A Snake Comes To First Grade

By Walter Murphy, Grade 5

When I heard that my little sister’s first grade class was going to have a real live snake come in for science, I knew I had to cover the story. When she said they were going to feed the snake a live mouse I got out my pad and asked when and where. This special event took place Monday the 20 at 8:40 am in room 108, Mrs Attanasio’s first grade classroom.

Bryan Walsh brought in his Ball Python to show the class. He also brought in a mouse to feed the snake. Mrs Attanasio’s class has been studying snakes since the beginning of the year. Its name is Camo because of its camouflage. Camo is about 20 inches long and only five months old! She will grow to about five feet. She kills her prey by constricting it or suffocating it. Camo’s skin is smooth and dry. Her cage needs to be kept 80 to 90 degrees and is kept that temperature by a lamp that Bryan keeps on all day.

When Bryan fed Camo the live mouse he said it would take ten minutes for her to eat the mouse. The mouse ran around the cage and Camo stayed so still that the mouse did not know she was there until Camo struck. She bit the mouse on the bottom jaw and then choked it. She swallowed its head first and that was it. The class was fascinated. I was too!

Walter Murphy is a fifth grade student at Hawley School.