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Texas is considering banning the gassing of rattlesnakes and other animals in the state, but the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. doesn’t think a ban will impact the barbaric “rattslesnake round-ups,” which torture and kill rattlesnakes, but rarely use gas.

From NPR:

Pouring gasoline or other noxious chemicals into the earth to force rattlesnakes and other animals from their underground homes has been a tactic of some hunters and snake wranglers for years. But it has a harmful effect on the environment and wildlife. Now, Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) is considering following in the path of 30 other states and banning the practice in most circumstances.

The technique, known as “gassing” is used to capture and/or kill many different types of animals, including prairie dogs. But its greatest defenders appear to be those involved in “rattlesnake roundups” that are a tradition in parts of the state.

[….]

As far as the prospect that banning the practice will end the “rattlesnake roundup” tradition in Texas, TPWD says that’s overblown.

“Many rattlesnake events currently discourage the collection of snakes by gassing,” says the Department.

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By Herp News

A 100-pound tortoise featured in the Maricopa Monitor's “pet of the week” section has been reunited with his original owners, a full year after the reptile wandered off into the desert.

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By Herp News

CASA GRANDE — A 100-pound tortoise featured in the Maricopa Monitor's “pet of the week” section has been reunited with his original owners, a full year after the reptile wandered off into the desert. Rewind to April 2013.

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By Herp News

Police in Indonesia’s Aceh province have arrested two wildlife trafficking suspects allegedly behind five tiger poaching rings operating in the forests of northern Sumatra. The arrests followed a months-long investigation and an undercover sting operation in which police seized thousands of dollars worth of illegal animal parts.

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By Herp News

A Wizard's Lizard, the action RPG from Lost Decade Games about a wizard's pet reptile seeking to save his master from the clutches of Death, will launch on January 22 on Desura and Gamersgate. If you've ever played Gauntlet or The Binding of Isaac, …

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By Herp News

Council approves first reading of land sale ordinance

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Licensed headsets due in 2014 as Turtle Beach pens deals with Sony, Microsoft, Respawn and EA. Expected to debut in Q3, the PS4 and Vita range will feature “tournament grade” headsets, along with traditional gaming and entertainment orientated devices on the way, too. “Turtle Beach is excited to work with Sony to create headsets for the PS4,” said Juergen Stark, Chief Executive Officer at Turtle …

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By Herp News

A Palm Beach County man, who previously served a federal prison sentence for poaching sea turtle eggs, is facing new charges that he stole 316 sea turtle eggs from nests in Juno Beach.        

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The cold-stunned green sea turtle brought near death to the South Carolina Aquarium on Wednesday is one plucky little reptile, it turns out.

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By Herp News

The cold-stunned green sea turtle brought near death to the South Carolina Aquarium on Wednesday is one plucky little reptile, it turns out.

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Biologists have found that island lizards are “tame” compared to their mainland relatives, confirming Charles Darwin’s observations of island tameness. Darwin had noted that island animals often acted tame, and presumed that they had evolved to be so after coming to inhabit islands that lacked most predators. The researchers found island lizards were more accessible the farther the islands were from the mainland.

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By Herp News

Rove beetles are among the most diverse animals on the planet, with around 56,000 species currently described. Amongst this multitude of species is a dazzling array of adaptations perhaps best illustrated by the genus Stenus. These beetles, with their bulbous eyes and slender bodies are often found near water running swiftly over the wet ground and clambering among the vegetation.

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Check out this video “Field Herping in Colorado” submitted by kingsnake.com user jfarah.
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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Mobile Bound in the back of a Toyota Prius.


Dreaming of sun, a big yard, grass, carrots and Rosie.


Hello, Mobile! I have arrived!


What type of sorcery is this? This is not my yard!


Better take me on a walk.


Can you keep up with me?


Fence building that couldn’t happen sooner.


Is this my yard?


Yard taste really good.


All mine.


Giving out the Frankie Rules.


I think I’m gonna like it here.

Note: Frankie managed to take off into the neighborhood twice, alone, so I put blue painter’s tape on his shell that says “Please get me home” and my phone number. As soon as the fence is completed I will consider taking it off.

Dedicated to Brown Eyes who we left behind in Birmingham. We hope you found a good home.
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By Herp News

In a precedent-setting case, an Indonesian court has found a palm oil company guilty of violating environmental laws and ordered it to pay $30 million in fines and reparations for clearing an area of protected peat forest that is a stronghold for endangered orangutans in Indonesia’s Aceh Province. In a ruling handed down Wednesday, the Meulaboh district court concluded that PT Kallista Alam illegally cleared and burned forest within the the protected Tripa peat swamp in northwestern Sumatra.

