Meet the Critters of the Education Center
Do you want to start gettting to know all the critters who make our Savannas Preserve State Park Education Center their home? Below, the critters have provided their stories so you can start to understand just what makes them so special. But, if you really want to get to know these fascinating creatures, come to the Education Center and meet them for yourselves. See you soon!
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Leroy & OlgaHello, we are Leroy and Olga, the Florida box turtles of the Ed Center. We love it here! We are in our nice habitat of dry grass, with a dish of water to cool off in. All box turtles, including us, have highly-domed top shells and hinged lower shells that act like door hinges to let our little head and legs in and out. We can totally withdraw ourselves in our shells for protection, unlike our aquatic cousins. Our diets consist mainly of healthy foods such as fruits, flowers, mushrooms, worms and insects for protein! We love when the volunteers at the Ed Center bring us out to our turtle habitat. A wonderful Boy Scout created the space so that we could have more 'outside time.'
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CorneliusHi guys, I’m Cornelius. I live here at the Ed Center with my mate Amelia. I too love to eat some mice, they’re my favorite. I came to the center, like Amelia, because I was almost going to be killed in an air conditioning unit when a kind human rescued me and gave me this special place to live. Now, you can come see me almost anytime you want!
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AmeliaHello, my name is Amelia, and I’m a red rat snake. The colors on my scaly smooth skin are red, orange, and black, the same colors consist on copperhead snakes, so don’t confuse me! Speaking of my scales, my belly has a checkerboard pattern that resembles Indian corn, giving me my other common name - corn snake. My favorite thing to eat is a lot of little white mice, but I also can eat rats and birds. With all this big eating I still just like to lay out, but I can be a strong climber when there are trees around. I obviously live here at the Ed Center but all of my relatives are from the middle of New Mexico and Colorado to the east coast. Over the summer, I personally laid 16 eggs and my audience from the Beginner Summer Camp got to watch. I could tell they were excited. Out of my 16 babies, only one remains at the Ed Center. Her name is Lola. She lives separately from my mate Cornelius and me.
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LolaI’m Lola, and my parents, Amelia and Cornelius, and I all live here at the Ed Center. I was born last August along with all 15 of my brothers and sisters but they all got released. I think that I was the lucky one that gets to see lots of people on a daily basis. Like my parents, I too love eating mice but since I’m still tiny I eat little pinky mice; I can’t wait to get big like my parents. I love when people hold me so I can just wrap all around their hands and keep warm.
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StretchYo guys, I’m Stretch the striped mud turtle! I am an aquatic turtle that loooooves basking in the sun. Well, I guess it is a heat lamp, but seeing as how life is pretty good in the tank that I live in, I will pretend it’s the sun. In case you were wondering, I’m the smaller of the two striped mud turtles at the Savannas and I personally think I have got the most personality. I got my name because I like to spend so much time on the floating rock all stretched out. Nothing like a good stretch to keep you moving throughout the day! Can’t wait to see you at the Ed Center! Feel free to feed me some reptile veggie tablets or mosquito fish for my omnivorous self!
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HarveyHarvey is my name and I’m a yellow rat snake. I personally am yellow, but I know others who are anywhere from orange to an olive green color. I’m not much different from Amelia and her family but I can say I am a little bigger. I am over six feet long and Amelia is just about five feet. Other yellow rat snakes live throughout most of Florida and along the Atlantic coast; we are actually one of the most common snakes here in Florida. Come see for yourself that I am the largest snake at the Savannas Education Center!
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BerthaWaiting on her story....
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LumpyWaiting on his story....
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WoodyHi ya’ll, I’m Woody, a Florida pine snake. Similar to my comfy bachelor pad at the Ed center, other pine snakes live in dry, sandy, pine-oak woodlands and pine flatwoods. I love eating rodents and some of my relatives’ favorite foods are pocket gophers. I am active during the day, always trying to get out of my terrarium, especially when I’m hungry!Sometimes when I get disturbed I let out a light hiss, but not to worry I’m not venomous, merely voicing my opinion. Actually, my relatives and I get confused with rattlesnakes because we look alike and we both shake our tails but we do not actually have a rattle. Generally though, I am a nice guy so come on over and see me!
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