What a handsome Caiman Lizard in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user stingray ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! This big momma Timber rattlesnake shot in the field in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user throatoyster is a thing of beauty! 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 male Oorana Mena Panthera Chameleon in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chameleondean is posing so perfectly! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This Mexican Pine Snake is SUPER sassy in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pitparade ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This Tokay is just hanging out in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user stingray! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Nesting female Florida Softshelled Turtle, Apalone ferox.
Jake and I were zipping along on our favorite “Canebrake Rattler road” when Jake hollered “softshell, a big one.” Translated that meant photo-op so I swerved, turned, and drove almost up to the turtle—a big female—and she was nesting. Pix were taken and we left, the turtle still undisturbed.
Two hours later, after finding a beautiful canebrake rattler, we decided to recheck the nesting Florida Softshell, Apalone ferox. She was gone. Initially, from the car, it seemed that all was well, that she had laid, covered the nest, and returned to the flooded swamps. But, deciding to take some pix of the turtle’s swampland home, I left the car, our security from the dozens of gathering deerflies, horseflies, and “skeeters,” and Jake elected to take pix of the turtle nest.
Disaster. Her primary nest and several other attempted nestings, had been pilfered.
Our initial thoughts ran to raccoons, a well known and abundant predator of turtles and their eggs. But before leaving we had changed our minds, now leaning toward human predation.
The thought change was brought about by the finding of one intact egg at the mouth of the nest and then finding 2 others, one broken and one still intact several feet away on road edge.
We picked up the 2 “good” eggs after deciding to incubate them while all the while feeling sure that after having been rolled about and dropped incubation would be unsuccessful.
But the hatching, more than 2 months later, proved me wrong. And now we have 2 healthy appearing hatchlings to return to the swamp.
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The cutest of our angry creatures, this great field shot of a Snapping Turtle takes the spotlight our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user anuraanman ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday and National Dog day from our venomous bulldog, this Banded Gila Monster in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user DennisDeLapJr! 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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What a handsome Frilled Dragon in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user casichelydia . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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How adorable are Kelsey and her pal Stubby the BTS in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user danielle4girls4 ?! Seriously, this is why we fight so hard to have our pets! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Sometimes you need to look outside the box! This stunning Sunbeam Snake may not be the most colorful on first glance, but as you can see in our Herp Photo of the Day, they are a truly beautiful snake, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mecdwell! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This little Retic has it’s eye on you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Steve_Ray ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This is N. asper, recognized by name rather than appearance
Australia! A veritable land of geckos! But from among this plethora of hobbyist favorites, one group, those of the genus Nephrurus, stands out, or at least once stood out, by the presence of knobs tipping the shortened and/or fattened tails. But now, with its inclusion to the genus by Aaron Bauer, the old Underwoodisaurus millii, a species with a comparatively fat but long tail that bears no visible tipping knob, has become a member of the knobbed cluster. It is N. millii. All are capable of vocalizations.
But this blog post is about only 2 members of the genus whose tails differ from the rest but that are themselves of confusingly similar appearance. These two, the Queensland Rough Knob-tail, Nephrurus asper and the Centralian Rough Knob-tail, N. amyae have, by far, the shortest tails in the genus. The former inhabits much of Queensland, from the Cape York Peninsula southward and the latter ranges over much of central Australia including Northern Territory and extreme eastern Western Australia. Both are associated with ledges, rocks, and arid soils.but in eastern Queensland N. asper may be found to range into areas a little moister than the norm. There it seems associated with creviced, rocky, ledges.
These 2 species are so similar that unless their geographic range is known you will have difficulty determining which is which. The species name asper relates to the rough-skin of these geckos, while amyae is a patronym. Although both are “sand” colored, of the 2, N. amyae, beings associated with red sand areas in Australia, is often the redder while N. asper tends to vary from sand tan to pale brown. Both have faint darker crossbands with the nuchal (neck) band being the most prominent. Dorsally and laterally these two geckos have spiny scales encircled by somewhat enlarged smoother scales.
