By Herp News

Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are unique among large cats. They have a highly specialized body, a mild temperament, and are the fastest living animals on land. Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, the Asiatic subspecies, is unique among cheetahs and the only member of five currently living subspecies to occur outside of Africa. Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List—with a population of between 70 and 100 individuals—the Asiatic cheetah is one of the rarest felines on the planet. But new proposed road through one of its last habitat strongholds may threaten the cat even further.

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By Herp News

The late, great Ernie Harwell recited this “Voice of the Turtle” passage from Song of Solomon before the Detroit Tigers' exhibition opener each year during spring training.

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By Herp News

Kolkata-headquartered menswear apparel and accessories maker Turtle is set to launch khadi garments in the premium casual wear segment by the first week of March.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

How do you ship a 70-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur back to the land it was smuggled out of? Very, very carefully.

From Popular Science:

“You’d take all the bones apart, and all the bones go in individual cases,” Kenneth Lacovara, a Drexel University paleontologist, says. Researchers can easily build made-to-measure plywood cases for the bone pieces, cushioning the fossils with foam. “We use packing peanuts. We use foam that is meant for home insulation,” Lacovara says. “Sometimes we use the foam that you’ll see in, like, expensive camera cases.” What foam he and his lab members use depends on the size of the bone, he says.

[…]

A few paleontologists rely on a Chicago-based company, called Rocket Cargo, that specializes in shipping for rock bands. “They’re used to shipping big things, and they’re used to dealing with odd cargo,” Lacovara says.

The Mongolian Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism will be responsible for shipping the Tarbosaur, but the ministry doesn’t yet know where it’ll get funding, whether the T. bataar will go by air or by sea, or many other details, says Minister Tsedevdamba Oyungerel. “Logistical talks just started but nothing is clearly cemented yet,” she wrote in an email.

Read the whole story here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

By Herp News

After a bounteous 2012, experts are cautiously optimistic about the 2013 sea turtle nesting season that begins Friday and runs through Nov. 15.

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By Herp News

Last year, Roger Peet, an American artist, traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to visit one of the world’s most remote and wild forests. Peet spent three months in a region that is largely unknown to the outside world, but where a group of conservationists, headed by Terese and John Hart, are working diligently to create a new national park, known as Lomami. Here, the printmaker met a local warlord, discovered a downed plane, and designed a tomb for a wildlife ranger killed by disease, in addition to seeing some of the region’s astounding wildlife. Notably, the burgeoning Lomami National Park is home to the world’s newest monkey species, only announced by scientists last September.

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By Herp News

WBZ-TV's Steve Burton made some new friends on Sunday night's Sports Final on WBZ-TV.

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By Herp News

TREASURE COAST — After a bounteous 2012, experts are cautiously optimistic about the 2013 sea turtle nesting season that begins Friday and runs through Nov. 15.

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By Herp News

AN IPSWICH lizard with cancer will become the first reptile in Australia to undergo specialised radiation treatment on Monday.

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By Herp News

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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By Herp News

The largest traveling reptile conference in the country is making a stop in Arlington this weekend. Photo Credit: NBC 5 News

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If you’ll be at the NARBC show in Arlington, Tex., this weekend, keep an eye out for own Jeff Barringer! He’ll be handing out kingsnake.com bumperstickers and window decals. Be sure to grab one!

And keep an eye out for the official kingsnake.com snake hunting truck, too! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

By Herp News

A colorful turtle sculpture is a gift of healing from the beachside town of Surfside to survivors of the Connecticut school shooting in December, and one of many art projects on display in Newtown

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By Herp News

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

Venom can be deadly, but it can also cure. That’s a message getting increasing attention from the media lately.

From ABC News:

Jon-Paul Bingham, an assistant professor in the department of molecular biosciences and biological engineering at the University of Hawaii, has made a career of studying various species of the cone snail and characterizes them as “pretty horrific, pretty nasty.”

But the venom, Bingham said, causes one surprising reaction in its victims: They feel no pain.

This venom’s ability to cut off pain receptors has led to a second life as a powerful pain reliever called Prialt. The drug is 1,000 times more potent than morphine and is nonaddictive.

Prialt is just one example of the many ways venom components can be used therapeutically. Currently, six venom-derived medications have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but new technologies and research have shown how proteins and toxins within venom can provide key blueprints for treating a wider variety of ailments, including autoimmune disease, stroke and multiple sclerosis.

Read the full — and very detailed — story here.

