Did you know ???

[Reptile Gem]

1. Exceeding lengths of 30 feet, the world's longest snake, the Reticulated Python, can stretch himself taller than a three-story-house!

2. The world's heaviest snake, the Green Anaconda from South America, can weigh up to 500 pounds! She does not lay eggs like her python relatives, and may give birth to 100 live babies at a time!

3. American Alligators were an endangered species a couple decades ago. But thanks to aggressive conservation programs, the southeastern United States is now home to more than three million Alligators!


4. A turtle's protective shell will save him from most predators, but not all of them. An alligator's jaws are so powerful that it can bite through a turtle's shell as easy as you and I bite through an oreo cookie.....and we're both looking forward to the creamy middle!

5. Have you ever met a talking alligator? Although most reptiles take a vow of silence, alligator hatchlings cry for mommy with a high pitched chirp, and dominant male alligators roar like a lion to keep other males off their turf.

6. Most reptile eggs are deserted long before they hatch, but not alligator eggs. Alligator hatchlings are welcomed into the world by their mommy. She may be cold-blooded, but she's a warm-hearted monster. She helps crack open tough egg shells and her mouth becomes a hatchling-taxi. Once she collects a mouthful of babies, she takes them for a swim, and she'll stay by their side for several months.

7. The rainforest island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia, has something unusual in the air -- FLYING ANIMALS -- and we're just talking about bats and birds. Borneo is home to some of the world's only flying lizards, snakes, and frogs! Flying frogs, leaping lizards, and sailing serpents all flatten their bodies and glide from tree to tree while catching air on large folds of skin that serve as wings.

8. The King Cobra is the only snake that builds her nest like a bird. She collects leaves and sticks and nesting materials by looping her tail around them and dragging them back to the nesting site. Although she's a good mom by snake standards, she abandons the nest just before the eggs hatch. Losing their mom is probably good news for the baby cobras, however, because King Cobras will eat smaller snakes!

9. The King Cobra is the largest venomous snake in the world, growing nearly twenty feet long, and weighing up to 20 pounds! Not only is it the longest and heaviest venomous snake, herpetologists recognize the King Cobra as the most intelligent serpent as well. Studies show that King Cobras have a great memory and are known to hold a grudge....so the next time you run into one, make sure to be polite!

10. The Hognose Snake, a Pennsylvania native, has a stubby nose like a pig. If you happen to run into one, get ready for a good show. Hognose snakes roll over on their back, open up their mouths, and let their tounges fall out while they play dead!


11. The inland Australian Bearded Dragon holds an advanced degree in the field of communications. They talk to their friends by bobbing their heads and waving at each other. When they really want to show off, they can make their spikey beards change colors!

12. Unlike most lizards, Geckos are born without eyelids. To keep their eyes from drying out, geckos lick their eye balls with their long tounge. Think you could do that? Give it a try!

13. Most reptiles shed their old skin several times each year, and leave them behind. But you'll never find a gecko's old skin, because they eat it before it ever falls off, in order to retain the nurtients! How's that for an afterschool snack?

14. Some squirells will chew on shed rattlesnake skins in order to benefit from having the scent of a dangerous predator. Chew on that for a while!

15. The island of Madagascar is home to hundreds of different frog species, but it does not have a single salamander or toad living there!

16. The Eastern Box Turtle, a Pennsylvania native, does not get his name from living in a box in your bedroom. In fact, Box Turtles are a protected species in PA, so it's illegal to remove one from the wild. The name Box Turtle refers to the fact that they can open and close their shell at will, just like opening and closing the flaps on a box.

17. Pennsylvania's longest snake species, the Black Rat Snake, really lives up to his name at the dinner table. A single rat snake will impact THOUSANDS of rodents each and every year!

18. King Snakes are known as reptile royalty because they eat other snakes. Although a couple drops of rattlesnake venom could put you or me on life support, a king snake thinks of rattlesnake venom sortuv life we think of barbeque sauce. God made kingsnakes immune to a rattlesnake's bite, and they are glad to eat a rattler for breakfast!

19. Have you ever heard that you can guess a rattlesnake's age by looking at his rattle? It's a myth. A rattlesnake gets a new button for his rattle every time he sheds his skin, which will happen several times a year. Snake rattles are brittle, and may break off over the course of a snake's life. So if you want to guess a rattlesnake's age, the rattle won't be much help. Try counting the candles on his birthday cake, intstead.

20. The eastern Milk Snake, a Pennsylvania native, does not drink milk, and they sure don't give milk. But we didn't always know that. The name Milk Snake came from farmers who thought the snakes were biting their cows and sucking out all the milk, which today we know is impossible. More than likely, the snakes were just hanging around the barn to feed on rodents.

21. Boas, Pythons, Andacondas, and many other snake families are Constrictors. Constrictors are a group of snakes that catch their food by wrapping around it and squeezing! Aren't you glad you don't have to hug your hamburger before you eat it? .....Share this fact with a friend, and give them a squeeze, too!

22. Many snakes have heat sensors on their head, so they can track down their prey like heat-seeking missiles. In Pennsylvania, rattlesnakes and copperheads, our state's venomous species, have heat pits that help them strike their warm-blooded meals!

23. Geckos are able to walk on the sides of walls and windows because God covered their feet with sticky pads made up of millions of hairlike hooks. Scientists at MIT have recently created surgical bandages based on the sticky pads of geckos!

24. A chameleon can move their big, bulgy eyes indepently of one another, while only focusing one at a time. When they locate a bug, they shoot out their long, stickey tounges, which may be longer than the rest of their bodies! Imagine how many lollypops you would eat if your tounge was taller than you are?

25. To escape a predator in the trees, a green iguana may leap into the river several stories below, where she can hold her breath for a half hour!