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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There is so much to love about Colubrids, so why not celebrate them with a big ole pile of beauty in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user xtranch ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What wonderful field find in Mexico of this Lyre Snake our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Chuck_Ch ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What a sassy lil Tokay in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mattcrum! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What a wee lil Kinyongia tenue , commonly known as a Flap-nose Chameleon in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pardalisberlin! 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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These Uroplatus pietschmanni in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mcamo3 ,show us what amazing masters of camoflague they truly are! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This variable kingsnake is on fire in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Rod_McLeod. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Love is in the air with this pair of Gran Canaria giant lizards (Gallotia stehlini) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user John-C . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Awesome feeding shot of a chameleon in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 1Sun s! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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A profile of the Southeastern Slimy Salamander.
By Dick and Patti Bartlett
Plethodon grobmani, the Southeastern Slimy Salamander, is a creature of pinewoods habitats. It was once fairly common in our neighborhood. Today (2021) following several lengthy droughts and a major attack of pine bark beetles (and the resulting death of old pine stands), this salamander is almost unknown here. At the turn of the century I would go across the street, enter the pinewoods, and in a half hour search say “howdy-do” to about a dozen slimys. Compare that to my occasional searches over the last 10 years when my exact total was one—a single salamander– and it was not in the best of shape. Of course, as already mentioned, most of the pine trees in that area are gone also, victims of the infestation of pine-bark beetles.
In other locales, where the pine bark beetle plague was less pronounced than here, this white-flecked black salamander remains easily found in pine and mixed woodlands. Like others of this, genus this salamander has no aquatic larval stage. The egg clutch is deposited in or beneath moist fallen pines and development, from the newly deposited eggs, through metamorphosis, to emergence as a miniature of the adults occurs in the egg capsule.
Continue reading “Comments on the Southeastern Slimy Salamander” …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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Take a few moments today to follow the lead of this Giant Day Gecko in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crazyrhacos and give yourself some time to relax! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What a wonderful headshot of a Desert Iguana in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dvl s! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What a beautiful Cuban Knight Anole in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user StPierre68 simply could not be any cuter! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Tick Tock. The week passes quickly but today is easier starting with the smile of a Nile Croc in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user CDieter! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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A Yellow Rat Snake from Central Florida .
By Dick and Patti Bartlett
Despite their need for papers and what the geneticists claim, I continue to follow the Linnaeus method and recognize subspecies. To that end, this is now and has been almost forever the Yellow Rat Snake, Pantherophis obsoleta quadrivittata. There are 4 other subspecies, including the nominate form, the northeastern Black Rat Snake, in this species group.
It is at the southeastern edge of its range that the Black Rat Snake slips gently into the yellow race. First the southernmost Black Rat Snakes assume a dorsolateral pattern of stripes and a greenish hue and as the greenish rats continue further south they become the traditional and long recognized yellow subspecies. But way south, down near Lake Okeechobee, when the Everglades was truly a river of grass, before the rice fields, the sugarcane, the sodfields, before the maze of drainage canals and Brazilian pepper, the yellow rat snake lost all but a vestige of stripes, assumed a deep orange color, and became the Everglades rat snake. Human influx = habitat destruction. And despite the efforts of the state, if such efforts, are actually real, habitat destruction continues, seemingly almost unabated.
But now back to comments regarding the yellow rat snake. They are real, and they continue to exist, perhaps in reduced numbers, over most if not all, of their long-described range. They remain rather common in our neighborhood, but houses are now quickly replacing the woodlands here. I can only hope for the best. Long live the Yellow Rat Snake.
Continue reading “Eastern Rat Snake No. Yellow Rat Snake, Yes” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday and World Snake Day! Is there any more iconic snake than a Western Diamondback? Poised and ready in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Terry Cox is no exception! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
We celebrate #RattlesnakeFriday to celebrate the wonderful venomous species that contribute to making our world greater and also use it as a way to support conservation efforts to protect these species worldwide!
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Our Herp Photo of the Day shows and amazing look inside the egg of a Russian Tortoise to be, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tortusjack!
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That’s a whole lotta bull. Bullsnake that is! Loving the colors on the one here in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user orchidspider has never missed a meal! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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So precious! We love hatchling photos, like this awakening Gecko in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SA! 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 Gladiator Treefrog was sitting quietly in a low shrub.
By Dick and Patti Bartlett
This big brown(ish) treefrog is, at an adult length of 5 inches, one of the largest hylids from Amazonas to Panama. Although both genders attain this length, males often are marginally the larger. The unveined orangish eyes help differentiate this common treefrog from other large species. The sides and dorsum bear dark markings that may be prominent or almost invisible. All four feet are webbed.
The Giant Gladiator Treefrog (Hyla (Boana) boans), is commonly seen in riveredge/streamedge shrubs and low trees, and less commonly on the moist shoreline.
The name of Gladiator was given for males at their breeding sites will grapple in territorial battles. These scraps are made the more serious due to the fact that the males have sharp, bony, thumb excrescences. It is usually the bigger male that wins.
Nesting depressions may be either natural small shore-edge puddles or a depression dug by the male. There is usually at least a small water-holding connection to the nearby permanent water source. It is through this that the tadpoles reach the permanent water in which they grow and metamorphose.