Photo: ABC News …read more
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By Herp News

The late, great Ernie Harwell recited this “Voice of the Turtle” passage from Song of Solomon before the Detroit Tigers' exhibition opener each year during spring training.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

By Herp News

Iain Douglas-Hamilton has dedicated his life to elephants. ‘I like elephants because of the way they treat each other,’ he says. ‘They’re very nice to each other most of the time, but not all the time … You see a lot of play…a lot of tender touching, caressing, tactile contact of one sort or another.’ The affection goes both ways. Douglas-Hamilton recalls one curious female who would always approach his vehicle. ‘Eventually I got so friendly with her that…I could walk with her and feed her the fruits of the wild gardenia tree. That was a very special elephant for me. She eventually brought her babies up to meet me.’ Douglas-Hamilton’s dedication extends to protecting the species from harm, and especially the ivory trade. He calls the current ivory trade “totally unsustainable” and recommends a total ban on the trade.

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By Herp News

LANESBOROUGH — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has been stolen from its cage at a pet store, according to the store's owner.

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By Herp News

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

Sea snakes in Australia, like this Leaf-scaled sea snake, are experiencing a drastic decline in numbers for reasons that puzzle scientists.

From The Conversation, as part of its on-going series on wildlife conservation in Australia:

The reasons for the severe declines of Short-nosed and Leaf-scaled sea snakes remain a mystery. Nine other sea snake species have disappeared from Ashmore and Hibernia over the last 15 years, yet their habitats are intact, and snakes are not affected by over-fishing. This may suggest major environmental change, perhaps related to surface water temperatures, salinity and rainfall patterns, and sedimentation. In the same period seismic surveys for oil and gas have increased, using air gunning, although the impact on sea snakes is unknown.

Whatever factors are responsible, they have not only affected the snakes in shallow coral areas but also species that once occupied the reef edges, seagrass beds and deeper waters surrounding the reef.

Read the full story here.

Photo: The Conversation …read more
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By Herp News

An exotic lizard valued at $170 has gone missing from Berkshire County pet store and the owner thinks it was stolen.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

You really shouldn’t “save” animals unless you’re actually going to be able to care for them. Take what’s happening to 30 pythons seized in Pakistan:

From the International Herald Tribune:

After being given temporary custody of over 30 imported non-poisonous pythons, the Karachi zoo is struggling to take care of the slithering reptiles and is unable to provide them with proper accommodation. Three days after being brought to the zoo, some of the pythons have reportedly contracted allergies, while the younger ones have become more aggressive, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday.

Red spots have appeared on the yellow-skinned, 10-feet-long reticulated albino python, which has been made to live in an enclosure that was previously occupied by venomous snakes. The enclosure is also littered with mites and other insects.

“The allergy is spreading, and this python would soon become weak,” said a reptile expert on the condition of anonymity. “No one at the zoo is qualified to handle these snakes. As a matter of fact, they don’t even know the names of the species.”

Snake enthusiasts in the city had imported 31 non-venomous snakes, including a boa constrictor, and ball and reticulated pythons, from Oklahoma in the United States. The reptiles had left Oklahoma around three weeks back, and landed at Jinnah airport on Sunday. However, Pakistan Customs handed them over to the Karachi Zoological Gardens, as the importers had apparently failed to provide a no-objection certificate from the National Council for Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW).

[…]

When contacted, Karachi zoo director Bashir Sadozai, told The Express Tribune that he was out of town and was therefore unable to say exactly what had happened to the pythons. “But [they probably caught] allergies due to the change in climate and water.”

Read the rest here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Rico Walder, one of kingsnake.com’s most longstanding community members, and a good friend to all in the herp community, is struggling against Stage IV glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. Can we come together to help him win that fight?

Rico’s family and friends have established a fundraising effort to help with the staggering medical bills that come along with an illness like this. Let’s make sure that Rico can focus all his energy and thoughts on overcoming his illness instead of worrying about money.

Visit The Rico Relief Effort at giveitforward.com to donate, and don’t forget to pass it on! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

The dark side of science, when it tells you things you don’t want to be true.

From NBC Science News:

Nearly one fifth of all reptiles — turtles, snakes, lizards and crocodiles — are on a slippery slope toward extinction due to loss of habitat, overharvesting and other factors, a new report says.

The study is the first of its kind to summarize the global conservation status of reptiles. More than 1,500 species were selected at random from around the world for conservation assessments in an effort to gain a representative sample.

The results highlight “conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles,” more than 200 researchers led by Monika Böhm at the Zoological Society of London write today in the journal Biological Conservation.

