There is so much to say about Frankie. He has a personality as big as Siberia. He is always surprising me.

Oh, sometimes those surprises are outright stinky, messy, and destructive. Still Frankie has a friendly side that says, “Hey, I love you mom”. Of course, a carrot in hand always helps.

The man-ly side of Frankie as he blooms into his teen years can be down right embarrassing, albeit a bit educational as he humps anything that resembles…..well, I was about to say a female tortoise but Frankie will hump anything he can hold down long enough to climb on top of.

So is it educational or embarrassing? It’s both.

Watching a recent video of Frankie getting better acquainted with a pumpkin I was looking at how he used his front gular scutes to glide up on the pumpkin so he could (do I have to say it again?) hump it. I watched the video several times fascinated with the use of his front scutes.

Male sulcata scutes are useful for ramming. But clearly, as seen on the video, use of the gular scutes is important to successful mating.

So I called a friend and sent the video to her and get her opinion. Not five minutes go by when she called back and said, “Look at the video again. Frankie is a regular Casanova.”

Oh, my. Surprise!

Enjoy!

Click to view video:Frankie Woos a Pumpkin …read more
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Thirteen-year-old Jackston Stone was born without feet, and suffered years of painful surgeries. Now he’s walking on snake-like prosthetic legs, thanks to the Shriners of Salt Lake City.

From ABC News 4 Utah:

That new choice meant wearing two prosthetics legs, and Jackson wanted his to look like snakes.

“They’re like me,” Jackson Stone said.

“How’s that?” Reporter Brian Carlson asked.

“I have no feet, they have no feet,” he said.

Snakes are part family business. A tattoo artist created the design for Jackson’s dream legs, but prosthetic maker couldn’t do it.

“So they brought me the art work and it was on canvas which was too heavy for me to apply the prosthesis,” said Eric Green, Prosthetist.

That’s when Shriners stepped in.

“So I said ya know, I might be able to help,” said William “Mr. Bill” Voorhies, Shriners of Salt Lake City.

William Voorhies contacted fellow Shriner Bob Shupe who runs a printing company. He put the design on surface that worked.

“Fortunately our company was able to take that need and develop it,” said Bob Shupe, Past Potentate.

The prosthetic maker turned Jackson’s snake legs into reality. He loves them, and his friends do too.

“They think it’s really cool because a tattoo artist designed it and none of them can get tattoos,” said Jackson Stone.

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By Herp News

Jeff Corwin (and a few of his friends) stopped by to talk (and scare) Katie. First up was Katie’s favorite, a reptile. “I don’t usually get this cozy with my guests – but, honestly – yikes,” Katie said. “Don’t tell me you’re looking at a nice pair of boots,” Jeff responded. Can you guess what […]

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By Herp News

Across New Guinea, deforestation is occurring at increasing levels. Whether it be industrial logging, monoculture plantations, hunters felling trees in pursuit of arboreal wildlife, or other forms of forest conversion, deforestation is depleting not only forest carbon stocks and understory environments, but habitats for species who call tree cavities “home.” A new study in mongabay.com’s open-access journal, Tropical Conservation Science, evaluated whether a variety of man-made nest boxes could function as suitable substitutes for tree cavities.

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By Herp News

Across New Guinea, deforestation is occurring at increasing levels. Whether it be industrial logging, monoculture plantations, hunters felling trees in pursuit of arboreal wildlife, or other forms of forest conversion, deforestation is depleting not only forest carbon stocks and understory environments, but habitats for species who call tree cavities “home.” A new study in mongabay.com’s open-access journal, Tropical Conservation Science, evaluated whether a variety of man-made nest boxes could function as suitable substitutes for tree cavities.

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By Herp News

Researchers at the University of Utah have found that the savannah monitor lizard breathes like a bird through a one-way loop.

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106 students were hospitalised of which everyone except found were discharged

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GULFPORT, Miss. — American Truck Showrooms (www.americantruckshowrooms.com) recently donated $2,500 to Southeastern Louisiana University Turtle Cove's Environmental Research Station. (http://www.southeastern.edu/acad_research/programs/turtle_cove/index.html)…

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The ancestor of snakes and lizards likely gave birth to live young, rather than laid eggs, and over time species have switched back and forth in their preferred reproductive mode, according to new research.

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By Herp News

The ancestor of snakes and lizards likely gave birth to live young, rather than laid eggs, and over time species have switched back and forth in their preferred reproductive mode, according to new research.

