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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Sometimes it is best to hide and watch the day go buy like this Bullfrog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user TJ777 !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Love is in the air for this pair of Chuckwallas in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Gabby1 !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Blue Tongue Skinks are such aazing pets, they deserve the spotlight of Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user PatS !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Here is to hoping this hatchling albino Siamese Croocodile 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 from this Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake in our photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user randyprobst ! 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. It is our goal to help dispel the fears surrounding our beloved venomous creatures.
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It’s three for thursday with this group of turtles our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user odyssey !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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It’s hatch day for this little Hognose in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user motorhead !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This Shinisaurus in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user thmpr134 is trying to do his very best come hither look!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Here is to hoping this Northern Pine in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user orchidspider can cure any case of the Mondays!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Love this Harry Greene Approved field shot of a juvenile Timber in our photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user jameswv ! 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. It is our goal to help dispel the fears surrounding our beloved venomous creatures.
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Froggetaboutit! This albino Red Eye froglet explores his new world in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mjnovy !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This boa is on fire! Loving this close up of an albino Suriname Boa in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Marko1 !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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We are kingsnake.com after all, it is about time we share some alterna, like this Christmas Mountain Locale in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user CaseyLazik you have to meet one in person!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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More than just a blah python, to truly appreciate Olive Pythons, like the one in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BNixon you have to meet one in person!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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It would be pretty hard to tread on this Albino Atrox in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user krantz ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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A neat close up view of the Phillipenes Flying Dragon (Draco spilopterus) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user johnny888 !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This Jungle Carpet is so bright it is almost glowing in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ttreptile1 !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Got Boa? We do! This stunning Dumerils shows off in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user biophiliacs !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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As a new week begins. so does life for this baby Box Turtle in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user norristhenut brighten your day!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What a stunning Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake shot in the field in Arizona 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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Baby pictures never get old. Let’s welcome this little ball python to the world in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user TerryHeuring brighten your day!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Middle of the week blues? Let this hatchling Collared Lizard in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user wwwwwells brighten your day!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Wild caught Arizona elegans arenicola (Glossy Snake) from Hidalgo County Texas with SFD like symptoms
When I go herping I always wear gloves in between animals. My primary reason for doing so is to avoid transmitting diseases within and among herps. Many people are a bit confused as to why I do that. For one there is literature in Veterinary Medicine that confirms that Batrachochytrium dendrobatitis more commonly known as Bd, an amphibian disease, can be transferred to lizards. Quite a strange occurrence when diseases can pass the species barrier as typically they are specific to a group of animals.
However, more frequently I’m seeing a lot of snakes with symptoms of Snake Fungal Disease (SFD). I hear from collectors that back then they’d find milk snakes with lesions and basically they’d shed them off and be fine after a while. The question is, was it highly contagious among the rest of the person’s collection? I’m not sure how many people may have housed symptomatic snakes with others to confirm whether it was contagious or not. Now we know that SFD is highly contagious, and not to be mistaken with other conditions like water blisters.
If you’re out collecting in the field keep in mind the well-being of the rest of your collection whenever you do pick up an animal that shows SFD symptoms, as it is becoming more and more prevalent. The USGS states that for infected individuals the mortality rate in the wild is 100%. Other literature says >80% likelihood of mortality. Whatever the case may be, antibacterial between snakes may not work as this is a fungus, but the truth of the matter is that even if you do pick up a sick snake and bring it home, housing it in warmer temperatures and a dry enclosure will result in the snake likely shedding off the disease. The key being that you quarantine that snake from the rest of your collection, and that its lesions aren’t so bad that it refuses to eat, as many times the worst symptoms are around the face and chin, making it difficult for them to feed.
It requires a couple of tests to confirm the disease in an individual and we are finding it in more and more species than those initially reported by the USGS. We know it’s prevalent in Texas and is constantly being found in more species of snakes in the state, too. So continue to enjoy the field herping, but take the necessary precautions to keep your personal collection disease free.
