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
No products found.
Loving this juvenile alligator in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mbwright82 chilling out on a warm day! 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
No products found.
Sonoma County has some beautiful Black Speckled Salamanders, just like this one in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user skyserpent ! 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
No products found.
This sideneck turtle is playing shy in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user reptilicus81 ! 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
No products found.
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!
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
No products found.
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
No products found.
With his nose peeking through the baby goo, this boa’s first moments are here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dpiscopo69,! 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
No products found.
This juvenile yellow Anaconda is ready for his close-up in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mattf77 ,! 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
No products found.
This lacerta is loving to lounge in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user krloucks . 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
No products found.
Profile of an Everglades corn snake.
Throughout their immense range over most of the eastern USA (NJ in the northeast, to AR and LA in the west, and the FL Keys in the southeast) the corn snake (or red rat snake), Pantherophis g. guttatus, varies widely in abundance and color. But over that geographic immensity, the corn snake is probably no better known and variable than in Florida. If you, as a hobbyist, have any interest at all in pretty, fairly large, easily bred, nonvenomous snakes, you have almost assuredly heard of “Tampa phase,” “blood reds,” “anerythristic,” “Miami phase,” “Keys corns (which designation contains 3 or 4 color variants), or just plain old “Florida” corns.
But one you don’t hear an awful lot about is also one of the brighter Florida variants. This is the Everglades phase of the red rat (or corn) snake.
The ground color of this constricting beauty is a warm tan. The red-orange dorsal blotches are edged with black. The black edging is about a half-scale wide on the front and rear of each blotch but is noticeably less prominent on the lateral edges. All colors are paler along the sides of the snake.
Caught your attention? Like other corns, this variant is active crepuscularly and after nightfall. It may often been seen in agricultural or grassland regions at the southern tip of the peninsula. But a word to the wise should be sufficient—if you are collecting, stay out of the Everglades National Park.
Continue reading “Everglades Corn Snakes” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
No products found.
This little Diamondback baby found Arizona is adorable in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user kevinjudd in the field! We can only imagine the excitement at this find! 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
No products found.
An all American, this Baja black-collared lizard basks in it’s own freedom in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Brockn ! 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
No products found.
A snake in the hand is better than two in the bush! Like this lovely field shot kingsnake in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Kingzilla! Be sure to tell tem 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
No products found.
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
No products found.
A stunning shot from Ghana of this Crowned Bullfrog steals the limelight in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Slaytonp ! 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
No products found.
The crows will often alert me to nesting activities by our tortoises.
Caw, caw, caw.
Hmmmmm. That crow is really close. I glanced up from the keyboard and scanned the bird feeders. No crow.
Caw, caw, caw.
Nearer yet. Then it dawned.
The crow, inky black even when bathed in the brightness of the late morning sunlight, was sitting atop the railing that enclosed the tortoise pens. And as I had learned in previous years, when the crows come that close it is for a reason. And that reason is usually egg-deposition by one of our turtles or tortoises.
Whether by body language displayed by the female chelonians on, or a day or two before, “deposition day,” by some chemical cues (how good are a crow’s olfactory senses?) or by other behavior patterns, I just don’t know. What I do know is that when the crows arrive I had better cancel and activities that would have me away from the pens until the laying actually occurs and the eggs are laid and gathered for incubation.
What? You dig and gather the chelonian eggs? Indeed we do. If left in the hands of Mother Nature the crows are not only adept at knowing the ‘whens and wherefores” of the laying procedures but are sufficiently alert and dexterous to steal the eggs during laying or to actually excavate the chelonian’s nest one the procedure is complete.
Caw, caw, caw, indeed! Thanks, crow, for the warning.
Continue reading “The “Caw” of the Crow” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
No products found.
Check out this gorgeous 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!
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
No products found.
This hatching Leopard Gecko is cute as a button in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user radar357 ! 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
No products found.
This Milk snake is just hanging out our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user gerryg . 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
No products found.
Good things come in small packages, like the Rough Earth Snake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user gdy! 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
No products found.
So much curiosity in this hatchling Baja black-collared lizard in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user wwwwwells ! 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
No products found.
This is the “Dixie Caverns” phase of Wherle’s salamander.
Of variable colors and/or patterns in all populations, in 2 of its 3 variations, Wehrle’s salamander, Plethodon wehrlei, is just an interesting little (tyo 6”) dark-colored salamander of the wooded uplands. It range southward from extreme South West New York to extreme North Central North Carolina. Then there is a disjunct population in North Central Tennessee and Eastern Kentucky. Southernmost examples have a ground color of bluish-brown (also “ish”) that may or may not be heavily spotted laterally with white flecks. Northerly examples are of similar bluish-brown(ish) ground color with white to bluish-white lateral flecks and bronzy dorsal flecks. These latter are often referred to as the “Dixie Caverns variant”.
