For over a year, my daughter has been trying to catch a lizard.  This past Sunday she succeeded in catching an eastern fence lizard.

 

 

Our spontaneous science unit for this week is reptiles and cold blooded animals.  Part of me wished that this could have happened when we were studying desert habitats later in the year...wouldn't that have been perfect timing!  But this was a learning opportunity we couldn't pass up.  How much success would we have TRYING to find a lizard (in November,  no less!).

 

I never was a critter person, and if you had told me seven years ago that I'd allow lizards and other creepy crawlies into our "homeschool", I would have said, "No way!  If they want to see creatures, we'll visit the pet store or the petting room at the local science museum."

 

But, as our homeschooling style has evolved into an ecclectic/Charlotte Mason method,  I understand... What better way to internalize the concept of cold blooded than by setting up ultra violet and infrared heat lamps over a reptile habiat and reading the thermometer in the habitat several times a day!

 

 

We have several rules for catching and keeping wildlife:

    1.  We can only keep the animal for 3 days.  Please check your state's wildlife laws for

        rules and regulations regarding the capture and maintenance of wildlife.

    2.  Expenses to set up and maintain the animal cannot exceed $10.

    3.  The child who catches the animal must be willing to maintain the proper food supply for

         the animal. 

   4.  We must research the animal and make sure we are providing the right environment

        during its brief visit in our care.

 

Our first step was to make sure the lizard was warm.  Over the last three years, we have accumulated just about everything needed to catch small critters.  So, we placed her in the large aquarium with some sand and a heat lamp, while we gathered information.

 

Next, we researched the Internet.  We also visited a large pet store with a wide variety of repitle supplies and read instructions and advice on some of the products.