A few weeks ago, a group of us set out on a journey to a particular lake in North Florida in hopes of being able to see an extremely unusual looking salamander.

A close friend had invited us along because he knew the area well and knew that we had a good chance of seeing one in that area. It was dark by the time we arrived at the location, which was perfect, and it didn’t take long to spot the first of many of our target species, the greater siren!

The greater siren, Siren lacertina, is a large aquatic salamander that can reach lengths of over three feet long and in many ways looks more like an eel than an actual salamander. However, sirens have two front limbs with tiny fingers and large feathery gills.

Sirens are nocturnal and typically spend the day hidden among aquatic vegetation, under rocks or simply buried the mud. Greater sirens feed on a wide variety of aquatic invertebrates, including insect larvae , crayfish and worms.

We eventually saw so many greater sirens that we lost count, but it was amazing to see them all. We also saw a common snapping turtle, a lone amphiuma that kept playing hide and seek with us by sliding under a rock every time we approached, and a fairly attractive banded water snake as well.

It was a great herping experience and a trip that we will soon make again!

I do want to give a shout out to a close friend of ours that does not like to be named, and thank him for guiding us around at his personal spot. …read more
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A North Carolina aquarium is training people to help with FrogWatch USA.

From Star News Online:

FrogWatch USA, a citizen science program, is now recruiting trained volunteers to collect data about the calls of local frogs and toads at local wetlands sites now through August and submit the data online.

“Amphibians are important species to keep an eye on because they are very sensitive to changes in their environment,” said Andy Gould, aquarium outreach coordinator. “If we see them in our area, it means that our habitats are healthy and thriving. If we notice their absence, we may want to look further into potential causes.”

No scientific background is required to volunteer, and those who want to participate will receive a free, four-hour training session that includes hands-on demonstrations and other educational activities to help them get acquainted with the native amphibian species they might encounter in Southeastern North Carolina.

Read more here. …read more
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In a surprising move this morning USFWS Director Dan Ashe has announced that the federal government will seek an immediate ban on the importation, interstate transport, and possession, of the Mediterranean House Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, an invasive species that has taken over in many states in the Southern U.S.

“Thousands of these geckos have been released over the years by pet owners into the everglades, and climate change will only hasten their spread. Without a multi-billion dollar taxpayer funded effort to eradicate these invaders, millions of American insects will be at risk, including the endangered Alabama blue nosed fly, and the Daytona bar hopper. That said I have instructed the service to add this species to the invasive species list and we shall immediately seek to ban their importation and ownership under the Lacey act statutes” said Director Dan Ashe. “Additionally we have instructed the service to draw up a multi-decade eradication plan that will use techniques used successfully developed to combat other invasive reptiles such as the Burmese Python and Brown Tree Snake.”

USFWS plans are said to include setting up an invasive gecko task force to bring together the many state and federal agencies working to resolve the issue, airdrops of millions of bait insects from helicopters across the U.S., as well as the issuance of powerful flash lights to all field agents over 5 feet in height. Homeowners across the U.S. are being asked to help in this fight, the service requesting that they immediately check the eaves and overhangs of their dwellings at night for the invasive geckos, and reporting any they find to their USFWS regional office. Homeowners found to be harboring geckos after the ban has been implemented face fines up to $250,000 under the current Lacey act statutes. …read more
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This parrot snake (Leptophis ahaetulla) is glad it’s “Hump Day” and looking forward to the weekend in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Herpetologia!

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By Herp News

Experts on Greek island believe long harsh winter did it for 6ft-long reptile that evaded capture, and was given Facebook page by admirers A crocodile on Crete that became an overnight sensation when it outwitted all attempts at “arrest” has been found dead, eight months after the reptile’s mysterious appearance in an artificial lake. Sifis, who was 6ft long, was discovered belly-up on the banks …

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A HUGE reptile house featuring snakes, lizards, and tortoises has opened its doors to the public.

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An animal welfare group says a 3-foot reptile surrendered by a Long Island resident has been sent to an out-of-state sanctuary.

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This notice provides stockholders of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. with information regarding the distribution paid on March 31, 2015 and cumulati

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There are many snake lovers all over the world who love pythons and boas, and since I’ve been writing for kingsnake.com, many of them have contacted me to ask that I write about Indian pythons and boas. So this post is for my python and boa-loving readers!

In India, you can find all kinds of snakes, from the smallest 20 cm worm snake to the largest reticulated pythons, from sea snakes to flying snakes.

