One week ago, we had zero snow on the ground, Until last Friday, our temperatures here in Wisconsin had been above average for the month every single day. Tuesday we had our first smack of winter. Our first winter storm hit Wisconsin. I live very close to Lake Michigan which is still holding temps above 40 degrees, so here in Milwaukee we didn’t get nothing. You know, it was like my first marriage. Full of promises but it really failed to deliver. We all laughed. Then the Polar vortex started dropping. Thursday night’s storm hit and it snowed from Thursday until late Saturday. We ended up with areas well over a foot of snow and it was really wet and heavy. Power lines and trees were falling at a rapid pace and the impassable roads made it hard for crews to get things put back together. Our temps began plummeting. This scene played out across the entire country.

I’m a pet sitter and was going to be away from home for the nights. This led to a big panic. What if the power went out when no one was home? How would the reptiles fare? I know my dog would be OK but what about the reptiles? And then where would I go? Time to kick the plans into gear. Especially knowing I could be gone with more than 12 hours of no power and a house full of reptiles Continue reading “Polar vortex, what are your back up plans?” …read more
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Happy Monday from this hatching three toed box turtle in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user relic37 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Not really, but snakes being snakes and making the news. I mean it is Australia. Recently we shared the combating carpet pythons in the middle of a gold tournament, but Australia said, hold my Fosters. An Eastern Brown wanted a better seat at the Brisbane International Tennis Tournment during Dominic Thiem’s opening qualifying round.

“I really love animals, especially exotic ones,” former US Open champion Thiem told the Brisbane International website. “But they said it was a really poisonous snake and it was close to the ballkids, so it was a really dangerous situation.

“It’s something that has never happened to me and is something I’ll definitely never forget.”

To catch the full story click here

And then the age old fear of the snake in the toilet. You know, the one from all of our childhoods. Follow the jump to read the next story! Continue reading “News Wrap: Snakes gone wild in Australia” …read more
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Yep, you read the headline correct! Scientists recently found proteins in the venom of the lancehead pit viper Cotiara (Bothrops cotiara) could help lower blood pressure and may be used in treatments down the road.

“Venoms never cease to surprise us. Even with so much accumulated knowledge, fresh discoveries are possible, such as unpredictable fragments that are parts of known proteins. Despite all the available technology, a great deal remains to be studied in these toxins,” Alexandre Tashima, co-author of the study and professor at the Federal University of São Paulo’s Medical School (EPM-UNIFESP), said in a statement.

On an aside, before I share the link to Newsweek where this article is from, I really need to address their media on this article! It is pretty negative for a pro-snake and pro-venom story. There is not a single photo of the actual species of snake the venom is from, and you know the typical lunging diamondback picture with venom leaking from the fangs instead. This is a story about learning that venom can actually save human lives and really we shouldn’t be adding that aggressive view of animals that really only are like that when cornered. That being said I want to thank Wolfgang Wuster again for use of an ACTUAL photo of Bothrops cotiara. To read the full article, which despite my rant on the media placed within it, was quite wonderful, click here. …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Isn’t this Uracoan Rattlesnake (Crotalus d. vegrandis) uploaded by kingsnake.com user Blaze555 gorgeous! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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Tiny but stunning, this Oophaga ventrimaculatus shines in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user obeligz ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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One little, two little, three little Bearded Dragons in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dedragons ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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This chunker African Bullfrog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Ravenousas is waiting for snacks! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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What a stunning boa in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BoaZilla! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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While scientists were researching the tops of the Talamanca Mountain Range searching for salamanders they stumbled across a new species! The research lasted from 2013 through 2019 and while they collected dozens of species, there were 19 species that were the same, but were a totally new species.

Those 19 specimens turned out to be a new species Bolitoglossa bolanosi, or the Bolaños’ web-footed salamander, researchers said. The species marks the fourth type of salamander known exclusively from the Isthmian Central America’s subalpine rain páramo — a “vulnerable” ecosystem that is especially “isolated” to highlands in the Talamanca mountains.

To read more about this new species of salamander, click here …read more
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Our thoughts are with the family. Rest well Brian.

…read more
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After saving over 700 eggs from poachers, the Costa Rica National Guard released 446 Sea Turtle babies recently!

Costa Rica, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, is home to five of the seven sea turtle species. They are natural-born fighters, as only one in every 1,000 sea turtle eggs will become an adult. Hatchlings are prey to almost everything up until that point.

Onc… …read more
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After saving over 700 eggs from poachers, the Costa Rica National Guard released 446 Sea Turtle babies recently!

Costa Rica, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, is home to five of the seven sea turtle species. They are natural-born fighters, as only one in every 1,000 sea turtle eggs will become an adult. Hatchlings are prey to almost everything up until that point.

Once they reach adulthood, which can take up to 30 years, their list of enemies decreases significantly. The biggest predators they face are humans.

