The common trinket snake, Coelognathus helena helena, was the first snake I ever touched in my life. This snake was the one to create a strong impact on my mind to conserve and protect these beautiful creatures. Apart from me, it has helped many other people to remove their fear of snakes — which makes […]

Sued by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally developed a recovery plan for endangered tiger salamanders. From IndyBay.org: The recovery plan focuses on alleviating the threat of habitat loss and fragmentation by permanently protecting breeding ponds and their adjacent uplands through acquisition and conservation easements. Because the majority of […]

This black Roughie is monitoring the world in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cynthy07! Be sure to tell cynthy07 you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King Snake No products found. […]

By Herp News Following a major seizure of illegal wildlife goods in North Sumatra, the Indonesian authorities released 94 critically endangered pangolins into the wild last week, including a newborn whose mother died shortly after the authorities caught up with the traffickers. Five tons of pangolin meat were burned in the wake of the bust. […]

By Herp News A team of Chilean scientists discover two new species of iguanid lizards from the Laja Lagoon, Chile. The two new species are believed to have been long confused with other representatives of the elongatus-kriegi lizard complex, before recent morphological and genetic analysis diagnosed them as separate. Go to Source …read more Read […]

By Herp News A study on the impact of forest loss on biodiversity, recently published in the journal Conservation Biology, shows that one-third of the Brazilian Amazon is headed toward or has just passed a threshold of forest cover beyond which species loss accelerates and is more damaging. Go to Source …read more Read more […]

By Herp News Ten thousand years from now, human historians—or alien ones—may view the current wave of biodiversity loss and extinctions as concurrent with the Pleistocene extinction. At that time, peaking around 11,000 years ago, many scientists argue that human hunters killed off the majority of the world’s big species. According to a paper today […]

I am well aware of the new paper regarding the new classification of copperhead genus Agkistrodon, but for the purpose of this post I will regard the southern copperhead as Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix. The southern copperhead is common throughout its range, utilizing a variety of habitats. A good night of road cruising can produce a […]

Get yourself a closer look at the Savu python in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chefdev! Be sure to tell chefdev you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King Snake No […]

By Herp News The search for effective measures to reduce human-elephant conflict is a top priority for wildlife managers and a significant challenge. Ongoing conflict incidents exacerbate anti-wildlife sentiments among rural populations, as conflict events can lead to the deaths of both people and elephants. The continued expansion of development and agriculture into traditional wildlife […]

Once considered to be non-existent in Angola, a new study reveals the country is home to Gabon vipers. From SpyGhana.com: Bitis Gabonica, commonly known as the Gabon viper, is a venomous viper species found in the rainforests and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. It is not only the largest member of the genus bitis, but also […]

Many years ago, I decided (to my own satisfaction) that although most caiman are hatched feisty, the 2 species of the so called dwarf caimans of the genus Paleosuchus are hatched actually evil. We see the smooth-fronted species, Paleosuchus trigonotus, on almost all of our trips to the Peruvian Amazon and no experiences I’ve had […]

The Coelen’s python may be a hybrid, but they are still are so beautiful that they deserve a spot in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user JonathanH! Be sure to tell JonathanH you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them […]

By Herp News The up-coming documentary, Uncharted Amazon, promises to highlight both the little-seen wildlife and the people of the Las Piedras River system in the Peruvian Amazon, one of the most remote wildernesses on the planet. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

So on April 4th we moved from Oklahoma to Missouri taking Teddy and Booger with us. Pokey and Tammy found a new home with a neighbor who loves turtles and have an area in her backyard for them. So now its the adventure of Booger and Teddy and it still seems to be an adventure. […]

Last month I visited Kerala, a south Indian state, with my friend and rescuing partner Axy (Akshay Parhalkar) and our teacher Mr. Iqbal Shaikh (a legend of Indian herpetology and holder of the title “snake man of India” during the 1970s) in search of King Cobra. We weren’t lucky enough to find one, but still […]

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is offering workshops to help people identify and report Burmese pythons, but not everyone agrees that the pythons are a problem. From WUFT News: “This horse has been beat so many times,” said Eugene Bessette, commercial snake breeder and owner of Ophiological Services, a snake farm on Archer […]

This big mama blood python is holding tight to her eggs in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AJ01! Be sure to tell AJ01 you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King […]

By Herp News Five tons of frozen pangolin, 77 kilograms (169 pounds) of pangolin scales, and 96 live pangolins: that’s the grisly haul of the latest pangolin bust in Indonesia. Officials confiscated the illegal wildlife goods in Medan, Sumatra and busted the smuggler, who has only been identified as SHB. This is the largest pangolin […]

By Herp News As it has become more difficult to buy illegal ivory from slaughtered elephants on places like eBay, Etsy, and Amazon.com, traders and buyers in the U.S. have turned to another venue: Craigslist. A new report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) finds that the […]