Continue reading “The Giant Gladiator Treefrog” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! All venomous snakes need our support, and this stunning Olmec Pit Viper (Atropoides olmec) in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user PeteSnakeCharmer is no exception! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
We celebrate #RattlesnakeFriday to celebrate the wonderful venomous species that contribute to making our world greater and also use it as a way to support conservation efforts to protect these species worldwide!
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Does a kingsnake really need an intro for our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user trevid ? Nope, but hey nice grayband. 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 ! It’s three for Thursday! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Poised and watching, what a stunning Mangrove in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ptahtoo! Be sure to tell them you liked it here.
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Grumpy Toad is judging you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user galen ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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The Mexican Hook-nosed Snake is a tiny burrowing species from South Texas and Mexico.
By Dick and Patti Bartlett
Oh, OK, so it’s not a hog-nosed snake, but in profile, its sharply upturned rostral scale, sure makes it look like one. This is the tiny Mexican Hook-nosed Snake, Ficimia streckeri. A true miniature, it is adult at from 7 to 11 inches, but may, on rare occasions reach a foot and a half in length. The few that I’ve seen (it was Kelly Irwin who introduced Patti and me to this snake) have been under a foot long. In the USA this species is restricted to southern TX, but its range extends far southward in eastern Mexico.
In keeping with its preference for soils, often near water sources, through which it can easily burrow, this is basically a sand-tan to pale brown or sand-gray(ish) snake with an unpatterned head and a busy pattern of narrow darker bars or spots along the back. The lower sides are basically unpatterned. This little snake can be easily differentiated from hog-nosed snakes, all of which have keeled scales, by its smooth (=unkeeled) body scales. It is usually crepuscular or nocturnal when surface active. Continue reading “That Other “Hog-nosed” Snake” …read more
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The Mexican Hook-nosed Snake is a tiny burrowing species from South Texas and Mexico.
By Dick and Patti Bartlett
Oh, OK, so it’s not a hog-nosed snake, but in profile, its sharply upturned rostral scale, sure makes it look like one. This is the tiny Mexican Hook-nosed Snake, Ficimia streckeri. A true miniature, it is adult at from 7 to 11 inches, but may, on rare occasions reach a foot and a half in length. The few that I’ve seen (it was Kelly Irwin who introduced Patti and me to this snake) have been under a foot long. In the USA this species is restricted to southern TX, but its range extends far southward in eastern Mexico.
In keeping with its preference for soils, often near water sources, through which it can easily burrow, this is basically a sand-tan to pale brown or sand-gray(ish) snake with an unpatterned head and a busy pattern of narrow darker bars or spots along the back. The lower sides are basically unpatterned. This little snake can be easily differentiated from hog-nosed snakes, all of which have keeled scales, by its smooth (=unkeeled) body scales. It is usually crepuscular or nocturnal when surface active. Continue reading “That Other “Hog-nosed” Snake” …read more
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Here’s lookin’ at you kid! Check out this gorgeous albino Southern Pacific Rattlesnake in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This frillie looks a little angry our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user nydon ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This little cornsnake must have been racing to get out of the egg ahead of his siblings in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cochran ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Love the variety of patterns in these splotched Sinaloans in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user bslugger551! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What more can we say but AMAZING! This is such a beautiful shot of a Desert Horned Lizard in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Brockn ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Blackie, as she was released.
By Dick and Patti Bartlett
Blackie has been our backyard black racer for 5+ years now. Although not tame she was very tolerant of our movements around her, spent much time hunting anoles in the backyard and often sunned on the back steps.
I won’t say we actually loved her, but we surely looked forward to her visits on all but the coldest days.
About 2 months ago Blackies sustained a serious mauling by our Aussie Shepherd. The mauling, we thought when separating the 2, would be fatal. Blackie had badly torn skin and her back seemed broken in 2 places.
But she was alive. Patti carefully brought the snake inside and I coiled her as gently as possible on the bottom of a 10 gallon tank, straightened her back at the breaks, covered her, and hoped for the best, whatever that could be.
Against all odds, she was alive the next morning, lifting her head and flicking her tongue when I put my hand in the tank. But she hadn’t moved her body position so I dropped some dried leaves atop her an added feeling of security, added a water dish, and let her be. And so it went, day after day.
But then one day about 3 weeks later she had moved, half her body length was atop the leaves and she was busily flicking her tongue. I moved her to the water dish, she drank, and I noticed she was entering a shedding cycle. A few days later she began shedding, I assisted, and was pleased to see that when I touched her sides behind both breaks she moved away from my finger. She had feeling!
We decided to keep her captive through our winter, just hoping she’ll be releasable when the warmth again pervades.
Footnote: She was released on 24 Feb 2021 and was last seen periscoping for anoles. Good luck, Blackie.
Continue reading “Blackie our backyard black racer” …read more
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In celebration of all things venomous, a photo of a bushmaster taken in the field graces our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user surgeon ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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We love who we love and that is KINGSNAKES like this stunning greyband in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user APLAXAR s! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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We love who we love and that is KING SNAKES like this stunning greyband in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user APLAXAR s! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Think this Cham in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 1Sun a little hangry?! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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