Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 19, 2007

REPULSE BAY - A trio of scaly reptiles have been adopted by students at Tusarvik school in Repulse Bay.

Monty the python and a pair of corn snakes were brought back to Repulse by teacher Greg Buie at the end of summer vacation.

Tusarvik teacher Greg Buie introduces a corn snake to a group of elementary students in Repulse Bay earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Leonie Aissaoui

The students have since named the corn snakes Snowball and Rusty.

Buie said while he's always been interested in reptiles, this is the first time he's been a snake owner.

He decided to bring the snakes back to Repulse so they could be part of the year's curriculum.

"We've planned the year around the snakes and given it a reptilian theme," said Buie.

"We're doing stories on snakes for literacy, they'll be cool at Halloween, and we're even using them for mathematics classes and problem solving."

The students record the times when the snakes eat and shed.

They also weigh them to monitor how quickly they grow throughout the year using charts and graphs.

"The corn snakes eat on a dime and they'll grow to about five feet and weigh between three to five pounds.

"Monty will grow to six feet and weigh about 20 or 30 pounds."

Buie said the students are very excited to have the snakes as part of their class.

In fact, he said, they've grown to be part of the Grade 5 family.

"I'm constantly bringing up new experiments with the snakes to keep the students interested in them.

"While the kids have become used to having the snakes around, they still get super excited when they take them out to play with them.

"We're doing our best to keep their interest in the snakes from fading."

Buie said Monty recently ate for the first time since arriving in Repulse.

"He said Monty's breed tends not to eat under stressful situations, and he finally had a meal on Sept. 7.

"The kids were extremely excited about that development and are looking forward to watching him eat on a regular basis.

"The snakes eat mice, so we brought up a bunch of frozen ones that we thaw out at feeding time and the snakes warm them a bit before eating.

"I make the mouse jiggle a little bit for Monty.

"He strikes when I dangle the mouse in front of his little den, and that's a thrill for the kids because the action is so quick."