There’s no question that the pattern and colors of this snake are an effective – a very effective – camouflage. In more than 20 years of tromping through the Peruvian rainforest, we have seen only two speckled forest pitvipers, Bothriopsis taeniatus, and so well did they blend with the background foliage that we almost missed […]

There’s no question that the pattern and colors of this snake are an effective – a very effective – camouflage. In more than 20 years of tromping through the Peruvian rainforest, we have seen only two speckled forest pitvipers, Bothriopsis taeniatus, and so well did they blend with the background foliage that we almost missed […]

After finding a turtle barely alive, two little girls insisted their parents take the turtle to a “turtle doctor,” and a local aquarium offered help. From BizNews.com: The aquarium was overseeing the rehabilitation of baby Loggerhead turtles found washed up along the Cape Coast predominantly in Struisbaai. The family drove the turtle to the aquarium, […]

Check out this gorgeous Moluccan python, Morelia clastolepis, in all its shimmering beauty in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user krantz! Be sure to tell krantz you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more […]

Guys, I have an Indian Tent Turtle. He just refuses to use his basking platform! When the sunlight hits the turtle tank, he just goes and hides in the shade. Should I be worried? …read more Read more here: Turtle Times No products found. Amazon Auto Links

The kukri snake, Oligodon arnesis, isn’t very familar to snake lovers from the African and American continents. If you’re among them, you probably wonder where he got his name. These snakes are called “kukri” because their teeth/fangs look like a Nepali weapon called the kukri. Despite their weaponized name, these snakes are non-venomous. They are […]

Inspired by poison dart frogs, an engineering professor developed a new way to construct airplane wings that keeps them from becoming icy. From CNET: Rykaczewski, an assistant professor of engineering at Arizona State University, was inspired by the bad-ass dart frog to devise a new type of artificial anti-ice “skin” for airplane wings. His research, […]

This Chondro seems to be saying “Give me 5 more minutes” in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AJ01! Be sure to tell AJ01 you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read more here: King […]

India has 17 species of pit viper, mostly found on trees. The hump-nosed pit viper (Hypnale hypnale) is an exception. Hump-nosed pit vipers are found in Goa and some parts of Karnataka, India. Like other pit vipers these snakes have hemotoxic venom, but mildly so. These snakes are not fatal to humans as they are […]

Let’s follow the lead of this Saltie in our herp photo of the day and let it all hang out for the weekend, uploaded by kingsnake.com user croc2005! Be sure to tell croc2005 you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read […]

Everywhere and nowhere best describe where you may find this tropical American lance-headed snake. Certainly the fer-de-lance, Bothrops atrox, is one of the commonly seen venomous taxa on the Project Amazonas Biological Stations and in nearby villages, as well on trails far distant from all activity. Many seen are neonates or juveniles but some are […]

Scientists recently discovered the first vertebrate that can change its skin texture. From National Geographic: On a nighttime walk in 2009, scientist Katherine Krynak spotted a well-camouflaged, marble-size amphibian that was covered in spines. But when she brought it inside, suspecting it was a new species, Krynak found a rather smooth and slimy critter. “I […]

Often called the rubber eel, this Rio Cauca caecilian (Typhlonectes natans) looks quite content in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chrish! Be sure to tell chrish you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more Read […]

Could Australian cane toads be shipped to China for medicinal uses? From the Daily Mail: Their venom could be effective in fighting cancer, researchers have discovered, and the potency of Australian cane toad’s venom is stronger than those in China. This means that potentially millions of toads could be shipped to China, so they could […]

Could Australian cane toads be shipped to China for medicinal uses? From the Daily Mail: Their venom could be effective in fighting cancer, researchers have discovered, and the potency of Australian cane toad’s venom is stronger than those in China. This means that potentially millions of toads could be shipped to China, so they could […]

Anyone involved in herpetoculture has seen one of these, or perhaps hundreds of these at reptiles shows stored in rows and rows of deli cups. They are one of the most popular pet snakes in the world, coming in a variety of color morphs, so many that it’s almost impossible to keep up with all […]

From a tiny range in Texas, the reticulated collared lizard (Crotaphytus reticulatus) seems to be plotting a world-wide reptile take over in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user reptoman! Be sure to tell reptoman you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could […]

By Herp News Although a large, attractive bird found across Latin America, scientists know almost nothing about the rufous-vented ground cuckoo (Neomorphus geoffroyi). Renzo Piana, the director of science and research with the Amazon Conservation Association, described the bird as “rare,” “cryptic,” “mainly solitary,” and “mostly silent”—much of which explains why so little is known […]

Do you live in Michigan? You can help the Department of Natural Resources inventory the state’s herps. From the Detroit Free Press: The state Department of Natural Resources is inviting people who see turtles, frogs, toads, snakes, salamanders and lizards to report the sightings. Project coordinator Lori Sargent says information is needed on all species, […]

Although eastern glass lizards, Ophisaurus ventralis, live in our yard, finding them on demand is a definite problem. I have never been able to do so yet! When it comes right down to it, whether I’m looking for them in my yard or elsewhere, I seldom succeed – at least on the first try. There […]