By Herp News
The fate of the world’s richest biodiversity of salamanders and newts is in the hands of pet owners across North America, warns a researcher, due to the threat of salamander chytrid disease that infects both salamanders and newts with near total lethality.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
In July of 2015 a team of scientists discovered a new species of boa during an expedition to a remote corner of the Bahamian Archipelago. They have named the new species the Silver Boa, Chilabothrus argentum. Significantly, this is the first new species of boa discovered in situ in the Caribbean since the 1940s. This new boa species is considered Critically Endangered, and is one of the most endangered boa species globally.
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This Emerald Tree Boa shows it is a master of camouflage in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Mike H. ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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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!
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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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By Herp News
A female Blanding’s turtle believed to be at least 83 years old was captured at a forest reserve this week. Researchers say it is the oldest well-documented Blanding’s turtle and one of the oldest-known freshwater turtles.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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This hatching Radiated Tortoise in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user marcp simply could not be any cuter! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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So simple and so beautiful. That is the black racer in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ReptileProducts ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Hi,
I recently purchased a baby alligator snapping turtle, who has been acting strangley. Although it has only been 3 days since I bought him it seems he basks all the time and he doesnt eat. The previous owner only fed it pellets and it wont even eat those. I threw some goldfish in with it and he seems to be afraid of them. the water is 78 degrees farenheit and is about 4 inches deep. Also his wimming is rather weak, do gator snappers tend to be poor swimmers. BTW this is not my first turtle, but it is my first alligator snapping turtle.
Any advice?
P.S. I do not curently have a name for it yet, any suggestions?
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Read more here: Turtle Times
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Hi,
Over the weekend I decided to purchase myself a baby Alligator Snapping turtle. I am adequately experienced with turtles, but I don’t know a thing about how to take care of a gator snapper.
I have had him for two days now, and I know new turtles tend to not eat right away, but he doesn’t swim, or even try to bite at me. He has been basking for a day straight now and wont look at any food I give he is more afraid of it than interested. The previous owner said he only fed it turtle pellets, but he won’t eat those even. The water is about 4 inches deep and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Alsoit appears he cannot swim correctly, he does not have the buoyancy mechanisms otheraquatic turtles.
Thanks,
Alex
P.S. I do not have a name for him yet, any suggestions?
…read more
Read more here: Turtle Times
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What a great shot of a Map Tree Frog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Toucan ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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By Herp News
Spotting native alligators and crocodiles in Florida is common, but anyone who sees a large reptile may want to take a second look — human-eaters that can grow to 18 feet long and weigh as much as a small car have been found in the Sunshine State.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Happy Rattlesnake friday! Today the classic Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake takes over our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Canes05 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate all forms of venomous reptiles to promote conservation of them world wide!
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By Herp News
If you’re a rattlesnake, you want to bring the right weapon to a squirrel fight. And that venomous weapon varies from place to place, evolutionarily calibrated to overpower the local squirrels’ defenses, according to new research.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Researchers have taken an important step forward in mimicking nature’s prowess at protecting cells from deep-freeze conditions.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Who doesn’t love a photo of a little girl and her best friend? Kelsey and her pet Blue Tongue Skink in this throwback pic from 2006 are totally adorable 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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This Pacific ground boa (Candoia carinata) posed so perfectly it had to be our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tottyku ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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By Herp News
Clearing the beach of flotsam and jetsam increased the number of nests by as much as 200 percent, while leaving the detritus decreased the number by nearly 50 percent, report scientists at the conclusion of their study.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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This vocalizing Pine Barrens treefrog is in a Florida panhandle locale.
Quonk, quonk, quonk. Some say these calls are reminiscent of the honks of geese. I’ve never been able to pick up on this similarity, but to each their own. Instead I hear the vocalizations of the beautiful Pine Barrens treefrog, Hyla andersonii, as being similar to, but a bit higher in pitch and more rapidly repeated than, the calls of the more common green treefrog.
Known to occur in the bogs of the New Jersey Pine Barrens and the Carolinas, it was not until 1970, when researcher Steve Christman found a road killed specimen in Florida, that this beautiful green, orange, and plum, colored treefrog was known to occur in acidic/sphagnaceous/steephead habitats on Florida’s western panhandle as well as in adjacent Alabama.
Although not common, now that more than 150 small populations have been found, it is recognized that this treefrog is not quite as rare as once thought.