Both species are hardy captives, feeding well on insects and pill-bugs. They will drink water droplets from the sides of the terrarium or from their own scales when gently sprayed. They may not recognize a shallow dish as a water source. Both species are adult at a svl of 4 ½ to just over 5 inches with the Centralian being slightly the larger and the very short tail adding a few fractions of an inch. They are, like many geckos, terrestrial, lack expanded digital laminae, fully capable of burrowing in suitable soils, and are oviparous.
Continue reading “Knob-tailed Geckos” …read more
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This is N. asper, recognized by name rather than appearance
Australia! A veritable land of geckos! But from among this plethora of hobbyist favorites, one group, those of the genus Nephrurus, stands out, or at least once stood out, by the presence of knobs tipping the shortened and/or fattened tails. But now, with its inclusion to the genus by Aaron Bauer, the old Underwoodisaurus millii, a species with a comparatively fat but long tail that bears no visible tipping knob, has become a member of the knobbed cluster. It is N. millii. All are capable of vocalizations.
But this blog post is about only 2 members of the genus whose tails differ from the rest but that are themselves of confusingly similar appearance. These two, the Queensland Rough Knob-tail, Nephrurus asper and the Centralian Rough Knob-tail, N. amyae have, by far, the shortest tails in the genus. The former inhabits much of Queensland, from the Cape York Peninsula southward and the latter ranges over much of central Australia including Northern Territory and extreme eastern Western Australia. Both are associated with ledges, rocks, and arid soils.but in eastern Queensland N. asper may be found to range into areas a little moister than the norm. There it seems associated with creviced, rocky, ledges.
These 2 species are so similar that unless their geographic range is known you will have difficulty determining which is which. The species name asper relates to the rough-skin of these geckos, while amyae is a patronym. Although both are “sand” colored, of the 2, N. amyae, beings associated with red sand areas in Australia, is often the redder while N. asper tends to vary from sand tan to pale brown. Both have faint darker crossbands with the nuchal (neck) band being the most prominent. Dorsally and laterally these two geckos have spiny scales encircled by somewhat enlarged smoother scales.
Both species are hardy captives, feeding well on insects and pill-bugs. They will drink water droplets from the sides of the terrarium or from their own scales when gently sprayed. They may not recognize a shallow dish as a water source. Both species are adult at a svl of 4 ½ to just over 5 inches with the Centralian being slightly the larger and the very short tail adding a few fractions of an inch. They are, like many geckos, terrestrial, lack expanded digital laminae, fully capable of burrowing in suitable soils, and are oviparous.
Continue reading “Knob-tailed Geckos” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday from this stunning Rock Rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user erindonalson ! 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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Engineer and YouTuber, Allen Pan decided to give snakes their legs back recently and blew the minds of millions of non-herpers who learned, snakes once had legs! Me personally? I initially thought it was a skink in a wheelchair!
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How gorgeous is this Philippine Crocodile in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user TIKBALANG!? Do you know they are critically endangered? You do now! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Welcome to the world little one! That magical moment when a baby takes it’s first breath is captured here with this boa in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dpiscopo69 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Typically when we share stories of famous people encountering reptiles, it is because they ended badly and stupidly.
Today I want to pay tribute to footballer and hometown boy to me, JJ Watt. If you know me, you know my stance on football. I gave it up for Vick, but JJ here, might get me to buy a Jersey. See in Wisconsin we don’t have many rattlesnakes. We only have two species and running across them does take effort and knowledge. We just don’t happen upon them in our homes. On occasion, snakes do get into homes, but more often than not it is your basic garter snake or occasionally a milk or fox. Every single rattlesnake call I have gotten to my rescue has been a Fox Snake. But JJ recently joined up with the Arizona Cardinals and had a bit of excitement when a baby snake was in his bathroom. He went to the internet for advice and then promptly disappeared for several hours.