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By Herp News

When the phone rings in the middle of the night at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in December, it usually means one thing: a sea turtle is in trouble. And the phones have been ringing fairly steadily over the past few weeks as dozens of the reptiles, exhausted and benumbed by wintry bay waters, continue coming ashore — at all hours of the day and night — during this late fall stranding …

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Kolkata-based men’s apparel and accessories maker Turtle Ltd expects to introduce its footwear range next week. According to Amit Ladsaria, Co-founder & Director, Turtle, initially 50-60 per cent of its stores will have the footwear range.

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In what will likely be considered one of the biggest (literally) zoological discoveries of the Twenty-First Century, scientists today announced they have discovered a new species of tapir in Brazil and Colombia. The new mammal, hidden from science but known to local indigenous tribes, is actually one of the biggest animals on the continent, although it’s still the smallest living tapir. Described in the Journal of Mammology, the scientists have named the new tapir Tapirus kabomani after the name for “tapir” in the local Paumari language: “Arabo kabomani.”

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Six reptiles, including a rare Komodo dragon, were killed on Monday in a fire at the San Antonio Zoo likely caused by an electric problem, zoo officials said. Zoo staff had to move venomous snakes and reptiles to safety after the fire broke out at the two-floor Komodo House, home to about 100 snakes, lizards and other creatures. “It was a challenge for the firefighters,” San Antonio Fire …

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We all may love Bahamanian rock iguanas, but their digest tracts don’t love how we show that affection.

From Scientific American:

Hop on over to the photo-sharing site Flickr and you’ll find dozens of photos and videos of people eagerly feeding grapes to hungry iguanas on the beaches of the Bahamas. It looks like great fun and the iguanas obviously go crazy for the fruit, which is usually fed to the lizards on the ends of long sticks. There’s just one problem with this activity: the food is making the iguanas sick. Health conditions arising from the grapes and other foods that iguanas do not normally eat in the wild include diarrhea, high blood sugar and cholesterol as well as lowered levels of potassium and a high level of parasitic infections. All of these problems “could have deleterious effects on long-term fitness and population stability,” according to Charles Knapp, director of conservation and research at Chicago’s John G. Shedd Aquarium and the lead author of a new study of the iguanas published last week in Conservation Physiology.

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Photo: Chris Dixon. Used under Creative Commons license. …read more
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By Herp News

Protected as they are by soft, hard or leathery shells, you would expect one of our most ancient vertebrates to be safer. But no. The turtles (and the tortoises) are among the most likely to disappear for ever, after 65 million years, at least, on earth. They need help, but quickly, just like many more iconic and obvious species.

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By Herp News

The snapping turtle with a fractured jaw recently underwent another surgical procedure after it became clear that his previous treatment was nonviable.

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By Herp News

Protected as they are by soft, hard or leathery shells, you would expect one of our most ancient vertebrates to be safer. But no. The turtles (and the tortoises) are among the most likely to disappear for ever, after 65 million years, at least, on earth. They need help, but quickly, just like many more iconic and obvious species.

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By Herp News

In recent years, California’s Agassiz’s desert tortoise population has been decimated by shootings, residential and commercial development, vehicle traffic, respiratory disease and predation by ravens, dogs and coyotes.

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Two green sea turtles have been treated at the Houston Zoo after getting into trouble as Gulf water temperatures dropped below turtle comfort zones.

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Climate change is widely believed to be behind the rapid decline of frog populations in the Andes mountains, but a new study finds that the real culprit is a deadly fungus that has wiped out amphibian species worldwide. Researchers found that highland frogs, while tolerant of increasing temperatures, live in the optimal temperature range for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as Bd.

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Check out our Herp Video of the Week, “Field Herping 2013,” submitted by kingsnake.com user smetlogik.
Submit your own reptile & amphibian videos at http://www.kingsnake.com/video/ and you could see them featured here or check out all the videos submitted by other users! …read more
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By Herp News

Assif Mayar of Castro Valley was sentenced to jail time after pleading guilty to possession of marijuana. He used a 5-foot caiman named Mr. Teeth to guard his pot stash.

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By Herp News

Assif Mayer of Castro Valley was sentenced to jail time after pleading guilty to possession of marijuana. He used a 5-foot caiman named Mr. Teeth to guard his pot stash.

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By Herp News

New studies shed light on ancient creatures’ dental structure and wear — and how these unique characteristics helped them live and adapt to their environments.

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KOTA KINABALU: It takes five months for a Green Turtle hatchling to grow up to a length of […]

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The world’s largest remote camera trap initiative—monitoring 275 species in 17 protected areas—is getting some big data assistance from Hewlett-Packard (HP). To date, the monitoring program known as the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network has taken over 1.5 million photos of animals in 14 tropical countries, but conservationists have struggled with how to quickly evaluate the flood of data.

