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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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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What a great looking pair of Australian water dragons 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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Revisiting a classic with this Pied Ball Python in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user js! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Leopard frog yin and yang! The Leucistic tadpole really stands out in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user retnaburner!
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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 is a gorgeous corn snake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dallashawks ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! No offense USPS!
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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 White’s Tree Frog has his eye on you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user exoreds ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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For their length they are heavy bodied, short-tailed snakes that occur, in their various species when adult (20 to 30 inches), in myriad colors. Of these it is the eastern hog-nosed snake, Heterodon platirhinos, that is the most variable. Hatchlings tend to be more uniformly colored. Collectively, hog-noses range from central New England to central Montana and Southeastern Alberta, then southward to southeastern Arizona, much of sorthern Mexico, southern Texas and the southern tip of the Florida peninsula.
These snakes are our great bluffers of snakedom. If frightened they may coil, they may hiss loudly, they may flatten the head and neck into a modified cobra-like hood, they may strike (usually with their mouth closed) or, if hard-pressed they may begin writhing spastically, contorting the body, open their mouth, then roll over and feign death. But as far as the hog-nosed snake is concerned the only position for a dead snake is lying upside down. If you turn the feigner right side up it will immediately roll upside down again. Southern and Eastern hog-nosed snakes are toad eaters.
Hog-nosed snake species and subspecies:
Hatchlings emerge from the eggs at about the same time metamorphing toadlets leave their pond sites.
Newly metamorphosed toads contain very low levels of the toxins that protect them as adults. So the hatchling hog-noses can safely eat them. As the toad grows and toxins strengthen, the resistance of the growing hog-nosed snake to the amphibian’s toxins also increases—seemingly a perfectly mutualistic program of symbiosis. It should be noted that the various western hog-noses accept a more varied diet than the eastern and southern hog-noses, toad specialists, both.
Hog-nosed snakes are generally considered nonvenomous. They are, however, dipsadine species, rear-fanged snakes, that in reality, produce a mildly toxic saliva. This usually matters not, for it is almost impossible to taunt a hog-noise into biting anything other than their chosen prey. Occasional bites however, whether deliberate or accidental, have resulted in pain, local edema, and some discoloration.
The uptilted rostral (nosetip) scale from which the common name is derived assists the snakes in unearthing burrowed prey items.
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This sulcata is happy basking in the sun while he mows the lawn in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dinahmoe ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! All venomous snakes need our support! This Cottonmouth is screaming it from the field in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user BowieKnife357 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Police say a woman has been found dead with an 8-foot-long python wrapped around her neck at a snake-laden home 20 miles northwest of Lafayette. Details are sketchy at the moment and police have yet to point the blame at the Reticulated Python in question. The woman’s cause of death remains under investigation, with an autopsy scheduled Friday. About 140 snakes were found in the home, the woman owned about 20 of them and had visited the home about twice a week.
The reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) is found in the native to South and Southeast Asia, including India, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaya, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The worlds longest constricting snake, some specimens are known to exceed 20 ft. in length. An ambush hunter, it waits until prey wanders within strike range before seizing it in its coils and killing by constriction. Its natural diet includes mammals and occasionally birds. Small specimens eat mainly rodents such as rats, whereas larger individuals switch to larger prey including deer and pigs weighing more than 130 lb.
A popular species among reptile hobbyists Reticulated Pythons are common in captivity and have been bred in many different color varieties.
Human fatalities attributed to large constrictors are exceedingly rare but do happen. kingsnake.com wants to emphasize that people working with large or venomous species should always work with a partner to avoid mishaps and injury. No matter how well you think you know an animal it only takes one mistake to have disastrous and sometimes fatal consequences.
For more information on this story please check out https://fox8.com/2019/10/31/indiana-woman-found-dead-with-8-foot-python-around-her-neck/. …read more
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Herpy Halloween from this Bearded Dragon with big aspirations uploaded by kingsnake.com user Snakeskii . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Some kids love kittens and puppies, but totes adorbs Kelsey shows off and her pet Blue Tongue Skink in this throwback pic from 2006 in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user danielle4girls4 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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There can be little more precious than a child and his pet Ball Python, like Markus and his snake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mikev ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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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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This coachwhip caused a scream, a screeching stop, and a marathon run. But it was worth it.At scream volume “—S T O P!!!!!!!!!! —.“ Yep, Jake had managed to scare me again. I was in the passing lane doing about 65, about halfway past a slower car, when Jake yelled. Fortunately there was no one following tightly so I slammed on the brakes and before I stopped Jake was out of the car running east while we were heading west. I parked on the verge, clambered out and back about 50 yards Jake was stationed in the grass trying to decide what the snake he had seen and I had missed on the side of the road was going to do.
Hurry screamed Jake. Hmppphhh. Not likely. My days of hurrying are long gone. But I WAS closer now. Go out on the road and try to prevent it from crossing. It’s a coachwhip—a PINK coachwhip!