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By Herp News

Hard wired into the survival mechanisms of all animals is the perception of pain. Different stimuli, such as heat or cold, foul odors, chemicals or a blunt blow can trigger pain receptors in the body that, in the blink of an eye, jolt the body into classic fight or flight responses. Researcher Shigeru Saito, et. al. have performed the first evolutionary analysis of pain response in chickens by isolating the genes for pain receptors called TRPA1.

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By Herp News

The world’s top carnivores are in big trouble: this is the take-away message from a new review paper published today in Science. Looking at 31 large-bodied carnivore species (i.e those over 15 kilograms or 33 pounds), the researchers found that 77 percent are in decline and more than half have seen their historical ranges decline by over 50 percent. In fact, the major study comes just days after new research found that the genetically-unique West African lion is down to just 250 breeding adults.

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By Herp News

The world’s top carnivores are in big trouble: this is the take-away message from a new review paper published today in Science. Looking at 31 large-bodied carnivore species (i.e those over 15 kilograms or 33 pounds), the researchers found that 77 percent are in decline and more than half have seen their historical ranges decline by over 50 percent. In fact, the major study comes just days after new research found that the genetically-unique West African lion is down to just 250 breeding adults.

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By Herp News

The world’s top carnivores are in big trouble: this is the take-away message from a new review paper published today in Science. Looking at 31 large-bodied carnivore species (i.e those over 15 kilograms or 33 pounds), the researchers found that 77 percent are in decline and more than half have seen their historical ranges decline by over 50 percent. In fact, the major study comes just days after new research found that the genetically-unique West African lion is down to just 250 breeding adults.

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By Herp News

Experts predict that 2014 will be a big year for reptiles. Reptiles, which include snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, tuataras and amphisbaenians, are projected to become the most diverse vertebrate group in the world. As it stands now, there are approximately 10,000 bird species – the most of any vertebrates – but reptiles are forecast to reach and surpass that milestone in 2014.

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The LA Times has the scoop on a new study from Nature on the coloration of ancient reptiles:

Ancient leatherback turtles, ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs were a rather staid and formal black, maybe with some gray, according to a study published online Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The study offers the first direct chemical evidence of pigmentation in the three species, and illustrates an example of convergent evolution, when animals separately develop the same adaptive features.

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Artist’s rendering: Stefan Solberg/LA Times
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By Herp News

The Reptile Guy has already outgrown his year-old space in Abbotsford.

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By Herp News

The lions of West Africa, which may represent a distinct subspecies, are on the precipice of extinction. A sober new study in PLOS ONE reports that less than 250 mature lions survive in the region. Scientists have long known that West Africa’s lions were in trouble, but no one expected the situation to be as dire as it was. In fact, in 2012 scientists estimated the population at over 500. But looking at 21 parks, scientists were shocked to find lions persisted in just four with only one population containing more than 50 individuals.

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By Herp News

The lions of West Africa, which may represent a distinct subspecies, are on the precipice of extinction. A sober new study in PLOS ONE reports that less than 250 mature lions survive in the region. Scientists have long known that West Africa’s lions were in trouble, but no one expected the situation to be as dire as it was. In fact, in 2012 scientists estimated the population at over 500. But looking at 21 parks, scientists were shocked to find lions persisted in just four with only one population containing more than 50 individuals.

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By Herp News

King Krule roped in an impressive guest star for his latest music video: the late Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Young Archy Marshall has shared the official clip for “A Lizard State” — a taut, foul-mouthed number from the 19-year-old's debut studio album, the jazz-inclined

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By Herp News

King Krule roped in an impressive guest star for his latest music video: the late Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Young Archy Marshall has shared the official clip for “A Lizard State” — a taut, foul-mouthed number from the 19-year-old's debut studio album, the jazz-inclined

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By Herp News

The public is increasingly wary of the government recording them, but there's little thought about surveillance by private citizens. NYT reports.

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By Herp News

It goes without saying that the annual Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is quite the spectacle.

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The intrepid researchers at the University of Oklahoma tested the old adage about how if you put a frog in boiling water he’ll jump right out, but if you put him in cold water and slowly warm it, he’ll be lulled into a false sense of security until it’s too late. What did they find out?