Continue reading “The Pine Barrens Treefrog” …read more
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First breaths for this Chondro bring on the awws in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MikeRusso ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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How regal is this Cyclura lewisi hybrid iguana in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user typherp ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This pair of Amazonian hog-nosed vipers lay quietly at trailedge.
Have you ever while herping, stopped dead in your tracks thinking that you just walked by something you should have seen but you weren’t sure just what it was? I’ve done that a couple of times with copperheads and in no case do I know what it was that alerted me.
So knowing that I am fully capable of occasional oversights, whenever I have that feeling I stop and spend considerable time ascertaining what it was that caused that feeling.
I was on a forest darkened Amazonian trail and I had just stopped. Something wasn’t quite right. Undergrowth was sparse but fallen leaves of primary canopy, now variously hued in browns, yellows, and russets, littered the forest floor.
I studied the trail edges on both sides. Nothing. I walked back a few feet and studied anew. Nothing. I pulled out a pocket flashlight and restudied. Still nothing. I had just about decided that I had responded to a false alarm when not 12 inches from my foot a brown and russet leaf moved. No. It wasn’t a leaf. It was a snake. Wrong again. It was 2 snakes. Half hidden in leaf litter was a pair of Amazonian hog-nosed vipers! Not big, not bright, but a spectacular find.
Continue reading “The Amazon hog-nosed viper, Bothrocophias hyoprora“ …read more
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By Herp News
Nearly 30 years of data collected on painted turtles in the Mississippi River near Clinton, Iowa, show that females suffer a steep dip in fertility before the end of their lives, a finding that flies in the face of what scientists have believed about turtles and aging.
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By Herp News
An illegal trade in marine turtles is continuing despite legislation and conservation awareness campaigns, a pioneering study has shown.
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So small, yet so powerful. We love this little Mexican Coral Snake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MXHerper ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate all forms of venomous reptiles to promote conservation of them world wide!
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Green now, this barker may assume a spotted or brown color within minutes.
The barking has started. Well, not barking really. The sound is more of an oft repeated explosive “toooonk,” the sound of barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa, at home. Now, rather than just being called the largest treefrog in Florida, when size is mentioned it requires the qualification of the word “native.” The barking treefrog is the largest NATIVE treefrog in Florida, its 2 5/8” snout-vent length now being far surpassed by the up to 5” long Cuban treefrog that is somehow steadily adapting to lower temperatures and expanding its range northward.
Barkers breed in shallow, ephemeral, ponds and usually vocalize while floating. More often than not they anchor themselves at the preferred calling site by holding to a stem of water-surface vegetation with one front foot.
Although in size they may now be surpassed, they cannot be surpassed in their chameleon–like color changes. Within minutes the same frog may change ground color from brown to olive to bright green and have unedged dorsal spotting, no dorsal spotting, or dorsal spotting edged with a narrow border of lighter pigment.
Time to go. A nice chorus of barkers are “tooonking” again.
Continue reading “Barking Treefrogs” …read more
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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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This gorgeous Ctenosaura quinquecarinata is just hanging around in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user rockabirdie ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Southern toads vary from brick red to gray and are common in our yard.
Every morning (without fail I hasten to add) Gabby our little “Heinz terrier” accompanies me from house to the street to fetch our newspapers. Again I state that she accompanies and I fetch. Usually the short stroll is uneventful, but occasionally Gabby is in a hunting mode. The morning following our last rainfall was one of her hunting trips. In the darkness, within a few feet of the door, she managed to scare up an eastern spadefoot, Scaphiopus holbrooki, a southern toad, Bufo terrestris, and a southern leopard frog, Rana sphenocephala.
For me, 3 anuran species before 6AM is a pretty good start for the day. The fact that all 3 taxa breed in the yard did not lessen Gabby’s accomplishment in the least. At least in her eyes it didn’t.
Maybe I should start taking her with me on hunts for more difficult species. She seems to do much better than I.
Continue reading “A “Threefer”” …read more
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There is just something cool with this shot of two Cuban Crocs in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crocodilians ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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This male veiled is hanging on tight for whatever the week has in store for us in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user GECKOPERSON ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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The seemingly uncommon Brazil’s pit viper is heavy bodied and rather precisely patterned.
“That guy on the bank has a snake.” The speaker was Rob. The place was a tributary of the mighty Amazon. We were on a riverboat. I don’t remember how Rob got that snake. I know the boat had slowed and I guess Rob hopped overboard and swam. But get it he did. And once there the snake—a Brazil’s lancehead, Bothrops brazili— was temporarily housed in a small duffle. I also remember Rob exclaiming that he thought he had just gotten bitten and the relief we all felt when it was learned that Rob had just pricked his finger on a sharp projection.