India is home to three species of sand boa, and the common sand boa, Gongylophis conicus, is one I frequently encounter on rescue calls. The other two are the red sand boa (Eryx johnii) and the Whitaker’s sand boa (Eryx whitakeri), which is named after the renowned Indian herpetologist Romulus Whitaker.

The common sand boa is also called the rough-scaled sand boa because of its rough, scaled body. If you’re a touching a common sand boa’s tail you can get a feeling of rubbing a crocodile’s back.

A common sand boa’s body is thick and fat. It has small, keeled scales on head, and the tail is short, blunt and rough. Eyes are small with vertical pupils, and nostrils are placed high on the head. Ventral scales are narrower than the width of the body. It is sand coloured or brown with darker brown blotches. The old time rescuers who did not have a book or Internet to refer to used to mistake it for a young Indian rock python or Russell’s viper.

Found in sandy areas, it prefers to live in crevices and burrows. A short-tempered snake, it coils and hides its head under its body when disturbed, and when provoked strikes with a jerky movement. Otherwise, it’s a slow moving snake. 100 cm is the maximum length. Sand boas are viviparous by nature.

Once I had rescued a female adult sand boa snake and was carrying it in a snake sack to the releasing area . When I opened the sack to release this snake, I see to my surprise she had given birth to eight young ones! They were so cute and fat, as if they were working out in their mom’s womb. It was really a new and unforgettable experience.
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By Herp News

2K and Turtle Rock Studios announced that the Evolve™ experience is expanding today with the launch of a host of downloadable content* including the fourth playable Monster, Behemoth, four new playable Hunters, a free Observer Mode, and more.

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Invasive species and urban development are critically endangering the salamander

From Aljazeera America:

A recent study from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) shows in 1998 there were 6,000 axolotls per square kilometer in Xochimilco. By 2008 that figure had plummeted to 100. And in 2014 researchers found less than one per square kilometer.

There are at least three major causes for its decline: urbanization, water pollution and the massive invasion of exotic predator fish like carp and tilapia, introduced by the Mexican government in the 1980s to help feed local communities. From the first few thousands they introduced, there are now an estimated 900 tons of fish in these canals.

“It’s an amazing amount. About 98 percent of the biomass in the water is made up of just these two fish, and they destroy everything,” said professor Luis Zambrano, an ecologist at UNAM who studies Mexican salamanders and the deterioration of their environment. “The government didn’t know what they were doing. They’ve altered the food chain and the whole ecosystem.”

Read more here. …read more
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One of the turtle species that Ron and I encountered on the Colima trip was a semi-aquatic creature of primarily terrestrial habits. Known as the Mexican spotted wood turtle, the subspecies we happened across was Rhinoclemmys rubida perixantha, the more northerly of the 2 known forms.

We encountered 3 of this (as we later learned) uncommon little chelonian. All of these little brown turtles seen were active at night in a flooded field just east of the city of Colima.

The most conspicuous things about these turtles were the intricate and busy head patterns of broad, dark edged, yellow bars and spots. Although the yellow head patterns precluded R. rubida being mistaken for R. pulcherrima, at 6 to 8 inches in length the former were also of smaller size.

Very little is yet known about the diet of the Mexican spotted wood turtle. It is thought that like others in the genus the species eats a good amount of vegetable matter and is an opportunist feeder on invertebrates. It is known that captives relish worms, caterpillars, and land dwelling molluscs.

Hopefully, as the Behler Center works with their group we will learn more about this beautiful and delightful turtle.
Continue reading “Bright spot: beautiful Mexican wood turtles” …read more
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Big Mama! Protecting her eggs, this Kankakee County bull snake shows off her natural instict to protect her eggs in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pitparade!

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A TORTOISE that was suffering from an agonizing disease that caused its shell to wear away has been custom-made a 3D printed shell to protect her own.

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Nearly two-thirds of tropical forests in Southeast Asia have been degraded by logging, agriculture and other human uses, and their fauna have been decimated by hunting and the bushmeat trade. But if those degraded tropical forests are to recover naturally, they will need to rely on their remaining large wild animals to disperse large tree seeds, according to a new study.

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Nearly two-thirds of tropical forests in Southeast Asia have been degraded by logging, agriculture and other human uses, and their fauna have been decimated by hunting and the bushmeat trade. But if those degraded tropical forests are to recover naturally, they will need to rely on their remaining large wild animals to disperse large tree seeds, according to a new study.

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The saw-scaled viper, Echis carinatus, is a venomous snake found in India and the smallest member of the Indian “Big Four” deadly snakes of India.