Some things that might help are disinfecting your field equipment if you use it at home too, or having a separate set for your snake collection and one for the field. Also, if you see early signs in a snake remove the water bowl and keep the moisture level as low as you can in its enclosure. Offer the animal water every couple …read more
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It’s big, it’s black and it is beautiful! This Indigo seen in Williston, FL while herping earns it spot in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ACO3124 !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Blunt-headed tree snakes are blunt nosed and big eyed. This example is darker and with smaller blotches than usual.
When is a head high broken vining tendril not a head high broken vining tendril?
Why, when you grab a handful of tendrils to try and regain you balance and one of them suddenly turns a big-eyed head around on a slender neck to look at you, of course. And that is when you realize that you are doing exactly what you have warned your tour participants not to do—grab without ascertaining what it is that you are grabbing. This time, fortunately, no harm was done to either the grabber (me) or the grabee (snake—blunt headed tree snake, Imantodes cenchoa, to be exact). But the encounter did serve to rewarn me and there had been no one with me to witness the faux pas.
Blunt headed tree snakes are among the commonest and most distinctive of the arboreal serpents of the neotropics. The short snout, big eyes, and supple slenderness are echoed in this region (Depto Loreto, Peru) by only this snake’s congener, the much less often seen Amazonian I. lentiferus.
Nocturnal by preference, I. cenchoa bears prominent saddles, brown against a light reddish to chalk white ground color while the ground color of the tan saddled I. lentiferus is usually a lighter greenish tan. Both species prey on treefrogs and (usually) sleeping lizards. Adult size is 28 to 36 inches.
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Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) crossing caliche road in South TexasSo this weekend a friend of mine and I decided to go herpin here in South Texas. We left Friday afternoon around 4:30 P.M. and returned on April 2nd at around 3 P.M. We covered at least 5 counties (maybe 6) and travelled a total of 874.7 miles.
Just like back then when herpers would meet up somewhere in the Western regions of Texas we slept a few hours during the hottest part of the day between noonish and 5 P.M. then started all over again, throughout the night into the next morning, thereby allowing us to see all the night time herps and the morning herps. A few times we’d stop in for breakfast in some tiny town waiting for it to warm up before we’d go in search of the diurnal species, but also had deli meats and bread, because we got to make these road cruising trips affordable right?
We saw a total of 50 individuals of 17 different species (herps only), plus a lot of the spring wildflowers, numerous birds, and mammals too. Considering it’s relatively early in the season we considered our trip rather successful. My friend and I have different motives for what drives us to be so hardcore in the field. For some its research, others do it to find lifers, some to add to their personal collection, but all of us I think share one thing in common. Passion. An appreciation for a group of animals often misunderstood and underestimated.
Among our highlights were a slightly aberrantly colored Arizona elegans arenicola (Glossy snake), we both saw our first Mexican Hooknose (Ficimia streckeri) of the year, and we encountered a species that neither one of us had observed in South Texas, the Prairie Lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus), and well a lot of the common herps we’d expected to find. We put our lives on pause, stressed our bodies out, and all for what if nothing was collected, but data and photos? I’ll tell you. A complete feeling of satisfaction, fun, and for me, it is especially cathartic, to get away from the norm, indulge in the nature that’s still clinging on amid rows and rows of wind turbines and agricultural fields. It’s official, the herpin season is in full swing and more of these trips are underway.
In other words, lots of camaraderie, adventures, stories, encounters, networking, new friends and familiar faces all out doing the same thing. There’s always some nostalgia for the way “things used to be.” We’re a relatively small group of people and every year I look forward to encountering other herpers while meandering the back roads of south Texas terrain. Plus, we still didn’t find our target Milksnake to check off our annual list, so it’s on!
Glossy Snake Arizona elegans arenicola
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Looking forward to a wonderful week with this Plated Lizard in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jungleemporium !! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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What a gorgeous Pygmy Rattlesnake found in the field in North Carolina 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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Glass Lizards, like these guys in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sweetpea are like having the best of both world’s dontcha think?!! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Juvenile common bird snakes are often darker than this individual.