“Nearly one in five reptilian species are threatened with extinction, with another one in five species classed as Data Deficient.”

Read the whole article, and view images, here; the study abstract can be viewed free, and the complete study be downloaded for $31.50, on the journal website.

Photo: NBC Science News …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Sea turtle vs. shark doesn’t usually end too well for the turtle, but some human intervention has a sea turtle named Hu swimming again. From Mashable:

Hu, a 25-year-old female loggerhead, was discovered by fishermen in mid-2008 when they accidentally pulled her up in their fishing nets. After noticing the creature was missing large portions of its two front fins, presumably from an assailment, the fishermen turned it into the Suma Aqualife Park in Kobe, Japan.

Since Hu’s arrival, the aquarium’s researchers have experimented with 27 pairs of artificial limbs in an attempt to aid the injured animal. Finally, they say, they’ve found the right fit.

The most recent development is comprised of two rubber fins, held together by a slip-over vest to prevent Hu from breaking free. The aquarium’s staff say the fins have helped Hu swim just as easily as before the accident — a pretty remarkable feat, considering the turtle’s 32-inch long shell and 220-pound body.

Read the whole story here.

Photo: Mashable.com …read more
Read more here: King Snake

A University of Colorado study published today in the journal Nature tags biodiversity — a large number of different species — in pond environments as a major factor in protecting amphibians from the parasite Ribeiroia ondatrae.

From Science News:

The richer the assortment of amphibian species living in a pond, the more protection that community of frogs, toads and salamanders has against a parasitic infection that can cause severe deformities, including the growth of extra legs, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder.

The findings, published Feb. 14 in the journal Nature, support the idea that greater biodiversity in larger-scale ecosystems, such as forests or grasslands, may also provide greater protection against diseases, including those that attack humans. For example, a larger number of mammal species in an area may curb cases of Lyme disease, while a larger number of bird species may slow the spread of West Nile virus.

“How biodiversity affects the risk of infectious diseases, including those of humans and wildlife, has become an increasingly important question,” said Pieter Johnson, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and lead author of the study. “But as it turns out, solidly testing these linkages with realistic experiments has proven very challenging in most systems.”

Read the story here. The study can also be previewed on the Nature website.

Photo: Freshwaters Illustrated; University of Colorado at Boulder …read more
Read more here: King Snake

The state of Connecticut has introduced House Bill 5832, which amends the state’s exotic pets law as follows:

That section 26-40a of the general statutes be amended to provide that the sale, transfer or breeding of certain exotic animals is also prohibited and to add tigers, mole vipers, boa constrictors, burmese pythons and sea snakes to the list of prohibited animals. Further, to provide an exception to such prohibition for persons who lawfully possessed such animal prior to July 1, 2013, provided certain conditions are met and to further clarify the current exemption from the prohibition for certain educational and zoological organizations.

The current status of the bill, and a link to its complete text, can be found here.

The United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) has issued an action alert on the bill, and is asking concerned citizens to use this link to contact the lawmakers. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

With the tally of pythons hunted and killed in Florida’s much-hyped “Python Challenge” stalled at around 50, the retroactive lowering of the success bar is in full swing.

From the Miami Herald:

The haul from Florida’s much-ballyhooed Python Challenge, which wrapped up at midnight Sunday, may not sound impressive. After all, nearly 1,600 people signed up for a month-long hunt to win cash for catching an invasive species that has gobbled up everything from egrets to alligators in the Everglades.

In reality, the effort bagged pretty much what many scientists, reptile experts and Florida wildlife managers expected — lots of publicity, also known as public awareness, and lots of data for researchers. It also produced what may wind up ranking as a record monthly count of Burmese python skins, though the bounty hunt was never envisioned as a way to eradicate them.

[…]

“The only thing that comes close to generating the same number of pythons was a historic freeze,” [University of Florida wildlife ecologist Frank] Mazzotti said. “I think the challenge did a darn good job.”

From the New York Daily News:

The month-long 2013 Python Challenge, designed to cull the population of the non-native snakes, saw participation by more than 1,500 hunters from 38 states and one Canadian province.

Despite the sizeable turnout, the hunt, which went from Jan. 12 and to midnight Sunday, bagged only about 50 of the Burmese constrictors as of Friday.

But Carli Segelson, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, says not to be fooled by the number.

“Burmese pythons are difficult to find,” Segelson told The News, “and are very-well camouflaged for that area.

