By Herp News Snakes are impressive predators. They have ) and cat-eyed watersnake (Gerarda prevostiana), for example, tear apart crabs into smaller bite-sized pieces before eating them. But blindsnakes and crab-eating snakes are not close relatives. They are in fact far apart on the evolutionary tree. How did they then develop similar behavior? According to […]

By Herp News In response to growing concerns about elephant poaching, President Obama today announced a new push to limit the ivory trade in the United States. In a joint press conference held with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a new regulation that “bans the sale […]

By Herp News In response to growing concerns about elephant poaching, President Obama today announced a new push to limit the ivory trade in the United States. In a joint press conference held with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a new regulation that “bans the sale […]

Clean, simple and classic. What other way could we describe this Anery Boa in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pythonas ! Be sure to tell pythonas 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 […]

Follow the lead of these Water Dragons in our herp photo of the day and spend hump day with someone you love, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cochran ! Be sure to tell cochran you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read […]

I’m sure a person who is very passionate about breeding reptiles would consider crossbreed reptiles as a major part of his passion, and even a reptile lover is always fond of seeing some crossbreeds. In India, luckily you can find a crossbreed snake known as The Whitaker’s Boa, Eryx whitakeri, named after the renowned herpetologist […]

Zoo Atlanta is set to release nine threatened Eastern indigo snakes in Alabama woodlands where they once ranged. From the Atlanta Business Journal: “A collaborative effort by Zoo Atlanta, the Central Florida Zoo’s Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation and Auburn University will result in the latest release of this iconic reptile in Conecuh National Forest […]

You go to the campground and the frogs will be at the pond. Of course, the fact that the campground and pond were a couple of thousand miles west of home in Colorado complicated the search for a while. But then on a late summer day I decided to make the drive and search for […]

First a rattlesnake took a bite out of Todd Fassler. Then the bill for the antivenin that saved his life took another. From the Washington Post: The bulk of his hospital bill — $83,000 of it — is due to pharmacy charges. Specifically, charges for the antivenin used to treat the bite. KGTV reports that […]

A keen eye will pick up this well camouflaged Garter in the field, but thankfully we make the job easy for you in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user snakekate ! Be sure to tell snakekate you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and […]

By Herp News A new collaborative study examined predator-prey interactions between tiger sharks and sea turtles off the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean. The research team used long-term satellite tagging data from large tiger sharks and adult female loggerhead sea turtles, common prey of tiger sharks, to examine their movement patterns and evaluate if turtles modify their […]

By Herp News Up until recently there was a single known species in the only vertebrate family endemic to West Africa, the torrent tooth-frog. Based on morphological and molecular results, however, four new species are now described. Unfortunately, they might all be at a risk of extinction. Their habitat needs and small distribution range call […]

The fossil record tells us an ancient snake had four feet — but he wasn’t using them to run any marathons. From Mashable: The roughly 120 million-year-old snake, dubbed Tetrapodophis amplectus (literally, four-legged snake), likely didn’t use its feet for walking. Instead, the appendages may have helped Tetrapodophis hold onto a partner while mating, or […]

When a snake lover imagines seeing a cat snake, he or she probably expects to see a thin snake on a tree with beautiful color pattern and vertical eye pupils. That was my expectation when my friend Riyaz Khoja called me up and said, “Sachin, I have rescued a Forsten’s cat snake! Come to my […]

This Ambilobe Panther Chameleon is all fired up in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user vinniem1210! Be sure to tell vinniem1210 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 […]

The last surviving female turtle of her species has laid only infertile eggs. From Scientific American: Two months ago the world’s conservationists crossed their collective fingers and waited to find out if a 100-year-old female Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei), the last of her gender, would—after artificial insemination—finally lay fertile eggs and save her […]

What a beautiful shot to end our week! But really it is hard to not see beauty when you look at the Asian Vine Snake (Ahaetulla prasina) our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 13lackcat! Be sure to tell 13lackcat you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at […]

By Herp News An “absolutely exquisite” fossil of a snake that had four legs has been discovered by a team of scientists and may help show how snakes made the transition from lizards to serpents. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

More Florida sea turtle adventures, this time with a guy who loved them so much he brought them home. Too bad that’s totally against the law. From Tech Times: Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission visited the home of William Henry Jowett after receiving a tip that he was keeping two of […]

Kansas is a state about which I know very little. I have driven across it a couple of times on my way home from Colorado and I’ve driven to it another couple of times to look up some exotic lizards. But I had never visited the state to witness the great snake emergence from hibernation […]