However it is the 3rd variant that seems of the most interest to herpers, and certainly is to me. This is the “twin-spotted” variant, a phase that might be likened to a spotted salamandey that had been on a lengthy diet. This pattern anomaly is most often seen in the TN, KY, and many western WV populations. Similar to those in the other populations, the ground color remains a brownish-gray and there are scattered light lateral spots and often light flecks from nape to a point above the forelimbs. But with these the pattern similarity ends for along the dorsum, from forelimbs to the anterior portion of the tail, there is a dual row of paired yellow to orange spots. In my opinion these markings transform what in other populations are merely ”interesting” salamanders to what are then “pretty” salamanders
But of course, what is pretty is always in the eyes of the beholder. And what is of interest to a given individual is equally personal.
Continue reading “Wehrle’s Salamander” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
No products found.
We give all venomous species some love on Rattlesnake Friday, especially these baby Cobras in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SouthernHerp !? 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
No products found.
Let’s go Hog Wild for this Eddy County New Mexico Locality Hognose in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user nearhoofm ! 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
No products found.
This Helmeted Iguana or Hernandez’s helmeted basilisk (Corytophanes hernandezi) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chrish is quite the break from our usual. What a regal and stunning animal! 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
No products found.
Having just emerged from the walls of our house, this black racer is now waiting for the sunshine.
Every morning (weather permitting) this little black nose, belonging to an adult southern black racer, Coluber constrictor priapus, pokes out of a tiny space between our home’s siding and the frame. A half hour later the owner of that nose glides slowly up onto the back steps, thermoregulates for 10 or 15 minutes, then begins its day of hunting for brown anoles, a food item of which there is no paucity in our yard. Having started this routine about 2 years ago when he or she was a youngster just losing its baby pattern, it has now become so accustomed to us that, unlike others of its ilk, the snake allows us to walk within a couple of feet of it without bolting.
A few other hobbyists have related interesting activity patterns involving racers of various subspecies both when captive and wild. In some case this involves feeding patterns while with others it has been the approachability and associated responses by the racer.
Racers (and I guess I’ll include whipsnakes (Masticophis) in this comment) are large, intelligent, and in some cases brightly colored snakes that produce fair-sized clutches of easily incubated eggs. I have long wondered why they are so often overlooked by hobbyists.
Continue reading “Black racer” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
No products found.
I’m a little green with envy of this Green Tree Monitor in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user roadspawn and her plans for a lazy day. 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
No products found.
What makes a Monday more tolerable? A baby box turtle hatching like the one in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user norristhenut . 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
No products found.
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! All coiled up, this Central American jumping pitviper (Atropoides mexicanus) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Gaboonviper1388 is all chilled out! 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
No products found.
What a beautiful Cuban Knight Anole in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user StPierre68 ! 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
No products found.
This gorgeous Shinisaurus crocodilurus in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user lavadusch will hopefully be the brightest part of your day! 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
No products found.
Hope hatching Albino Pied Ball Python in our herp photo of the day should help kick your day off right, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Bigfoots ! 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
No products found.
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! This baby Cobra is getting it’s first breath in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SouthernHerp! 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
No products found.
-med.jpg?w=250)
This gorgeous pair of Blue Tree Monitors can see the weekend coming in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user roadspawn ! 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
No products found.
This Sulawesi forest turtle in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user andystorts , wants to make sure you know today is World Turtle Day! 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
No products found.
How high can you stack your dragons? Another pic overloaded with cuteness, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dedragons! 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
No products found.
What a cutie! Happy Monday from this totes adorbs horned lizard in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jcraft75 ! 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
No products found.
Although an agile climber, the leopard rat snake is entirely at home on the ground.
Because of superficial similarities to our corn snake, not the least being that of color and pattern, this pretty rat snake was often referred to by American hobbyists as the European Corn Snake. Like our corn snake, the leopard rat snake, Zamenis situla, was also once contained in the then cosmopolitan genus Elaphe making the nomenclatural analogy even more understandable.
Today most North American rat snakes are contained in the genus Pantherophis while the leopard rat snake, now in the genus Zamenis, is the most brightly colored of the three species in that Old World genus.
The leopard rat snake occurs in both a saddled and a striped morph. The ground color varies through shades of gray to a warm tan and the red dorsal markings may be strongly or vaguely outlined in black. A black band extends across the top of the head from eye to eye and the anteriormost red marking is in the form of a spearpoint, pointed end foremost.
Occasionally reaching a length of 3 ½ feet, these slender snakes are usually adult at 3 feet or slightly less and the females are often the larger sex.
Our captives have proven shy, seasonably active, and spend most of their time securely hidden in their hideboxes. They prefer small prey items, and several of ours were reluctant to accept white mice of any size but would readily eat deer and white-footed mice. A 90 day period of hibernation is recommended.
During their active period a cage temperature of 70-75F is satisfactory but a basking hot spot of 85-90F should be provided.
Clutch size is usually 4 to 6 large, elongate, eggs. Incubation (60 to 70 days) should be at about 82F. Hatchlings may refuse food until they have been hibernated.
Continue reading “Leopard Rat Snake, Zamenis situla” …read more
Read more here: King Snake
No products found.
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! This prairie rattlesnake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user DanL shows us exactly what a rattlesnake does in the wild if they feel threatened! First they warn and then they try to run away! Rattlesnakes are so very important to our ecosystem and it is so very important to understand that it is important to watch for them, respect them and give them their space for freedom. Despite the urban legends, they run away! 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
No products found.
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
No products found.