“And they’re tricky to capture even if you do find one,” he added.

Science news service Phys.org took a more cynical view:

State wildlife officials are calling the invasive-snake bounty hunt a success, but for all the pomp and urgency, some hunters are not pleased.

“I don’t feel the epidemic is as bad as they’re saying,” said Mike Singleton, 39, of Tampa, who participated in the hunt the first weekend, but became disillusioned and quit.

By the numbers, it doesn’t sound good. At least 1,563 hunters registered to participate in the contest, which lasted a month. The number of Burmese pythons in the Everglades is said to be in the hundreds of thousands.

In the end, even they seemed to think the prospect of a pile of python carcasses would have been a good thing — despite the apparent post-hunt assurances that such a goal never crossed anyone’s mind. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Happy Year of the Snake from all of us at kingsnake.com!

…read more
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Turtle moms have a way to “freeze” the development of their eggs until conditions are right, according to a study published in The American Naturalist.

From LiveScience:

Pregnant turtles hit the pause button on their eggs’ development until the time is just right to lay them in a nest, researchers say. The careful moms do this by producing a gooey substance in their reproductive tracts that cuts oxygen to the embryos, a study shows.

Female turtles must be choosy about when and where they lay their delicate eggs to make sure food resources are available and environmental conditions are safe.

Read the full story here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

kingsnake.com has completely rebuilt its reptile breeders and business directory, launching it not only on the main site, but also as a standalone website called

kingsnake.com has completely rebuilt its reptile breeders and business directory, launching it not only on the main site, but also as a standalone website called ReptileBusinessGuide.com.

Businesses listed in kingsnake.com’s current business directory system will be listed there as well as being listed on the new ReptileBusinessGuide.com site for the same flat annual fee, but with a new platform that will allow us to expand the feature sets available to businesses and hobbyists. Currently, the system allows a user to have not only a link to their website, but a map link if they have a retail location, links to a their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages, as well as the ability to post a description and searchable keywords.

Both ReptileBusinessGuide.com and kingsnake.com’s business directories are geographically oriented, with a click map interface, a zip/postal code search, as well as a keyword search. State-by-state listings also include links to upcoming local events, and localized classified ads.

ReptileBusinessGuide.com also uses kingsnake.com’s standard banner sizes and rotations, including the brand new, low-cost, high visibility “Banner Pool” system.

As part of our “Sweet Sixteen” celebration event, listings are on sale through Saturday, Feb. 9, at midnight Central Time for only $50 each, a $50 savings over their regular price. What’s more, now that it gets your event listed on two websites for the price of one, it’s twice the deal.

To order a reptile and amphibian business directory listing for only $50 a year, click here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Apparently it takes a little more than romantic music to get tortoises in the mood.

The Associated Press reports:

Galapagos tortoises at London’s zoo lumbered around impassively as famous French pianist Richard Clayderman serenaded them with music from his latest album, “Romantique.”

The music — an attempt Thursday to put the reptiles in the mood to mate — appeared lost on the slow-moving giants.

Even a rousing rendition of “Chariots of Fire” did little to lift the tortoise’s spirits. They only seemed to perk up when zookeepers brought them some carrots.

Read more here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

In what has to be one of the most bizarre snake-related news stories ever, a man attending the Great Lakes Pet Expo walked off with a corn snake, and left his little boy behind.

From WISN.com:

Exhibitors at State Fair Park said they were just starting to pack up Saturday night at the Great Lakes Pet Expo when the incident happened.

Cindy Steinle runs the reptile exhibit and said a volunteer was showing a corn snake to a boy when the boy’s father walked off with the snake.

“In the 20 years I’ve been doing education like this, we’ve never had someone steal an animal and leave a child behind,” Steinle said. “He (the volunteer) had given the snake to the child to pet and to hold, and the child handed the snake off to his father and his father left, leaving his child behind.”

Organizers said the snake is only worth about $40 so they were baffled by the theft.

The child is now with his mother, and the snake has been returned as well.

Read more, and see a video interview with Steinle here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Is there a reptile show coming to town, but you don’t know when or where or even how to get there? That’s why we’ve launched

Is there a reptile show coming to town, but you don’t know when or where or even how to get there? That’s why we’ve launched ReptileShowGuide.com!

kingsnake.com has completely rebuilt its reptile events system, launching it both on the main site and as a standalone site. Reptile shows, meetings, and other events listed in kingsnake.com’s current event listing system will be listed there, as well as being listed on the new ReptileShowGuide.com site with the same flat per-show fee for commercial events — and still free for non-profit events!

