Corn Snake

Common Name: Corn Snake

Scientific Name: Elaphe guttata

Range: New Jersey to Key West to New Orleans

Diet: Small lizards, rodents, small birds, bird eggs.

Handling: Corn snakes are very docile and easy to handle. They usually only strike when threatened or prey response is triggered.

Fun Facts: Corn snakes are one of the most popular snakes as pets because of their hardiness and docile nature.

Green Iguana

Common Name: Green Iguana

Scientific Name: Iguana iguana

Range: Southern Brazil to Mexico. Feral populations are found in Florida, Hawaii and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Diet: When young, iguanas will eat insects and plants. Upon adulthood they eat a fairly strict herbivorous diet.

Life Span: 20-35 years in captivity.

Handling: Our iguana at LHS does not like to be held but when left to chill out on a table or a tree limb, he is tame.

Fun Facts: Iguanas are capable of forming emotional attachments, like those formed by dogs and cats, to those who keep them and have often been observed showing signs of seperation anxiety when their owners are not around for long periods of time. This is a big reason why it is recommended that people really think about if they are ready to have iguana before going through with it, since giving up an iguana can cause emotional distress.

Syrian/Teddy Bear Hamsters

Common Name: Syrian Hamster

Variety: "Teddy Bear"

Expected Life Span: 2.5 -3 Years

Temperament: I have found Teddy Bear Hamsters to be very easy to work with and are usually good with kids.

Handling: When I handle hamsters and rodents I like to put them in a container with some bedding, a little house to hide in, and some broccoli. People love seeing the hamsters stuff huge flowerets of broccoli into their cheeks and the hamsters seem to enjoy it too.

Fun Facts: Syrian hamsters have expandable cheek pouches in which they can store up to half their body weight in food.

My Wild Life

Hey all, this is my new blog. I guess its the customary thing to do to introduce myself a little. My name is Madeline and I am a student at UC Berkeley. I'm trying to study something along the lines of wildlife ecology or wildlife policy. I work at the Lawrence Hall of Science where I take care of lots of different species of animals and show them to people. I've recently grown tired of not knowing very much at the species we showcase, so I decided as a way of educating myself, to write about a species we have approximately every other day at the least. I'll probably also write about topics in wildlife ecology, environmental sustainability, Berkeley environs, etc.

Here it goes!