“Alright, here’s an update on the snake situation,” Watt said. “For those of you who don’t know, woke up this morning, went into the bathroom. Found a baby rattlesnake in the corner of the bathroom, curled up in the corner. I’m from Wisconsin, I don’t have a lot of experience with snakes. Couple garden snakes here or there, couple in Houston, but don’t know a lot about snakes. Don’t know how to handle snakes. Not a big fan of snakes. When I got down here to Arizona, everybody said ‘watch out for the scorpions and watch out for the rattlesnakes, they live close to the mountains, there’s going to be snakes. Monsoon season brings out the snakes. Stay away from rattle snakes. Babies are the most venomous rattlesnakes because they don’t know how to handle their venom. They shoot it all in their first bite.’ So I got all of this stuff in my head. So I call a guy, I don’t know what to do. So, I call this guy and he comes out to the house and he takes a look at it and he just picks it up with his bare hands. And he goes ‘ah, it’s not a rattlesnake. It’s a long nose snake. Completely harmless.’ And then he left.
“So, if you ever want to feel like a wimp, that’s the way to do it.”
Hey JJ, from one cheesehead to another, it isn’t being a wimp. It is called being smart. You gave the animal the respect it deserved not knowing what it was. You called an expert in to properly remove and relocate it. You didn’t harm the animal in any way. Lastly, you learned a little bit along the way. Next time you are up visiting your folks, hit a sista up. I’ll meet up with you and take you somewhere that you can learn some basic stuff to help you out in the …read more
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This young banded water snake being very curious in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user casichelydia ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Peltophryne fustiger is the Giant Toad species from the region of Soroa, Cuba
Our first herping experience was at Soroa, a locale southwest of Habana, known for its waterfalls and streams. The region is home to a big aquatic anole and other lizards, a variety of snakes, and an endemic giant toad, Peltophryne fustiger.
Our second morning proved to be fruitful. Within minutes we were all gazing at several Stream Anoles, Anolis vermiculatus,. There were juveniles on fallen branches in the stream and adult males displaying on nearby treetrunks. Having been told that the species was difficult to find and photograph, we found our experience to be totally opposite.We learned also, that while most accounts claim this and the related A. bartschi to be the only 2 amongst the hordes of anole species to be devoid of a dewlap, that this was not precisely the case. In fact, both of those taxa have a dewlap, small though it is.
Continue reading “Why Cuba? Part 2” …read more
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Tossing up the biggest lizard out there, this Komodo Dragon, in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user caparu to belated celebrate World Lizard Day! World Lizard Day is August 14, so we are just one day late! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday from this pair of Sidewinders in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dvenom05 ! 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 Box turtlle is loving life in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Jen350 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This black Roughie is monitoring the world in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cynthy07! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Love the darker phase of this greyband in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user trevid ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Hopefully the gorgeous blues of this Dendrobates auratus uploaded by kingsnake.com user amazonreptile will brighten your day. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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An adult Cuban Crocodile. This species is not inclined to have a gentle disposition.
This Island Nation (archipelago) has always intrigued me. ‘Way back in the 1950s I had contemplated a visit to Cuba, but politics prevented a visit. And although politics still play an important role in a visit to Cuba, it is now at least possible. These reminiscences are about Patti’s and my trip number 3, from Havana westward to Soroa and Vinales and then southward to the Cienega Zapata, the home of the fabled Cuban Crocodile.
Cuba’s herpetofauna (and endemic birds) are very different from species found only 90 miles northward on the Florida peninsula and keys. Amongst the herpetofauna, for example, there are no seriously venomous species, although several snake taxa are rear-fanged and produce a venom of “mild” toxicity that assists in overpowering prey. Among the constrictors are the big Cuban Boa and a number of “Tropes” that were until recently considered dwarfed members of the boid family. Simply put, if you exclude the Cuban species of anoles and a treefrog now established in Florida, no matter where we stopped to search, any herps found would be distinctly different from those found only 90 miles distant in the Florida Keys. Now onto the air conditioned tour bus, and driver, Ronel, had us on our way in mere minutes.