From io9.com:

Dr. Victor Hutchison, at the University of Oklahoma, dispelled the myth when he studied frogs’ reaction to temperature changes in water. He followed the procedure outlined for a proper frog-boiling; put a frog in cold water, and gradually warmed the water up. (He stopped well before the boiling point.) The frogs most definitely did jump out when the water got too warm for them.

Read the rest here. (And no, no frogs were boiled to test the other part of the adage.)

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By Herp News

Tiny cameras are recording the actions of people, animals and police departments.

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By Herp News

Tiny cameras are recording the actions of people, animals and police departments.

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Satellite data reveals by-catch hotspots for endangered species

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Lizard study supports Darwin's hunch that lack of predators leads to unwatchful behaviour.

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Scientists working in Africa have uncovered a new crocodile species hiding in plain site, according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Looking at the molecular data of the slender-snouted crocodile, the researchers discovered two distinct species: one in West Africa and another in Central Africa. Although mostly lumped together as one species (Mecistops cataphractus) for over a hundred and fifty years, the scientists found that the two species have actually been split for at least seven million years, well before the evolution of hominins.

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Baby, it’s cold out there. But are your efforts to keep your reptiles warm putting them — and you! — in danger?

From an article written for kingsnake.com by Susan Jacob:

My tortoise and my lizards have extended time out in the sunshine in the summer. Once fall arrives, it’s time to start getting everyone indoors. Here in New York it is not good reptile weather after late September. The lizards have their own set ups, but the sulcata tortoise, being as big as she is, is in a pen in my boiler/laundry room. I have 80-degree temperatures in that room for most of the winter, with an occasional drop when the weather is really cold. Most of the animals can take that and I don’t keep the heat too high at night.

I always keep the tortoise on fresh timothy or alfalfa hay and I switch off in the winter when she isn’t getting the green grass of the lawn to graze on. In the past few winters I used an UVB/heat bulb over her pen, but always had a problem getting it to stay put. I use the metal light bulb holders with the clips and it seems they always slip and fall sideways directing the heat to the other direction or worse into the plastic wall of the pen. I meant to buy a holder to keep the light fixture upright, but kept putting it off.

I was doing laundry at the time in the basement and that day the tortoise was hiding under her hay, so I adjusted the UVB/heat bulb in her direction, using the clip on the back of the fixture to attach it to my husband’s workbench, which is along side her pen. Ten minutes later, I was supposed to leave to go food shopping, but had put it off a bit to go online and check my email. Thank God I did, because that little sidetrack probably saved my house. I was upstairs for maybe five minutes, tops, when the downstairs fire/smoke alarm went off. I was busy on the computer and it took about three seconds to realize what it was. I was thinking it was the alarm on the washer when it goes out of balance. When it finally hit me I took off for the basement. I swear I took the last four steps in a leap, twisting my calf muscle in the process.

When I rushed into the reptile room the lamp had popped off and was lying fully on and operational down in the hay in the tortoise enclosure. The room was smoky and the hay was blackened and smoldering. I grabbed the light and put it on the floor and grabbed the entire armful of blackened hay and ran and dumped it in the slop sink and turned on the water. It had not ignited in a flash, but I believe if I had been a few minutes later it …read more
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THE LAYOUT: For local and visiting golfers on the island of Maui, Pukalani is a refreshing and delightful alternative to the mega-resort courses at Kapalua, Wailea, Kaanapali and Makena. Designed by Bob Baldock and opened in 1979, Pukalani is perched at the 1,100-foot level on the rolling terrain of Mt. Haleakala, the largest dormant volcano in the world, in what the natives call Upcountry …

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Lizard-like robots with sticky feet may one day work on spacecraft like the International Space Station, saving astronauts from making as many dangerous spacewalks.

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By Herp News

Flying Lizard Motorsports wrapped up the first test of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season in successful fashion, running its No. 35 and No. 45 Audi R8 LMS race cars for eight separate sessions over three days, and finishing with the quickest lap time in the 28-car GT Daytona class at a 1:47.981, quicker than the fastest Audi race and qualifying laps from 2013. The PR … Keep …

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By Herp News

Flying Lizard Motorsports has been very busy in the short offseason following its 2013 American Le Mans Series GTC-class team championship, moving to a new partnership with Audi Sport customer racing to run two 2014 Audi R8 LMS race cars, the No. 35 and No. 45, in the GT Daytona class in the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Building from the team's first experiences with its … Keep …

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