This pygmy snake is one of the fastest-striking snakes in the world, and definitely the fastest striking one in India. The thing I like best about this tiny creature is that when the saw-scaled viper is disturbed, it coils and rubs its saw-like scales together to make a noise like a wood-saw.

They are hemotoxic by nature as they are from viper family.

Another species of saw-scaled viper found in India is the Sochurek’s saw-scaled viper, Echis carinatus Sochureki, which is found in some western and central parts of India.

The saw-scaled viper’s body is pale brown with a white-bordered zig zag pattern. The body is white underneath with tiny brown spots. Small scales are present on head, and a white or pale brown spear mark on top.

The eyes are large golden with vertical black pupils, and the body is rounded and has scales with saw-like keels. The tail is short.

Saw-scaled vipers are commonly seen in coastal areas and they are found under boulders and thorny bushes. Though nocturnal, they may be seen basking in the morning. They feed on scorpions, centipedes, and geckos. Viviparous by nature, they give birth to 4-8 young ones.

Usually there are few saw-scaled vipers in my area, but whenever I find one while herping, I am eager to hear the wood-saw noise. I find these tiny creatures very beautiful and attractive, but I always avoid bare-hand handling them. …read more
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Sexually dimorphic species are less likely to go extinct, according to new research.

From the Costa Rica Star:

By examining research on global patterns of amphibian diversification over hundreds of millions of years, De Lisle and Rowe discovered that “sexually dimorphic” species – those in which males and females differ in size, for example – are at lower risk of extinction and better able to adapt to diverse environments.

Their work suggests the ability of males and females in sexually dimorphic amphibian species to independently evolve different traits – such as size – helps them survive extinction threats that kill off others, says De Lisle.

He says classic ecological theory would not have predicted that about amphibians, a class of vertebrates that includes frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians.

The conventional school of thought believes different-sized sexes of the same species take up more resources and are less able to adapt and diversify than species where ecologically relevant traits like size are basically the same between males and females.

Read more here. …read more
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This hatchling pink pastel hognose shares our feelings about Mondays in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user JoeTaffis!

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By Herp News

Reptile vendors and breeders were in Savannah to showcase hundreds of different reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, spiders, and small exotic animals to area enthusiasts on Sunday.

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A man from North Carolina is launching Reptile Munchies, a startup that will deliver live roaches to the doors of reptile owners so they can keep their pets fed without any hassle. The subscription service costs $29 per month for a month's worth of reptile food—about 100 roaches.

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To better understand the variety of salmonella species harbored by captive reptiles, Staten Island Zoo has teamed up with microbiologists.

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Cleopatra the leopard tortoise has been given a 3D printed prosthetic shell to protect her from injury

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Reptile vendors and breeders will be in Savannah to showcase hundreds of different reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, spiders, and small exotic animals to area enthusiasts on Sunday.

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Help your turtle by jumping from one platform to the next and destroy your friends records!And remember you are a ninja, nothing is…

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Ninja Turtle Jumper is a fun and simple action game perfect for all age group! This game is free!! Try to beat your own high score…

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Her name is Cleopatra, and she looks fierce.

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Searching the globe for undiscovered species takes biologists to far and remote locations, trekking through exotic locales that may yield a new discovery. However, exploring the black market can also produce results. And this is just the case for Rafe Brown, curator of the University Of Kansas (KU) Biodiversity Institute, during a recent visit to the Philippines. In a black market in Manila, Brown and his colleagues discovered two new species of water monitor lizard for sale.

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Just let this panther chameleon clean that spot on your screen for ya in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 1Sun!

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Broken Lizard has already reached its $2 million crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo thanks to a passionate fanbase that could help the budget get even higher than the stoners in the original film. It took less than 48 hours for Broken Lizard to hit its goal, as 21, 647 backers have donated $2,257,241 as of 7:33 p.m. PDT .

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Researchers aren’t just looking at snake venom to develop potentially life saving medicine; lizard venom is also being mapped.

From phys.org:

Venom research is a large field, especially due to the pharmaceutical potential of the venom proteins. The idea here is that venom proteins are capable of affecting the body’s cells. Excessive amounts can be harmful and even lethal in some circumstances, but if the right dose is used, the venom proteins can be used to treat certain diseases. Snake proteins that normally cause prey to bleed can be used in small doses to treat blood clots, for example.

In the same way, work is currently being done to develop spider venom proteins to provide pain relief. The Aarhus researchers focused on gila lizards, and these are currently being used in pharmaceutical contexts. Gila lizards produce exendin-4, a small venom protein used in the treatment of diabetes and obesity, which is a competitor to Victoza – produced by Novo Nordisk.