Now I understood. We had seen but failed to catch or even photo pink coachwhips on our last 3 trips to or through Texas. Suddenly I felt Jake’s excitement. I do love racers and racer relatives.
So I limped out in the road and rather than watching me the big snake was now watching me. Then it turned it’s head towards Jake and started to move. In an instant Jake was airborne.In anotjhert instant he was flat on his belly in the grass and sandspurs. And in a 3rd instant he was screaming OWWWWWCH! GET IT! Certainly no problem now because he alresdyu had the snake at midbody and the snake had him by the eyebrow. Interesting dilemma. I wondered which would win?
But heck I wanted to photo the snake as badly as Jake did, so I grabbed it before it decided to swallow Jake and the snake immediately transferred its attention to my arm. Oh well. It was worth it.
Right Jake?
And I guess it might have been because another 5 miles down the road we had a similar but a bit less bitey encounter with a second pink coachwhip.
I was so impressed with these snakes that I did something that I haven’t done in a long while. I decided that if Jake didn’t wish to retain the snake I would like to keep them. Jake didn’t, I did.
But here’s what I didn’t expect. Once home and caged these 2 adult coachwhips proved dog tame. The first time I fed them both slowly left the hidebox, came to cage top, and gently took each thawed mouse from my fingers. No biting, no striking. And both have continued to do so on each feeding attempt. Now I’m excitedly awaiting their next shed. They should be knockouts.
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! A glorius shot of a Great Basin Rattlesnake in central Utah brings us some serenity for our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crocman6594 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
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A shout out to the little guys! Loving this Vinales Anole in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user macraei ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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So simple and so stunning! What a gorgeous California Kingsnake in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user kingzilla! Be sure to tell the you liked it here!
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No longer just black and white, these snakes show some of the variety in color that the Black Headed Pythons have in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Tom_Keogan! Be sure to tell Tom you liked it here!
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A True Giant. This Komodo Dragon takes center stage in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cowboyfromhell ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This quietly resting canyon treefrog probably hunkered down for the day.
Although the canyon treefrog, Hyla arenicolor, is common to abundant in many areas, its habit of hunkering down and resting quietly on streamside boulders and rock faces, in rock fissures, concealed in talus, or in crevices in concrete bridges where its pallid coloration renders it almost totally camouflaged, assures that this anuran is usually overlooked.
Having a disjunct range this 2” long treefrog occurs in the Davis and Chisos Mountains of TX as well as much of NM, AZ, and UT, then locally in southwest NV and CO. Its occurence is restricted to areas where at least a small amount of water is permanently available.
As are most treefrogs, this species is capable of remarkable and rapid color and pattern changes. By night it assumes a ground color of rather dark buff, gray, or olive, and is often patterned with extensive darker lichenate markings or well separated, dark-edged, rounded or oval dark markings. The darker markings may be little more than smudges or be well defined, and may be brown, green, or of an intermediate color. Markings may be best defined and ground color the darkest when the frog is chorusing on rainy nights. The lightest colors are assumed when the frog is resting quietly in the morning sun. At such a time the ground color is most apt to be an off-white, palest olive, or very light pinkish-tan, and the dark markings barely discernible. The dorsal skin is rough. A dark-bordered light spot is nearly always discernible beneath the eye. The concealed surfaces of the hind legs are orangeish. The vocal sac is rounded. Males have a dark throat skin; that of the females is light.
When small, tadpoles are quite dark in overall coloration, but with growth lighten considerably and may even appear nearly gold just prior to metamorphosis. The tailfin is usually conspicuously spotted, at least dorsally.
The call, a repetitious stacatto of hollow-sounding notes, is heard most often immediately prior to, during, or closely following rains.
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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 young green Basilisk in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AirPirate is enjoying his morning swim! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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If this axolotl in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tadpoleo doesn’t make you smile, I am not sure what will! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This curious little wild Rat snake is checking out the camera in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cmac107 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Poised and watch, 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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This is an adult male granite spiny lizard.Light phase adult male Sceloporus orcutti are arguably the most beautiful of our spiny lizards. The ground color of adult males may vary from copper to charcoal. A dark wedge, often obscured in darker males, is present on each shoulder. Dorsally, scales are marked with black, turquoise, and yellow-green. The entire venter and throat is brilliant blue. Light phase males often have a broad stripe of intense purple for the entire length of the dorsum. Females tend more towards a coppery ground color, are often prominently banded, and have the purple dorsal area less well defined. The venter is whitish or faintly washed with blue. Juveniles are prominently crossbanded.
Adult males attain a total length of 10 1/2″ (svl 4 1/2″). Females are somewhat smaller.
This beautiful rock and cliff dweller ranges southward from the northern side of San Gorgonio Pass, Riverside County, CA, southward to the latitude of La Paz, Baja California Sur. (south of this it is represented by the genetically dissimilar but lookalike Hunsaker’s spiny lizard). Adult male granite spiny lizards attain a total length of 10 1/2″ (svl 4 1/2″). Females are somewhat smaller and are less colorful.