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Ananth Baliga Dec. 12 (UPI) — Savannah monitor lizard's breathing makes one-way loop through the lungs, similar to birds and alligators — and possibly dinosaurs.

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Venom from the Southeast Asia pit viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus) may help stop human heart attacks and strokes.

From the Montreal Gazette report on the Canadian study:

Using venom milked from the snake, researchers filtered out all but one protein to create a drug called Anfibatide, which in human testing prevented blood clots from forming but didn’t prolong bleeding as is the case with some clot-busting drugs.

“The concept that we can harness something potentially poisonous in nature and turn it into a beneficial therapy is very exciting,” said Dr. Heyu Ni, a scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto involved in the drug’s development.

Anfibatide is designed to target a specific receptor on the surface of platelets in the blood that is instrumental in the formation of clots.

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Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO – St. Michael’s Hospital …read more
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By Herp News

FMT LETTER: From Poh La Faun, via e-mail It has been three weeks since Aljazeera ran the news story, ‘Return of the Lizard King’, Nov 21, 2013. What have we learnt (or not) from this Lizard King Saga? 1 Lizard King conspirers have escaped any sanction by the anti-corruption investigation authorities despite being named in a non-fictitious crime novel and the reputable National Geographic. Do we …

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When monitor lizards breathe, air flows into their lungs in a one-way loop — a pattern known as one-way airflow.

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To protect themselves, some animals rapidly change color when their environments change, but chameleons change colors in unusual ways when they interact with other chameleons. Researchers have discovered that these color changes don’t happen “out-of-the-blue” — instead, they convey different types of information during important social interactions.

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Air flows mostly in a one-way loop through the lungs of monitor lizards — a breathing method shared by birds, alligators and presumably dinosaurs, according to a new study that may push the evolution of this trait back to 270 million years ago.

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Ever heard of Siats meekerorum? Our old dino friend T. rex did, and not in a good way.

Check out this video all about Siats, and why he’s been dubbed a “man-eating monster.”

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By Herp News

Freud, a green sea turtle, was found lethargic off of the Panhandle, but a CT scan at USF’s Health’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation found bubbles in an airway and air trapped near a lung.

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By Herp News

Despite cuts, the Town of Turtle is still looking at a $62,000 deficit heading into next year, and more cuts are expected in order to balance the budget.

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1. Carbon concentrations hit 400ppm while the IPCC sets global carbon budget: For the first time since our appearance on Earth, carbon concentrations in the atmosphere hit 400 parts per million. The last time concentrations were this high for a sustained period was 4-5 million years ago when temperatures were 10 degrees Celsius higher. Meanwhile, in the slow-moving effort to curb carbon emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) crafted a global carbon budget showing that most of the world’s fossil fuel reserves must be left untouched if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

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Dead mice pumped full of poison are being dropped from planes onto Guam to kill brown tree snakes (Boiga irregularis).

From NBC News:

They floated down from the sky Sunday — 2,000 mice, wafting on tiny cardboard parachutes over Andersen Air Force Base in the U.S. territory of Guam.

But the rodent commandos didn’t know they were on a mission: to help eradicate the brown tree snake, an invasive species that has caused millions of dollars in wildlife and commercial losses since it arrived a few decades ago.

That’s because they were dead. And pumped full of painkillers.

The unlikely invasion was the fourth and biggest rodent air assault so far, part of an $8 million U.S. program approved in February to eradicate the snakes and save the exotic native birds that are their snack food.

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Photo: kingsnake.com user Tereza …read more
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Most people who are beginners at owning Sliders are always asking common questions like the following : Help what size tank and how should i set it up well i am about to answer both . Well the most often heard rule is a gallon per inch that gives the turtle plenty of room to grow but we all know everyone doesn’t go by that . Sometimes i would say about 2 gallons per inch because some turtle lovers don’t always have the room . Now to the setup so would you want a low level water setup or high level currently i have a high level but I’m going to get a low level soon . Low levels look nice with light brown pebbles and plenty of rocks and plants and maybe even a little waterfall , But some people might like bright rocks with neon plants and a high water level . It really just depends on what you like and how your turtle reacts to ether one .
– sliderdream
Hope you liked it and it helped thanks comment and ask questions !!!! …read more
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By Herp News

Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C., the adviser of NDP, NTG, TPZ, TTP, TYG, TYN and TYY announced today it will host a year-end conference call on Dec. 12, 2013 at 3:30 p.m. Central, to discuss current U.S.

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