It was dark—rainforest dark– and rainy—rainforest rainy. I was trying to balance on a slippery fallen log that stretched over a newly freshened rivulet. Made it. Now came a rain-slicked slope about 30 feet long and descending about 15 feet. About half way down grew a spiny trunked palm. It was in a perfect position to make you want to grab hold of it as you slipped and slid by. I can tell you from experience, it would be better to fold your arms up and fall. At the end of the slope was a small but muddy permanent creek forded by a couple of easily replaceable small, wet, logs. And then on the right side of the trail (also in mud) was a small clump of non-spiny palms, the face high fronds of which were for some reason often chosen as resting places by common bird snakes, Pseustes (Phrynonax if you choose) poecilonotus, a pretty but feisty snake that looks and acts much like our rat snakes as well as by occasional juvenile fer-de-lance, Bothrops atrox (yes, these climb!). Just getting to the palm clump was often an adventure in adversity. Then, if a snake was there identifying it before grabbing might also be trying. Adult bird snakes, black above and yellow(ish) below were easily identified. But the mossy brownish juveniles looked far too much like a fer-de-lance for a snap identification. Love those rainy Amazon nights.
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Happy Wednesday from these two “wrestling” 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!
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What a gorgeous way to spotlight one of the underappreciated pythons! This lovely Olive Python poses perfectly in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BNixon ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This nearly patternless mutation was once known as Rana pipiens burnsi, the plain leopard frog.
I stood ankle deep in waters still chilled by the Minnesota winter, listening to the yodels of distant loons, and hoping that in at least one of the flooded swales along this roadway I would finally find at least one of the 2 frogs—1 light colored, the other dark– for which I was then searching. Both now simply mutant phases of the northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens, were once considered subspecies. The light one had been referred to as the plain leopard frog, R. p. burnsi, and the dark one as the Kandiyohi leopard frog, R. p. kandiyohi. I had first seen both when I was a kid as preserved specimens at a New England biological supply house. Now, a half century later, I hoped to find and photograph them.
On that first trip, made in May, the water was still chilly but air temperatures were in the high 70s to low 80s. Cattails and other emergents were flourishing, mosquitos were rampant and bloodthirsty, and leopard frogs, normal colors and patterns predominating, were abundant.
But I did succeed in finding and photographing a few of each of the hoped for mutants. Both were just as attractive as I remembered them being.
Now, a decade later (I don’t rush into anything!), I was back in Minnesota but a bit further north than my previous trip. It was mid-January, and temps were unseasonably warm, hovering at or just above freezing. The week before the temperature varied from zero to minus 30! In recognition of the season, we were birding, with great gray owls, not leopard frogs, being the target taxon.
This was a good thing, for except an open canal on Lake Superior and plowed roads the whole region was icy and snow covered. The mosquitos of summer were not missed; the leopard frogs were.
But having experienced both seasons, a temperature variance of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit brought the hardiness of those leopard frogs into sharp focus. The adaptations of poikilotherms in boreal regions is remarkable indeed!
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This Leaf-tail Gecko (Uroplatus fimbriatus) has his eye on you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user zmarchetti ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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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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This Blackhead Python momma is taking a well deserved rest after laying her eggs our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user anthill ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Eastern hellbenders may be strongly patterned or virtually devoid of markings.
I was in northeastern Georgia, about a 6 hour drive from home, staring in awe at the natural beauty of my surroundings. Delighted by the solitude and cooled by the knee-deep, clear rushing waters, the beauty of the forest greens, off-whites, and pinks of the stream-edge mountain laurels, and the crispness of the mountain air, all tied to the possibility of seeing North America’s largest salamander, the wonderful hellbender, brought memories of similar scenes far to the north.
There were a few partially submerged rocks along streamedge. Beneath some I found southern two-lined salamanders, Eurycea cirrigera. In deeper water, about 6 feet of my starting point—HELLBENDER! Not big, about 15 inches, but a hellbender.
The possibility had become a reality. I had checked beneath only a half dozen stream bottom rocks when beneath a flat rock just to the side of a riffle I found the young hellbender, Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis. Photos were taken. I watched as the little giant slid unhurriedly beneath a riock, and I left, happy.
Now on to the rhododendron edged streams of the Carolina Blue Ridges, terrestrial salamander central!
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Loving this little carpet python our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user zmarchetti ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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The Northern Leopard frog (Lithobates pipiens) is an fairly widespread US Native species that get a spotlight in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Terry_Cox!
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