Our Friend "Stripes"

     We had a wonderful time watching our friend "Stripes" over the past month.  Our friendly garter snake was full of surprises each day for the children to observe.  They really loved watching all the different ways he could contort his body!  We watched stripes daily as our observing tank sat at our table for the children to watch during meals and activities.  Throughout the day, children would always come to the tank for a peek to check in on our friend.  It was really exciting watching Stripes hunt for fish and gobble them down!  What really amazed us though was when he molted one night leaving us a perfect specimen to look at as he grew out of his old skin.  How cool!  Before we released our friend back into the wild, we let the children explore Stripes.  Many of the children held our friend and shrieked with excitement as he slithered all around!  We all waved goodbye to Stripes as he slithered through the woods to find a new home!