Read more here. …read more
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In his little Austin Healey Sprite, Ron and I zipped across the border in Brownsville, Texas heading into Mexico’s interior. We had no idea where we were going or where we would stop. We were young, had enough time and hoped we had sufficient dinero to get us to wherever and back home again. We did. Barely.

As it turned out we encountered torrential rains in the Pacific Coast state of Colima, and with the rains there were herps–herps of kinds we had never seen before in the wild, and many that neither of us had seen anywhere.

The rain flooded low lying fields and now treefrogs of a half dozen species were vocalizing. Mexican wood turtles walked the wet roadsides and swam across larger flooded areas. Lyre snakes, parrot snakes, and our hands down favorite – brown vine snakes – were crossing or sitting quietly on the highway. We were surprised that the latter were active as they are considered diurnal species with poor night vision but it seemed probable that the heavy rains prompted divergence from the norm.

Although Ron and I were known for unplanned trips, this one was by far the longest yet (a longer trip, it too, unplanned, to southern Chiapas was to come later). This multi-thousand mile trip for 2 adults in a 2-seat Sprite from Tampa to coastal southern Colima was more than just a bit crowded. But now, 50 years later, I still look back on with fond memories.
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Join the Electric Company with this Lygodactylus williamsi and be blinded by beauty in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jamesmatthews!

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A camera trap photo of a young buck touching noses with a fawn is among the finalists in a picture contest organized by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The image was snapped in a camera trap set up in Apopka, Florida.

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Cleopatra doesn't seem impressed with her new coat. But the red plastic shell probably will save the teenage leopard tortoise's life.

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Ecopassages may be less effective reptile road mortality mitigation tools when fences fail to keep reptiles from accessing the road.

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The rate of forest loss in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem — the only place on Earth where rhinos, orangutans, tigers, and elephants live in the same habitat — has more than doubled due to logging, encroachment, and conversion to industrial plantations, warn conservationists. In a statement issued Tuesday, the Sumatran Orangutan Society reported that 80,316 hectares of forest were lost between 2008 and 2013, a sharp increase from the 30,830 hectares cleared between 2002 and 2008.

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( PLOS ) Ecopassages may be less effective reptile road mortality mitigation tools when fences fail to keep reptiles from accessing the road.

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The common krait, Bungarus caeruleus, is a venomous snake found in India — one of the four deadliest snakes of India known as “The Indian Big Four.”

The krait is also included in the top five deadliest of the world, in part because of its silent killing ability. When a person is bitten by a krait, he or she won’t feel pain because of the small-sized fangs; the bite pain is like a mosquito bite.

The common krait is a nocturnal snake; the kraits I rescued have all been rescued after 8 PM. It’s difficult to find a snake during daytime rescue calls.

India is home to six or seven species of krait, and they’re and also common in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and many other Asian countries. The bite rate for the common krait is lower in India as compared to cobras and Russells vipers because kraits are very shy by nature and usually do not bite. That is the reason I love them.

Kraits have smooth bodies and glossy scales; they are blue or black in color and sometimes dark brown. There are single or paired thin white bands on the shiny black body, which makes them more beautiful and is the reason I use the ‘Black Beauty’ to describe a common krait.

The ventral part is white and sometimes yellowish. They feed on snakes mostly and sometimes even other kraits. Occasionally they eat mice, frogs, and lizards. The average length of krait is 100-120 cms and the maximum length is 175 cms.

There are many controversies related to krait bite deaths in India. Often when people are bitten by a krait, it’s night time and they don’t realize it. And the symptoms of krait bite are not at all predictable. The symptoms might take 6 hours or even 48 hours to start. The symptoms have seven or eight stages leading up to death. The deadliest symptom is paralysis; the bite victim is not even able to move his or her fingertips. There have been cases where the victims were declared dead by doctors in the paralyzed condition.

Keeping the deadly part apart, I always loved kraits because they attacked me very rarely on rescue calls and always make my rescuing task easy.

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Rainforest frog populations rely on feral pigs to create wallows, but with pig populations dwindling researchers have recreated the wallows using simple plastic bowls.

From Digital Journal:

To study the impact of these depressions on the reproductive success of the frogs, scientists based at the University of Vienna installed a series of plastic bowls to collect rainwater at regular intervals in a patch of rainforest in French Guiana and monitored frog populations in their test and control plots.

It was found that the frog populations expanded rapidly in both the areas with the bowls and nearby plots, from 148 frogs the season before the bowls were installed to 246 frogs two years later, while no increase was seen in plots far away from the man-made peccary wallows.

Read more here. …read more
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