Hello Again from Viktor and Winston

Greeting 4th Graders!

Here is my good friend Winston. He is a Russian Tortoise, and is about the size of your hand. He likes to eat fruits and vegetables like lettuce, carrots, fruit salad paste, and bananas. Carrots are a rare treat for Winston; they are like candy for you kids on Halloween, and make him very energetic. 

Something important to remember is that reptiles can be herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores, that is  they can eat vegetables, meat, or both. Winston is primarily a herbivore, I on the other hand, am a carnivore.

These are pictures of me being fed a rat by my friend Chris. I know some of you might have rat friends as pets, but everyone of us needs to eat, and meat is the only thing I can eat. As you can see, I am being fed in another container (other than what I live in) a dead rat. Being fed in another place than the one I live in is so I do not associate my living place with predatory, aggressive behavior. 

Chris and Deb choose to feed me dead rats so that I don't have to kill them myself. The last time I tried to eat a live rat, it bit me in the head, and I started bleeding. Killing my food could also make me more aggressive and hard to handle. I don't want that.

When I eat, I don't chew my food like you do, I eat my food whole by disconnecting my jaws and swallowing it all in one big bite. I do this because I do not have big flat teeth in the back of my jaw like you do to mash the food up, my teeth are only used to latch on to my food.

You should not try to eat food like this yourself.

Mmmm... that rat was yummy! Now I don't have to eat for another 3 weeks or so.

I'll let you know how much I've grown after the next time I shed my skin.

See you next time,

Your friend,

-Viktor

Hello Mrs. Beck's 4th Grade Class!

Hello 4th Graders!

My name is Viktor, I am a common Red-tailed Boa constrictor. I am just over a year old, and 48 inches (4ft) long, almost as long as some of you are tall! But when I am as old as you are, I might be 10 feet long, can you believe it?

Because I am a snake, and do not have digits (fingers and toes), and using my tail to type is worse than hunt and pecking, my keeper and good friend Chris Beck will be typing my messages to you as I dictate them to him. Please forgive him, Chris can get a little wordy. 

In this blog, (a blog is a web diary) I will be telling you about my friend Winston the tortoise and myself, as well as sharing pictures of us and our adventures. 

I have to go for now, but Mrs. Beck will let you know when I've updated the blog with a new letter for you and photos of us having fun.

Have a good day, and keep learning about cool things,

Your friend,

Viktor.