This is an attractively marked Eastern Box Turtle is named Louie and the owner says he is 9 years old! Louie the Box Turtle is our spotlight in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user terrapene! Be sure to tell terrapene you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos […]

A good veterinarian needs the skills of a super sleuth…in the category of Sherlock Holmes or Poirot….given that most of their patients don’t speak. The super sleuth veterinarian must draw on excellent skills of observation and deductive reasoning to figure out what is wrong with their patient. Owners need the same super observation and deductive […]

The beautiful pygmy frog, Microhyla pulchra, is a one-of-a-kind amphibian. But its uniqueness, known as crypsis, is making conservation efforts challenging. From io9.com: Crypsis is an entity’s ability to avoid detection. It can be a predator’s ability to avoid being spotted by prey, or prey’s ability to avoid being spotted by predators, or, in this […]

I have been giving lectures and conducting workshops on reptile management and awareness for some time. I’ve never written about them until now because, to be frank, I never found anything special to be shared. That changed with my last workshop, however, and I would love to share it. My soccer coach, Mr. Savio Dsouza, […]

Snakes and Cats living together, it will be anarchy! Wait what? Nah it is just a nice shot of a Cat Snake (Boiga cyanea) in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ptahtoo! Be sure to tell ptahtoo you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and […]

Apprently the friend of your enemy is your enemy, when it comes to sea turtles — at least in Florida, where a Vietnam veteran was allegedly shot with his own gun by someone who took exception to his efforts to protect a sea turtle nest. From Local10.com: A Vietnam veteran was shot while trying to […]

This past winter, as a cold front came barreling through, I decided to make certain that all of the tortoises were snug in their heated winter houses. I quickly scanned the pens and saw only a few desert box turtles, Terrapene ornata luteola still out. Although I probably needn’t have worried about them I quickly […]

No longer just black and white, these snakes show some of the variety in color that the Black Headed Pythons have in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Tom_Keogan! Be sure to tell Tom Keogan you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you […]

No longer just black and white, these snakes show some of the variety in color that the Black Headed Pythons have in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Tom_Keogan! Be sure to tell Tom you liked it here! Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could […]

By Herp News The Bush Administration is expected to publish rules that relax protections for endangered species ahead of tomorrow’s deadline in order for them to take effect immediately, reports the Associated Press. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

By Herp News Caspian Seal populations have declined 90% in the past 100 years, prompting the IUCN to switch their designation from Vulnerable to Endangered. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

By Herp News Dr. Laurie Marker, founder and Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), has been awarded $50,000 by the Tech Museum of Innovation for her organization’s Bushblok program which uses a high-pressure extrusion process to convert invasive, habitat-destroying bush into a clean-burning fuel log. Bushblok provides an alternative to products such as […]

By Herp News A new study has found that colugos or flying lemurs are twice as diverse as previously believed. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

By Herp News Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of primate on a remote island in Indonesia. Conducting a survey of Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park on the island of Sulawesi, a team led by Sharon Gursky-Doyen of Texas A&M University captured three pygmy tarsiers, a tiny species of primate that was […]

By Herp News Frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians are disappearing at an alarming rate. Of approximately 6,000 amphibian species in the world, about one third are classified as threatened or endangered. A disease caused by a chytrid fungus has devastated frogs living in mid to high elevation streams worldwide. Amphibians also face habitat destruction […]

By Herp News With its characteristic horn, the endangered rhino rat snake has been bred in a European zoo for the first time. Go to Source …read more Read more here: herpetofauna.com No products found. Amazon Auto Links

By Herp News Scientists have yet to conclusively explain the underlying cause of global declines in amphibian populations, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research says that two leading theories for the demise of amphibians — both related to the emergence and spread of the […]

By Herp News South Korea’s Daewoo has signed a 99-year lease for half of Madagascar’s arable land, reports the Financial Times. The agreement covers 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) — an area half the size of Belgium. Daewoo says it plans to plant corn on 1 million hectares in the arid western part of […]

By Herp News Researching one of the world’s most endangered penguins in New Zealand, the yellow-eyed penguin, has led to a remarkable discovery. DNA from 500-year-old penguin fossils has shown that the country was once home to not just one penguin species, but two. The DNA has resurrected an unknown extinct penguin, which researchers have […]

Reading the subject line on this post, most of my American friends might think I’m writing about the beautiful red, yellow, and black coral snake. Sorry, my dear friends; this is an Indian coral snake, and also a very beautiful one. The slender coral snake, calliophis melanurus, is a species of coral snake found in […]