To read the full story and see the release video, click here. …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Check out the stripe on this male South American Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus collilineatus) uploaded by kingsnake.com user Solenogliph! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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A beautiful in situ Scarlet Snake (Cemophora coccinea)seen in the Ouachitas graces our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AndrewBrinker! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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I wonder what this pair of Blue Tree Monitors are doing here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user roadspawnis judging you! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Chelonia mydas, a newly hatched baby green sea turtle. Photo: Shutterstock

In Taiwan, saving the Green Sea Turtle on its preferred nesting island was the goal, but drastically impacting the native lizards species was the unintended result. Since 2001, on Badai Beach the only remaining suitable nesting spot on Orchard Island, researchers have protected every Green Sea Turtle Nest with a fin… …read more
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Chelonia mydas, a newly hatched baby green sea turtle. Photo: Shutterstock

In Taiwan, saving the Green Sea Turtle on its preferred nesting island was the goal, but drastically impacting the native lizards species was the unintended result. Since 2001, on Badai Beach the only remaining suitable nesting spot on Orchard Island, researchers have protected every Green Sea Turtle Nest with a fine mesh netting. This netting prevented any ground dwelling predators from dining on the babies cooking inside. Orchard Island is also the home of the kukri snakes and the stink ratsnakes, both of which gladly dine on eggs. With the instant loss of their normal food source, they turned elsewhere.

The scientists estimated kukri snakes consumed around 120 sea turtle eggs each year before 2001, which would be equivalent to between 5,000 and 18,000 lizard eggs from the five soft-shelled lizard species on the island.

The team found that while populations of kukri snakes and stink ratsnakes were estimated to have declined by 12 per cent and 8 per cent per year between 1997 and 2020, lizard species saw drops of 11 to 25 per cent every year.

Now conservation efforts need to alter their program to protect not only the Green Sea Turtles, but also the existing native species, especially the lizards. This shows how science works best. As you learn how things are working, you adjust to make things work better.

To read more of how these efforts are changing, click here. …read more
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Credit: Francisco Farriols Sarabia via Wikimedia Commons

While studying lizard skulls at the National Dinosaur Monument in North Dakota, Dalton Meyer discovered a new species of fossilized Gecko. While inspecting a pair of skulls of previously labeled as European skink ancestors, the use of 3D imaging proved one to be exactly that, however the other emerged to be a gecko type of animal closely resembling the banded gecko common to the US.

What caught my attention the most about the story other than the fact that it was basically about dinosaur geckos (and please click through to the story at the end to read everything) was this part!

In naming the new species, Meyer chose “helioscopus,” which roughly translates into “sun watcher,” and “dickersonae,” which honors his grandmother, Helen Dickerson, his great aunt, Shirley Dickerson, and Mary Cynthia Dickerson (no relation), who was the first curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

“Both my grandmother and great aunt were extremely important people in my life, and my great aunt passed away while I was in the early stages of working on this fossil,” Meyer says. “I was truly honored to have a chance to get to use their family name in this new species, in part as a memorial that will now persist long after I am gone.”

If you remember my first presentation to the International Herpetological Symposium, you know why! To read the full story, and I strongly suggest you do, click here to visit futurity.org. …read more
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This horned lizard in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user reptoman is judging you! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Photo of Gideon, a Grand Cayman hybrid bred by Ty Parks in FL, but living his best life safe in WIsconsin – Cindy Steinle
Recently, the State of Florida deemed all Green Iguanas (Iguana Iguana) as a restricted species and created quite a stir, confiscating animals from even private zoos and killing the animals rather than allowing them to be rehomed or allowed to remain on display at the zoo. … …read more
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Photo of Gideon, a Grand Cayman hybrid bred by Ty Parks in FL, but living his best life safe in WIsconsin – Cindy Steinle

Recently, the State of Florida deemed all Green Iguanas (Iguana Iguana) as a restricted species and created quite a stir, confiscating animals from even private zoos and killing the animals rather than allowing them to be rehomed or allowed to remain on display at the zoo. Now in a move to destroy the reptile industry further, Florida Fish and Wildlife is making the move to change the language from Iguana (Iguana Iguana) to simply Iguana. This would thus include all species including Cyclura and Ctenosaura most definitely but potentially all species under the family Iguanidae which would also include Amblyrhynchus, Brachylophus, Cachryx, Conolophus, Dipsosaurus, and Sauromalus as well.

This is not only bad for pet owners and breeders, but seriously detrimental to worldwide conservation efforts as many assurance populations of a variety of both Cyclura and Ctenosaura species are maintained safely in Florida.

Read the update after the jump or click here to be taken to USARKFL’s notice! There is also a link to the bill after the jump. Continue reading “ACTION ALERT FLORIDA: Florida moves to include all species of Iguanas as restricted species” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! What an amazing close up of this Massasauga uploaded by kingsnake.com user venombill! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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This ball python is ready for it’s close up in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tsquier! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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This close up of a Rainbow Boa shows off their fantastic beauty so well our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mjmullis ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Here is to hoping this hatchling albino Siamese Crocodile our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crocodilepaul helps you survive today!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Being dubbed “The world’s bravest golfer”, in reality, he is just an Australian playing golf. While teeing off, a golfer had some visitors at the tee pad.

