Frogs, snakes, and orchids

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Mom, close your eyes for the first part of this blog. I will tell you when it is safe to open them again. I visited Herpetarium Adventures right in Saint Elena on Sunday afternoon. I was the only person on the guided tour and learned about snakes, frogs, lizards, and turtles. I can now visually identify if a snake is venomous or not. That is, if I stuck around long enough to look closely at the snake. 

There are many snakes in Costa Rica. The Fer de Lance is probably their most infamous snake since it is so deadly. My guide told me that if a person was bitten by one particular Fer de Lance and administered the antidote immediately, he would have about a 20 percent chance of surviving. Not great odds. The Eyelash Pit Vipers were kind of pretty in a weird snake way. They were different colors and had a variety of markings. They have little extensions above their eyes which is why they have eyelash as part of their name.

They only had two tanks of the poisonous frogs which are the colorful ones. Since they are mostly nocturnal, there wasn’t a lot to look at. I did love the bright colors of the poisonous frogs and was surprised at how small they were. They were very shiny and looked too perfect to be real. However, they were hopping around. I did not take photos of the snakes or frogs as I couldn’t get great pictures of them behind the glass. They also had one enclosure for several varieties of turtles. 

You can open your eyes now, Mom. The snakes are gone. Whew! 

Next I walked to the Jardín Orquídeas (Monteverde Orchid Garden.) The photo to the right is a lady slipper orchid. (This one is for you, dad.) I had a guided tour of an orchid garden right in the middle of Saint Elena. The guide was very knowledgeable and you could tell he was passionate about the orchids. I asked him about his background. He said at first he was extremely interested in insects and then became fascinated by how the orchids tricked the insects in so many different ways. He repeatedly called the orchids “tricksters.” 

Orchids do not have any nectar, yet insects are attracted to them because of their colors and/or scents. As an example, a bee might travel a long distance looking for nectar and discover the orchids. Before tasting any nectar, he will fly home to tell his bee family about his great find. Then, they will all travel back to get the nectar. They will try one flower and find no nectar. Then they will go to the next flower . . . and the next. They will be pollinating the flowers but will not be obtaining any food for themselves. The owners have planted other flowers in the garden that have nectar order to protect and help the bees get energy. Here are a few of the beautiful orchids I saw. The first is a spider orchid as it resembles a spider. The second is the world's smallest orchid which is native to Costa Rica. You can't even see the flowers on this photo, but they are there. I do not recall the names of all the orchids.

 

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