The new events platform allows us to expand the feature sets available to show promoters who list with the service. Currently, the system allows a user to have not only a link to an events web site, but a map link to the event site, and links to their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages. We plan on adding more features, as well as making listing user-manageable shortly.

Both ReptileShowGuide.com and kingsnake.com’s revised events systems are geographically oriented, with a click map interface and a zip/postal code search. State-by-state listings also include links to local reptile businesses, and localized classified ads.

ReptileShowGuide.com also uses kingsnake.com’s standard banner sizes and rotations, including the brand new, low-cost, high visibility “Banner Pool” system.

As part of our “Sweet Sixteen” celebration event, listings are on sale through Saturday, Feb. 9, at midnight Central Time for only $50 each, a $50 savings over their regular price. What’s more, now that it gets your event listed on two websites for the price of one, it’s twice the deal.

To order a reptile and amphibian event listing for only $50, click here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Ever wanted to run a banner on kingsnake.com, but were stopped by the cost? Help is here!

Buying display based advertising on the Internet industry per-view (known as “CPM”) basis is cost-prohibitive for most small reptile and amphibian businesses and hobbyists. You buy $100 worth of views, and they run out before you even see your own banner. To address both of these issues and create ultra-low-cost display advertising opportunities, kingsnake.com has developed a new “Banner Pool” program where, for one very low price, you can get big name display advertising presence for a fraction of what traditional banners cost.

Here is how it works: kingsnake.com has categorized a number of its existing banner locations, and created new ones, as being part of a “banner pool.” Anyone wishing to add their banner to the pool will pay a low fixed fee, and their banner will be displayed equally along with other members of the banner pool. The number of views your banner receives will be based on the day’s visitor traffic divided by the number of banners in the pool.

Some special things about the pool banners: Unlike in our standard banner locations, we will not be using the pool banner locations for Google or Amazon advertising. Nor will we use them for kingsnake.com’s own “house” advertising.

That means you won’t be competing with third party or in-house ads. Only advertisers who have paid to be in the pool will be in the pool. * Additionally, membership in each pool will be limited so that each pool member will get a fair and appropriate amount of advertising for their purchase, with no less than 1000 views per day being the cutoff. Most will receive far in excess of that number.

How much does it cost to jump into the banner pool? There are a number of options based on display ad size and location, the most expensive being the large 300 x25 rectangle that appears on our index and other pages (the second display ad in the right column) for only $100.00 per year — 27 cents a day!

Other options include a full size (468×60) pool banner for $50 a year that will appear primarily in the footer as well as in classified ads and forum posts, and a half banner for $30 (234 x 60) that currently only appears in the footer but may see other locations added.

Finally, we’re offering a quarter-sized (120 x 60) banner that appears in the middle of most of our indexes, as well as the footer of every page on kingsnake.com. This is our best value, delivering hundreds of thousands of views daily. The cost for a banner in this pool is only $25 a year!

For more information on how to add your banner to the pool, or to purchase your banner pool slot, please go to http://www.kingsnake.com/services/bannerpool.html. Space in the pool is limited and …read more
Read more here: King Snake

new to the turtle world found a map and a slider named them spike and spaz gave them a sweet home but they do not seem to be comfortable still not sure if they are happy or not …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times

They’re so little! Yolk sack still in tact. I’m scared for them! Really hope they make it. I’ve had some really awesome people help me out with finding out some great information on how to care for hatchlings. Can’t wait until they’re happy and healthy! …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times

Hi,
I have two box turtles and they both need to start living outside. I live in Arizona so it is slowly cooling down. I made an outside enclosure for them with just natural dirt. It had a lot of rocks in it and I did my best to get them out. I talked to a friend of mine who said to get some mulch because one of the box turtles was eating the rocks. I got… …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times

I want to use plexi glass to wall off about 1/4 of a 135 gallon tank. Has any one ever done this before and if so do you have any tips?

I was thinking that the wall would go about 3/4 of the way up the tank or a little bit more. I would have a shelf built into the front of it that would either have a ramp built into it or I could use the shelf to hold a… …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times

I bought blood worms the yesterday ( the frozen cubed ones) and I left them in a ziplock in the refrgerator ( NOT FREEZER) So when i took it out it was no longer a solid and it was soft! and once i put it in the water it does move or anything. I WAS WONDERING IF the food is spoiled and i was wondering if there is a way of saving the rest of the cubes (… …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times