The serpents have been identified as coastal carpet pythons, which don’t have fangs or venom, but are known for their “100 small, sharp teeth which have the ability to cause substantial needle-like lacerations.” No matter what, they use constriction to kill their prey, so perhaps stay away. Just in case

Now we know that it is two males in combat and the Golfer was never in danger. To see the whole story with video, visit Golf Digest here. …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! How stunning is the red on this Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus), uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! This Speck was found in Arizona. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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This little Gargoyle is helping hang the lights in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chrisvanaken! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Santa Kismet is checking on the Reindeer Greyhounds in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Really ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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These lil beardies are ready to have fun sledding in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ginag! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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The snake that was found in a bag carried by one of the guests at Immigration offices in Kampala recently. PHOTO/KARIM MUYOBO

When a man recently showed up at the immigration offices looking for services in Naguru, Kampala, security was stunned to find a large black snake in his bag. They were even more shocked to learn this large black snake was in fact a Cobra.

Mr Simon Peter Mundeyi, the spokesperson of the Internal Affairs ministry, said when the strange man was asked why he had carried such a dangerous reptile (a cobra), he said it is his “brother” and that he moves around with it wherever he goes

Remember, leave you snake at home when visiting government offices! To read the rest of the story, click here! …read more
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An Hispaniolan Bark Anole on the ascent in A Florida Hammock.
In some cases this variable species might be referred to as “that other Florida anole.”

It seems that no one is 100% certain how this Hispaniolan/Bahaman species reached Florida in 1946, but reach it, it did, perhaps as a whim of Mother Nature, but more likely the result of multiple whims by humans.

The species history of the Bark Anole, Anolis distichus, might be termed as “active.” At one point in time the Bark Anole was overloaded with 18 subspecies. But people seemed unable to decide if several of these were truly subspecies or were actually full species. Today nothing is definitive (so who is surprised?).

There are probably 2 subspecies of the Bark Anole in Florida. Except for overall color a single description fits both equally well.

There is the always some- shade- of- dark- banded- brown- or- gray A. d. floridana , and the often some- shade- of -green A. d. dominicensis.The throat fan of the males may vary individually from pale yellow to light orange. In all, the dark banding is straight and most prominent across the head from eyelid to eyelid and on the tail. Dorsal banding is in the form of narrow, often difficult to see, chevrons.

Both anole subspecies are arboreal, predominantly tree trunk/low limb, species.

Bark Anoles are one of the smaller species attaining an adult size of 4 to 5 inches of which a little more than half is tail length.

In Florida these little anoles are often found in colonies, are wary, and can be difficult to approach.

Ants and other small crawling insects seem to be the favored prey of this species.
Continue reading “Bark Anoles” …read more
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Garter snakes come together in communities led by older females, new research shows.ALL CANADA PHOTOS/ALAMY

The general belief is that snakes are solitary animals, but as more research into these animals happens we are learning that many have very developed social communities. In a first of it’s kind study of thousands of wild snakes, we learn that Garter snakes have a very complex community with social structures and a female based hierarchy.

Ecologists had long assumed snakes are antisocial loners that hang out together only for core functions such as mating and hibernation. However, in 2020, Morgan Skinner, a behavioral ecologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, and collaborators showed in laboratory experiments that captive garter snakes have “friends”—specific snakes whose company they prefer over others. Still, studies of wild snakes were lacking “because they’re so secretive and difficult to find,” Skinner says.
Then he learned that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation had funded an unprecedented long-term study of a huge population of Butler’s garter snakes (Thamnophis butleri) in Windsor, Canada. Ecologists began to monitor the flute-size slitherers in 2009 to keep them safe from nearby road construction. They regularly captured snakes in the 250-hectare study area, using identifying markings to track more than 3000 individuals over a 12-year span—about the lifetime of a garter snake.

The study goes into much more detail and deserves a look! To read more on this incredibly interesting study, visit Science.org here. …read more
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Santa Mango wants to know if you have been naughty or nice in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user rileysquared ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! How stunning is the red on this Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus), uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! This Speck was found in Arizona. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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In the hottest and wryest region of Vietnam, deep in the dry lowland forest of Nui Chua National Park, researchers discovered a new species of blind skink. Searching around the leaf litter around the yellow-bellied termite mounds that these skinks preferred to dine on, the found 7 specimens. When they looked closer, they realized they had a new species, the Ninh Thuận blind skink ()
Ninh… …read more
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In the hottest and wryest region of Vietnam, deep in the dry lowland forest of Nui Chua National Park, researchers discovered a new species of blind skink. Searching around the leaf litter around the yellow-bellied termite mounds that these skinks preferred to dine on, the found 7 specimens. When they looked closer, they realized they had a new species, the Ninh Thuận blind skink ()

Ninh Thuan blind skinks have a “worm-like” body that can reach about 4.6 inches in length, the study said. Their eyes are “rudimentary” and “completely covered by scales.” They are also “limbless” with only males having “rudimentary” hind limbs that form “flap-like structures” near their tails.

To read more about this cool discovery click here. …read more
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This Rainbow Boa is helping us celebrate Hanukkah in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user natsamjosh ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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This little Crestie is ready for the slopes in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user wendhend . Ok they really don’t ski and we all know that, but how about this festive lil gecko! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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