If you are up in Canada, chances are you know Stacey Laurin. Stacey is known for both her ball pythons but also her willingness to work with others to help spread the reptile love. She is always there to help people, especially beginners to get set on the right path.

Now it is our turn to help. Stacey has been battling a very aggressive ovarian cancer for 4 years and has recently come back with a vengeance. Now Stacey could use a little help from the community she has helped for so long.

From the GoFundMe

“Stacey is currently at a medical facility receiving pain management medications and treatments. Unfortunately alternative cancer treatments are quite costly and a hard burden to bear. She is now in the fight for her life, if Stacey has ever touched your life, please consider donating to her cancer treatment, or simply sharing this fundraiser.”

There are two big ways you can help Stacey. The obvious answer is donate, but if you can not donate, please share this around.

Please check the GoFundMe out here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

If you are up in Canada, chances are you know Stacey Laurin. Stacey is known for both her ball pythons but also her willingness to work with others to help spread the reptile love. She is always there to help people, especially beginners to get set on the right path.

Now it is our turn to help. Stacey has been battling a very aggressive ovarian cancer for 4 years and has recently come back with a vengeance. Now Stacey could use a little help from the community she has helped for so long.

From the GoFundMe

“Stacey is currently at a medical facility receiving pain management medications and treatments. Unfortunately alternative cancer treatments are quite costly and a hard burden to bear. She is now in the fight for her life, if Stacey has ever touched your life, please consider donating to her cancer treatment, or simply sharing this fundraiser.”

There are two big ways you can help Stacey. The obvious answer is donate, but if you can not donate, please share this around.

Please check the GoFundMe out here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Pine Woods Treefrogs often call in huge numbers from terrestrial locations.
Last nite (06 Aug 2020) was a 1 snake (cottonmouth) aor and 1 snake (same species) DOR kind of night. Storms had been forecast for earlier in the day but, as usual, they arrived late. I had motored about 65 miles northward hoping for a warm temperature and dry road. By the time I had arrived at the destination a rainy dusk had enveloped the region and temperatures had plummeted from the 80s to the low 70s. I knew by that time that I had been lucky to see even that single cottonmouth. Rain fell, then fell harder, then harder still. The world—or at least my little part of it– appeared awash. But it soon became apparent that this was just what the anurans, the hylids and the microhylids, had been waiting for. There was no lead in to the anuran chorus. One minute the region was silent, and of a sudden, frog voices echoed from mile after mile of newly refreshed roadside ditches. The choruses were astounding.

Pine Woods tree frogs were by far the most numerous. Hunkered down in the grasses their Morse Code cadences were deafening in some flatland areas. They were followed next by the honks and churrs of green and squirrel treefrogs. A fair sized chorus of Cope’s gray treefrogs was heard back near a forest stream, and bronze and pig frogs were plunking and grunting from Impassible Bay. Only a single barking treefrog was seen, it sitting quietly on the road. Cricket frogs called in fair numbers from various flooded locales.I estimated the calling anurans in the thousands. No way to guess at the non-vocalizing females. Interestingly, I saw zero bufonids of either species or either sex.

Friend and researcher Dr. Sam Sweet’s comment when I told him about the experience was “You hit the storms just right! I went SW and everything cleared up by dark — one small ribbon snake, a baby N. fasciata and about 10 leopard frogs on 55 miles of road.” Sam’s ending comment, “Floriduh!”
Continue reading “The Frogs (at least some of them) Have Returned” …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Happy Rattlesnake Friday! This fantastic headshot of a Copperhead our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user cochran reminds us that on Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate all our venomous creatures! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

The Coelen’s python may be a hybrid, but they are still are so beautiful that they deserve a spot in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user JonathanH! Be sure to tell tem you liked it here!

Be sure to tell JonathanH you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

These two boas are chilling in a fresh tub of water in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BNixon ! I bet there were babies being made at some point here. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Despite their reputation of being angry, the beauty of a Tokay gecko puts it front and center in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user stingray! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Nose to nose with a California Giant Salamander.
California has it all. Well almost all. Except for what they don’t have. But if its caudatan diversity you’re interested in, California is definitely a state you should consider visiting. Newts, Lunged salamanders and Lungless salamanders all may be found there. Some are colorful, some are drab. Some are tiny, some are comparatively large. All are interesting.

