Allegheny County Park Rangers present Mr. McSlithers, Eastern Rat Snake

Mr. McSlithers is coming to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Allegheny branch on Tuesday, October 20, from 3:30 to 4:30 PM. He's an Eastern black rat snake, and he's one of the animal ambassadors who works with the Allegheny County Park Rangers. They've billed him as the city's most famous traveling reptile, and this is one of the stops on his tour.

The session is aimed at kids in grades K through 5. The whole point is to get them up close with a real snake and talk about what makes his species tick. You'll hear about the Eastern black rat snake's habitat—where it lives and what that environment is like—and its diet, so the kids walk away knowing what it eats and how it survives in the wild. It's a chance to see a reptile like this in person rather than just in a book or on a screen.

Mr. McSlithers is part of the animal ambassador program run by the Allegheny County Park Rangers, who bring these animals into the community to teach people about local wildlife. As an ambassador, he's used for educational demos just like this one, and the rangers handle the presentation. The session runs from 3:30 to 4:30 PM on Tuesday, October 20, at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Allegheny branch, and it's free.