That was the first of my 3 meetings with a Brazil’s lancehead (a patronym honoring Dr. Vital Brazil of Instituto Butantan fame and not a place reference). Of these 3, 2 were alive and one had been freshly killed by a villager that had happened upon the snake while gardening. It would seem that the preferred habitat for Brazil’s lancehead is amidst the forest-floor litter in primary rainforest. This taxon is much less common than the sympatric fer-de-lance, B. atrox. The 2 species may usually be differentiated by the presence or lack of a postocular stripe—strongly defined on B. atrox and weakly defined or absent on B. brazili.
Continue reading “That Other Lancehead” …read more
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By Herp News
Misty mountains, glistening forests and blue-green lakes make Cameroon, the wettest part of Africa, a tropical wonderland for amphibians. Africa has been mostly spared from the deadly and rampant pathogen that wiped out entire species in Australia, Madagascar and Panama — until now.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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This Hagen’s Pit Viper wants to get up close and personal with you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user knotsnake ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate all forms of venomous reptiles to promote conservation of them world wide!
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By Herp News
The sex of many reptile species is set by temperature. New research identifies the first gene associated with temperature-dependent sex determination in any reptile. Variation at this gene in snapping turtles contributes to geographic differences in the way sex ratio is influenced by temperature. Understanding the genetics of sex determination could help predict how reptiles will evolve in response to climate change.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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You never forget your first reptile show but sometimes it hard to recapture that moment of awe. In 1998, I walked into the gym at Northeastern Illinois University to experience my first Reptile Fest and I as in awe. So many reptiles I had never seen in person, but more importantly, so many people who loved reptiles, just like me! I only owned a few lizards at the time and was a few years into my own Iguana Rescue. I was as green as I could be as a herper, but I could talk freely on my iguanas. When I started exhibiting the following year, I started as one of many in the Iguana Squad and eventually took over the role of managing the Iguana display.
Reptile Fest has been happening in Chicago for over 20 years. Every spring families plan their trips to “the city” around the date. The most magical thing about Reptile Fest, however, is the exhibitors. They are not doing it to make money, in fact, many people give up a lot of money to make their displays more amazing or even to get a hotel near the venue to volunteer. Sure, there is a free t-shirt and free lunch each day for exhibitors, but the reason they are there is to educate people. From a 6-year-old girl and her display on corn snakes all the way people who have been keeping reptiles for more than 40 years, these are the exhibitors. You can find a child talking to you about their pet bearded dragon right next to a display of Spilotes pullatus. There are no animal sales at all. Hosted by the Chicago Herpetological Society, the sole focus is on education and you will see more than 100 species of reptiles and amphibians. The event is also very hands on, so it is a guarantee that you will touch something if you want. Visitors to the event get to see the native reptiles and learn the difference between a cottonmouth or copperhead and the much confused Nerodia and fox snakes to learn the difference. To me, however, on my first visit, the thing that impacted me most was the love these people had for their pets. It still moves me to this day.
Looking back, two animals caught me that day and have never ever let go. I pet my very first alligator that day, Bubba the Alligator owned by Jim Nesci. This was the original Bubba, all of at least 6 foot sitting calming on a table for people to touch. I was nervous. I mean it was a HUGE alligator and his mouth wasn’t restrained in any way AT ALL! Those who have had the pleasure of meeting both Bubba’s knows the feeling. The other was a snake, but not just any snake. These sausage-like red beasts that are known for their nasty disposition because most were wild caught were …read more
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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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By Herp News
A combination of drought and fire has put the Arizona black rattlesnake on an “extinction trajectory,” according to researchers. The Arizona black rattlesnake is found at higher elevations in Arizona and western New Mexico. The researchers collected DNA from 118 specimens of the rattlesnake and analyzed its genetic structure. They found both a shrinking population and a reduction in its movement across an already limited range.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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By Herp News
Scientists have ranked the world’s most ‘popular’ reptiles, revealing the species that capture the public’s imagination and providing valuable quantitative data towards the debate surrounding conservation priorities.
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Read more here: herpetofauna.com
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Please forgive us, but spring has sprung and spring is for Salamanders, like this Speckled Black in our herp photo of the day in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user skyserpent ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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