One of the groups that I find of great interest are the Giant Salamanders of the genus Dicamptodon (family Dicamptodontidae). Of the 4 species 2 dwell in California’s cool, moist forestlands. These are The California and the Pacific Giant Salamanders, D. ensatus and D. tenebrosus, respectively. Both are hefty, and both top out at just about a foot in length, with tenebrosus perhaps being a bit more slender, a tiny bit shorter, having a proportionately smaller head and shorter limbs. This latter is also a bit darker in color. The former, the California Giant, is the southernmore of the 2, ranging southward in the Coast Range from southern Mendocino County to western Glenn County. The Pacific Giant ranges northward from Glenn County to southwest British Columbia, Canada.

Populations of both of these big nocturnal salamanders are adversely affected by foresting practices that leave stream banks unprotected, subject to drying, and the streams themselves subject to warming. Although both of these salamanders are variably colored, neither is brightly colored. Ground color of both is tan to light brown with well-defined reticulations and spots of reddish brown to dark brown. They breed in streams and creeks and the aquatic larvae may take several years to metamorphose.

Prey includes invertebrates such as worms and slugs as well as vertebrate prey such as smaller salamanders.

Continue reading “Meet the California Giant Salamander” …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

What a fabulous shot of a Great Basin Rattlesnake in Utah in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crocman6594! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Hope your day shines like this Northern Pine does in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Turekj ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

What a lovely pair of Vietnamese Leaf Turtles in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user schroderal ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Sometimes you just need to be sassy like this lil alligator in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user lance_portal ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Fer-de-Lance are everywhere and nowhere. Walk carefully–especially at night.When I sit down to write these blogs, I try to discuss any herps mentioned in a positive way. Such is the case now. I’m writing about the Fer-de-Lance and I’m positive that this, the Fer-de-Lance, Terciopelo, or Her-gon) are the sneakiest snakes alive. I’m equally positive that there far more of them within a Baseball Pitcher’s throw than I can even begin to guess at.

I know that about 10 of us walked across a clearing between the tambos (rustic rooms) to look at a frog brought in by a guide, and when we turned to amble back there sat all coiled and ready for meanness if necessary was an adult Fer-de-Lance. It wasn’t there a minute earlier. Then one night I was stooped down looking at a frog on the trail (I’m about to begin believing that frogs are bad luck!), stood up and there was an 18 inch long Fer-de-Lance staring me straight in the eye. It was coiled 5 feet up in a leafy shrub. Another time I walked down to the shower stepping carefully on the cement pads and looking carefully between them. Nothing. Five minutes later I retraced my steps and in the grass between the pads were a neonate Fer-de-Lance and a couple of pads later an adult was half on and half off a pad. Then there was the incident at the frog puddle. We—all of us– had walked from tambo to river along this cleared trail numerous times for a week or so. Zero snakes of any kind. Finally we had a rain hard and long enough to fill a depression in the trail. While it was raining small leptodactylid frogs began gathering at puddle edges. And within 15 minutes there were a half dozen Fer-de-Lances gathered to prey on the frogs. I wonder how closely we had been walking to those snakes without ever seeing them.

The above, of course, are excerpts from Preserva Madre Selva on the Rio Orosa in Amazonian Peru. And what exactly is this abundant snake?

The Fer-de-Lance, Bothrops atrox, is a very venomous pit viper. It has a ground color that may vary from olive through various browns and grays to almost yellow. The pattern is equally variable, sometimes being prominent dark banding and on other example the markings may be faint rectangular dorsal blotches or triangles. There is a diagonal facial stripe from the back of the eye to just beyond the angle of the jaw. It is a snake that you should get to know immediately. It is a dangerous snake that as Devon and I have often said is everywhere and nowhere. Caution is the keyword here. And never stroll, even for a few feet, at night without your flashlight. To do so is inviting disaster.

But c’mon down. You’ll love the herps.