One large female laid 11 parchment-shelled eggs in late June. Incubation lasted for 57 days at a variable (room) temperature. The hatchlings consumed small crickets within a day of hatching. Both nighttime cooling and natural photoperiod are probably necessary to induce breeding and the production of viable eggs.
Fast and wary, S. orcutti is most easily approached early in the morning and just before retiring to their crevices for the night.
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! What a stunning albino Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) for our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! 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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“You’re kingsnake.com, where are all the kingsnakes?” Right here 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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Loving this Dumeril’s basking in the sun for a photoshoot in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user liljenni ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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A stunning Asian Forest Tortoise (Manouria emys phayrei,) takes over as our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user emysbreeder ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Whether spots or stripes the red markings are usually at least partially edged with black.Our eastern newts are members of the genus Notophthalmus. Those seen in the pet trade are the four subspecies of the red-spotted newt, N. viridescens. Of these, two subspecies, the red-spotted and the broken-striped newts are, respectively, attractively adorned with a row of black edged vermillion spots or intermittent stripes along both sides of their dorsa. The remaining two subspecies, the pleasantly colored central, and the particularly drab peninsula newts usually lack most, or all, traces of red.
The eastern newts are rather small creatures. The largest race, the red-spotted form, tops out at a mere 5 1/2″ in total length. All four subspecies of the eastern newt have quite complex life cycles. Eggs are deposited in water, and hatch into prominently gilled larvae. After a period of time, if conditions are right, the larvae resorb their gills and transform into rough-skinned, often brightly colored, terrestrial dwelling subadults. At this stage of their lives, the creatures are often referred to as “efts.” In the northeast, central, and some areas of the south, red or red-orange are the common colors of the efts. Efts in the deep south are often only little, if any, brighter than the adults. This stage exists, conditions allowing, for from one to several years. After completing the eft stage (which is foregone entirely in some newt populations or if terrestrial conditions are unfavorable) eastern newts return to the water, fade in coloration from red to olive-green (with black spotted yellow bellies) and, there, complete their lives.
Adult eastern newts are often sold as “oddities” for aquaria. Slow moving, they are compatible with most “community tank” fish, but will prey upon fish eggs or freshly dead baby livebearers. Adult washed brine shrimp, blood and whiteworms, and chopped earthworms are relished by newts. Some prepared fishfoods are also consumed. Their skin secretions usually protect newts from the occasional aggressive tankmates.
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Here is to hoping this hatchling albino Siamese Crocodile our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crocodilepaul helps you survive this Monday!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! We are seeing red with this gorgeous shot of a Pygmy Rattlesnake our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Tamers1 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What amazing colors Uros come in, like this ornate in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user plietz! Be sure to tell them you liked it here.
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The 3 subspecies of the black swamp snake are so similar that it will take scale counts to differentiate them. This is a Carolina swamp snake.Three races of red-bellied swamp snakes, Seminatrix pygaea ssp., occur in the southeastern United States. They differ principally in the number of belly scales that each possesses. None are restricted to swamps, but, rather, may inhabit all but rapidly moving waters. They are especially partial to those waters that are choked with vegetation. The dense vegetational mats formed by the crowns and root systems of the beautiful and prolific, introduced water hyacinth are particularly favored. In fact (the difficulty I had in finding swamp snakes not withstanding), the spread of the troublesome water hyacinth through southeastern waterways has probably greatly benefitted swamp snake populations.
Seminatrix pygaea is an ovoviviparous species. From three to 14 young, diminutive replicas of the adults in appearance, are birthed in the late summer or early autumn.
Swamp snakes are generally thought of as difficult captives. In nature they are rather specialized denizens of a habitat that is difficult for herpetoculturists to reproduce. If kept captive in either an aquarium or with moist sphagnum as a substrate, a potentially fatal blister disease often manifests itself. If kept on a dry substrate, these snakes often experience shedding difficulties. A happy medium may take considerable effort.
The commonly listed dietary preferences of the species are also not those usually available to hobbyists. Mentioned food items include, among other things, leeches, dwarf sirens, tadpoles, and other such aquatic fare.
However, I have recently learned of one, long-term captive swamp snake that has contentedly dwelt in a small, dry, terrarium (with a water bowl), AND which feeds ravenously on newly born pink mice. Too little is known about the species as a captive for me to hypothesize whether this specimen is the exception or the norm. It might be of interest for other southeastern reptile enthusiasts to experiment with the captive care of swamp snakes, but to be ready to release their specimens back into natural habitats should they not respond quickly and satisfactorily.
Certainly the snake is sufficiently beautiful to warrant the interest of many hobbyists who have space for only a small specimen or two. Although swamp snakes may rarely attain a length of 18 inches, most are adult at from 10 to 14 inches in overall length.
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