said.
Carmichael solicited the help of three boys and three girls who volunteered for the grand finale -- a 15-foot, 150-pound, orange-and-yellow Burmese python. The youngsters helped hold up the snake for their classmates to see. Tali Gleiser, 9, said she couldn't wait to run home and tell her mother, "I saw a Burmese python today."

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/gl/03-09-06-849074.html