Continue reading “Fer-de-Lance” …read more
Read more here: King Snake

A male Voeltzkow’s chameleon in Madagascar. Photo courtesy CNN

After nearly a century of being elusive, the rare Voeltzkow’s chameleon was recently rediscovered on an expedition of scientists from Germany and Madagascar.

“Our planet is probably facing the beginning of an enormous extinction of species, often referred to as the ‘sixth mass extinction’, the ‘Holocene extinction’ or the ‘Anthropocene extinction’,” researchers wrote.
“Rediscoveries of ‘lost’ species are very important as they provide crucial data for conservation measures and also bring some hope amidst the biodiversity crisis.”

To read more and see the video, click here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

A male Voeltzkow’s chameleon in Madagascar. Photo courtesy CNN

After nearly a century of being elusive, the rare Voeltzkow’s chameleon was recently rediscovered on an expedition of scientists from Germany and Madagascar.

“Our planet is probably facing the beginning of an enormous extinction of species, often referred to as the ‘sixth mass extinction’, the ‘Holocene extinction’ or the ‘Anthropocene extinction’,” researchers wrote.
“Rediscoveries of ‘lost’ species are very important as they provide crucial data for conservation measures and also bring some hope amidst the biodiversity crisis.”

To read more and see the video, click here. …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Back in the field as this lovely Fire Salamander takes the spotlight in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user NYgaboon ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Happy Rattlesnake Friday! What a fantastic close up of this horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), uploaded by kingsnake.com user gaboonviper1388! 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.

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

An amazing shot of this Indigo Snake in the field in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user ACO3124! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

We hope that this amazing field shot of a Wood Frog kicks off your day right in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user casichelydia . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

What a cute plated lizard in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jungleemporium ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own and photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Hope this beautiful Sumatran Short Tail (aka Black Blood) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user amaliamoran brightens your Monday! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

In celebration of all things venomous, ciccada is on the menu for this Copperhead in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user coolhl7 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Gotta love the sassy nature of the Schneider’s smooth-fronted caiman in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cpipes! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

We never post enough kingsnakes, so get a gander of this beautiful kingsnake in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user kasie ! When this photo was originally posted in 2006, Martha was over 30 years old! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own and photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Gotta love Garters! Look at this stunner in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tomdickinson! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Note the similarities such as the narrow pointed head of mole and pine snakes that is designed for plowing through subsurface burrows. This is a young adult mole snake.
They’re a half a world apart but the similarities between the African Mole Snake, Pseudaspis cana, and the American Pine Snakes, Pituophis melanoleucus ssp. are rather remarkable. Do not mistake the mole snake of this article for our various Mole Kingsnakes. The two are very different. If you have been fortunate enough to work with both African Mole and American Pine snakes you’ll know immediately what I’m talking about.

Both are small-headed, strong-jawed, powerful constrictors that spend a goodly amount of time pursuing rodents in their subsurface burrows. Our gopher and pine snake pursue pocket gophers and the mole snakes pursue mole rats and other rodents. The two differ in scalation, with the scales of the pine snakes being keeled and with the mole snake usually (but not always) having smooth scales. A length of 6 feet is not unusual for them and anecdotal accounts of even greater lengths are often heard.

Mole snake hatchlings and juveniles are straw colored and strongly patterned with dark alternating dorsal and lateral bars. The markings fade with age and adults vary from an almost uniform light olive to dark olive-brown in color. Hatchlings of the American pine snake may be paler than the adults. This snake varies in color by subspecies with the northern subspecies (P. m. melanoleucus) being the most strongly patterned in chocolates, black, and white. The Florida subspecies, P. m. mugitus, is the palest (sometimes almost a uniform straw tan), and as indicated by its common name the Alabama/Mississippi subspecies the Black Pine, P. m. lodingi, is the darkest.

Mole and Pine snakes also differ in reproductive modes. The mole snake bears large litters (usually between 20 and 90) of live young. The Pines produce small clutches (often only 3 to 8) of large eggs.

