Garden club member presents program on ‘back yard friends’
Rices Landing Town & Country Garden Club member Susan Swala presented a program on “Reptiles and Amphibians – Our Back Yard Friends,” at the club’s January meeting.
The presentation included samples of turtle shells, snake skins and a discussion of physical characteristics, food choices and lifecycle.
Many educational facts were learned:
•Amphibians – Meaning “two worlds” (land and water). They includes frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, hellbenders, and mudpuppies. They are cold-blooded and lay eggs in water, eat insects, worms, grubs, mosquitoes, slugs, centipedes and spiders. None are poisonous or toxic.
•Reptiles – These include snakes, lizards and turtles and are cold blooded. Dinosaurs were reptiles and snakes and lizards are carnivorous, eating insects, bugs, moths, small mammals such as mice, voles, and chipmunks, plus other reptiles and amphibians.
All are dry, not slimy and only one poisonous snake is indigeneous to Greene County – the copperhead.
There are 38 varieties of reptiles and 38 varieties of amphibians in Pennsylvania. Swala has had a lifelong interest in reptiles and amphibians and encourages habitation on her 14 acres in Jefferson.