Continue reading “Why Cuba?” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! This Timber Rattlesnake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user herpermike1 was found in a very populated area in Tennesee, and moved to a more safe location! Great Message! ! 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 beautiful Trans-Pecos Rat Snake is holding on to her most valueable treasure in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pecoskid ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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The simple shot of a tree frog in a field of green is hard to beat! We hope you enjoy this shot of a Pseudacris regilla in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user emvee!
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Note the slightly upturned nose of this species.
Hypsirhyncus ferox, the Hispaniolan Cat-eyed or Hog-nosed Snake, is an interesting little dipsadine species about which very little is written. Both common names are well deserved, this snake having elliptical pupils and a flattened slightly upturned rostrum.
Coloration may range by individual from a solid brick red, through various shades of yellow, to a deep olive-gray, all with or without dorsal patterning.
Long a single species found in both Hispaniolan countries and having 3 subspecies, recently it has been revisited by geneticists and (surprise, surprise!) has now been split into 2 species, one of which has 2 ssp. Adult size is about 15 inches and prey includes lizards and frogs. Seemingly related to the small dipsadine racers of the Caribbean Islands, the Cat-eyed Snakes can move agilely and quickly. Over the years I have maintained a few as captive and found them to be secretive and hardy, readily feeding on anoles. Other than the fact that this is an oviparous snake, little is known about its breeding methodology.
Continue reading “Hispaniolan Cat-eyed or Hog-nosed Snake” …read more
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Baby pictures never get old. Let’s welcome this little ball python to the world in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user TerryHeuring brighten your day!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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In yet another victory on behalf of the reptile community by USARK, the changes to the Lacey Act hidden deep in the America COMPETES act in the “CHIPS-Plus” bill have been removed!
For months USARK lobbied and members of the reptile community contacted their representatives and it worked! For now, there will be no changes to the Lacey Act.
From USARK:
We have been posting relevant updates on our main alert here (scroll down). To be brief, the “CHIPS-Plus” bill that passed in the Senate passed the House on 7/28 (243-187 vote). This bill includes some of the technology initiatives included in the America COMPETES Act, USICA, and other bills. The portions of COMPETES that were not germane to the intent of the bill (including the bad Lacey Act amendments) were not added to the CHIPS-Plus package. This should be the end of any threat from these Lacey Act amendments for this Congressional session.
For those who spent the past few months messaging, calling and writing letters, YOU DID IT! And a HUGE thank you to USARK! …read more
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This baby Black Mamba emerges from the egg in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Curt Johnson to remind us of new beginnings! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate all forms of venomous reptiles to promote conservation of them world wide!
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Long time member, friend and nemesis of kingsnake.com, Tim Cole of Austin Reptile Service has been hit with some major heath issues. He has been in and out of the ICU. Last week he was placed in a medically induced coma due to breathing issues. It as learned that he has an enlarged thyroid and they do not know if it is cancer or not, but surgery happened yesterday. Pathology is going to take about a week. Tim is back in the ICU with breathing issues.
While Tim can be a bit of a pill at times, he has been a great asset to the reptile community. His dedication to rescue and education is amazing. His support of up and coming herpers is amazing. I can speak from personal experience that even while Tim and I would butt heads over what he could and couldn’t do on this sit, he was always there to offer support and guidance with my rescue work, while badmouthing my moderation skills.
Tim is self-employeed like so very many of us are in the reptile community. It has been a few very hard years for everyone but if you could consider even donating $5.00. He has been in the ICU over a week, he has had surgery, he is eating hospital food. He has a TON of rescue animals at home. His GoFundMe can be found here.
Also Tim is a bit of an old school kinda fella. For those not local who feel so inclined, I bet he would love actual get well cards. You can mail them to:
4500 Williams Drive,
Suite 212-113
Georgetown, TX
78633 …read more
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The infamous “stink eye” is glaring here with this Tegu in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MrSickle ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This African spur thigh tortoise in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dinahmoe is just munching away without a care in the world. We are so jealous! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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How cute is this albino Clawed Frog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user bradtort?! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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A whole lot of AWWWWS for this newborn Collared Lizard in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user the4thmonkey! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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