Both species are tough and they know it. And they’re not at all reluctant to pass that knowledge on. If unduly disturbed both hiss loudly, assume a striking “S,” and lunge at the intruder. But both do tame and some make excellent pets.
Continue reading “Mole-Pine snake Similarities” …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Happy Rattlesnake Friday! What a stunning Brazil’s Lancehead in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user neverscared ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Remember, we share photos of all our venomous reptiles to help celebrate their place in this world and help dispel some of the myths surrounding them. They contribute so much to our medical community and environmental health, they need our help for their conservation!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

How cool is this African Herald Snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MVH4 . Gotta love colubrids of all types! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

What wonderful color contrast in this hatchling Mud Snake in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Godfrey ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own and photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Alligator lizards are becoming more popular as reptile pets and it is easy to see why in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SalS ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

This hatching Burmese python our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user OrangeTurtle is super creamy and beautiful. Seeing these make a comeback at shows reminded us WHY we keep fighting. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Let’s celebrate in the mighty southwest beauty of the Rock Rattlesnake here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Janne ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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!
Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Banded Geckos look a lot more delicate than they actually are. This is a San Diego Banded Gecko.

Counting species and subspecies there are 7 forms of banded geckos, genus Coleonyx, in the American West. Two of these, the Barefoot, C. switaki, and the Reticulated C. reticulatus, are larger than the remaining 5 and have very limited ranges. One, the Texas, C. brevis, is the easternmost and is smaller than any of the others. It is the remaining 4, all subspecies of the wide ranging Western Banded Gecko, C. variegatus, that we shall mention here. All have elliptical pupils and are nocturnal. The body is slender and between 2 and 3 inches long. The original tail (the tail is easily autotomized and often in some stage of regeneration) is about the same length as the snout-to-vent. Original tails are prominently banded.

The 4 subspecies of the Western Banded Gecko that occur in the USA are the San Diego, C. v. abbotti, the Tucson, C. v. bogerti, the Utah, C.v. utahensis, and the Desert, C. v. variegatus. Appearance differences are slight and it is best if you are interested in a particular form that you check a field guide for ranges.

Generally speaking though, the San Diego subspecies occurs on the Pacific slopes of southern CA. The Tucson form may be encountered in seAZ and swNM, the Utah race is restricted to swUT and immediately adjacent NV and AZ, and the Desert, by far the most wide-ranging of the 4, is found over much of AZ, NV and eastern CA.

Although these little geckos may be found beneath surface debris such as wood, cardboard, and rock by day, I’ve always found it a lot more fun to road hunt them at night. They are active, their light color contrasts well with dark pavement, and they cross roads in a series of darting rushes, often with their tail curled up over their back, this initially giving them the appearance of a large scorpion. Keep this similarity in mind as you jam your car into park, slam open the door, and rush out to slap a cupped hand of the little creature on the road. It’s not pleasant to be painfully surprised!

Continue reading “Some Banded Geckos of the American West” …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Hang in there, just like the Tree Frog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user gerrygi! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

What stunning colors on this male Sceloporus orcutti in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user arkherps . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

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!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here! …read more
Read more here: King Snake

Juvenile Speckled Forest Pit Vipers are much grayer than the adults.

This pretty, rather large but slender lancehead of the primary Amazonian Rainforests is seldom seen and therefore poorly understood. The gray to olive green ground color (gray when juvenile, olive when adult) renders this snake all but invisible as it lies quietly coiled amidst the fallen leaves or, seemingly as often, on the mossy or lichenate trunks of fallen trees or forest lianas. Normal adult size is between 3 and 4 feet in length but may occasionally exceed 5 feet. Litter size varies from 2 to more than a dozen in number. Neonates reportedly vary from about 7 inches to 10 inches in length. The grayish color of the neonates provides no less camouflage than the green shades of the adults. At all stages of growth there are prominent darker bands are flecked heavily with the ground color and often terminate ventrolaterally with a light blotch. The iris of the eye is liberally flecked with black.

In bygone years this snake was referred to as Castelnaud’s Viper, Bothrops castelnaudi, and that name is still occasionally used today.

In more than 20 years of periodic Amazonian exploration I have seen only a single example of this species in the wild. But after seeing the remarkable camouflage of that one, I have never ceased to wonder how many unseen examples I’ve brushed by?

Continue reading “Speckled Forest Pit Viper, Bothriopsis taeniatus “ …read more
Read more here: King Snake