A portrait of the beautiful green vine snake.

Get it Carl, get it! And although Carl tried, really tried, the snake beat him across the clearing and once in the water of the coche (oxbow) it was gone forever. The snake was a green vine snake, Oxybelis fulgidus, and Carl? Well he knows who he was.

But there is one thing that we watchers are still trying to figure out. While we were standing on the high ground talking to Carl he was fully clothed. Then 100 feet or so away the vine snake made its appearance.

Seconds later, when in hot pursuit of the snake Carl plunged into the silted water of the Amazon coche, he was wearing only his skivvies and his outer clothing was strewn along the pursuit path. How had he accomplished this seeming feat of magic?

I’m not going to show you a photo of Carl or his discarded clothing but here are a few pix of the snake species that caused the uncanny unclothing occurrence.

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Spring has sprung and when we think spring, we think Amphibians! We are LOVING this shot in the field of the southern red-backed salamander (Plethodon serratus) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tex540 . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Three cheers for one of the best reptile pets, the Bearded Dragons here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Rick Millspaugh ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Juvenile Baja California rat snakes are prominently patterned.
In May of 1984, 2 miles east of Mountain Spring, Imperial County, California, a dead snake was found on Interstate 8. The snake was a Baja California rat snake, Bogertophis rosaliae. The finding of this specimen, before and since unknown to occur in the USA, then stirred much controversy. Controversy continues today with some researchers believing this locality to be genuine, but with the lack of other examples of this snake species north of the border causing other researchers to question the validity of the find.

There is, however, no question that the Baja rat snake, is a common species along almost the entire length of the peninsula for which it was named. And it is still hoped that its presence in the USA will someday be confirmed.

While hatchlings and juveniles of the Baja California rat snake are blotched dorsally, the adults of this bug-eyed snake, whether olive, lavender, or orange, are unicolored.

The genus Bogertophis is bitypic, with the only other species in the genus being the much better known Trans-Pecos rat snake, B. subocularis.

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Everyone remembers their first wild herp and for many of us it was the same. All hail the mighty Garter Snake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user TomDickinson for being so many of our first wild herp! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Thousands are bitten by rattlers and other venomous snakes each year, and a new treatment may serve as a “bridge” to buy time until medical care is available.

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This Black Pakistan Cobra takes it’s very first breaths in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user PHNajak! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate ALL things venomous! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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What a great shot of a truly wonderful tortoise pet! The Russian Tortoise gets it’s close-up in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user bradtort . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Most brilliant when a young adult, eastern mud salamanders usually dull with advancing age.
Florida was far behind. Jake (hoping for his lifer eastern mud salamander) and I were sloshing through soupy mud topped with shallow water. The water, itself, was capped with oily looking iron slicks. Long dead trees lay helter-skelter, most in advanced states of decomposition, the trunks of others more newly fallen, still hard and unyielding. Working separately, after an hour or so we had between us turned and replaced more than 100 logs and limbs, and had found nothing beneath but more mud. Disappointed, we decided to bring our hunt for the eastern mud salamander, Pseudotriton m. montanus, to a halt and move on to the next target.

We were 25 miles north of the locale when Justin called and Jake told him of our failure. In a few sentences Justin explained that we had been searching the wrong area of the vast swamp and gave Jake some more precise directions. Jake wanted to try again so we turned and returned. Forty five minutes later we were trudging past the area of the swamp we had so recently left and continued along the trail for another half mile.

More soupy mud and more logs in various stages of decomposition now lay in front of us. Having seen many eastern mud salamanders in other areas I elected to search for other caudatans along the shore. But Jake, slogging, slipping and flipping, persevered in the foot deep mud. And a half hour later his perseverance paid off. He found and we photographed his lifer eastern mud. Now it really was “next target time.”

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My first Albino Carpet Python clutch of 2016 hatched from 23-25 March and I was lucky enough to be able to capture several nice pictures of the process.

For me, hatching snake eggs is something that keeps me involved in snakes year after year. It is the big reward. All year long I work hard to clean my snakes and keep them watered. I pay thousands of dollars to keep them warm and on rodents to feed them. My feed night is Friday each and every week, so I never get to go out for a night of fun on Fridays. Instead I am stuck at home after a long day at work with about 5 hours of extra work. But somehow all of that and the other downsides of keeping snakes vanish and disappear once eggs begin to hatch. It is a powerful moment when our eggs hatch and new life is brought forth. Where there once was nothing, there is suddenly something…and it is alive! Life can be messy, so I really liked getting this image where there is tons of bubbly egg goo all around the new living baby snake.

I am often asked why I like snakes and my response is that if you have to ask that question there is no way you would ever be able to understand. Seriously, if you can’t look at a picture of a baby python taking its first look and first breath on earth and find some way to be able to appreciate that the rest of us will enjoy living in an environment where people can marvel at even the lowest forms of organisms entering our rough world for their own one shot at LIFE. …read more
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How awesome is this group of breeding Gharials in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Lucky_7 . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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This large, gravid, aquatic caecilian was netted from the grassy shoreline of an Amazonian river.
It was about midnight. A half dozen of us had just returned to the river boat from a long Amazonian rainforest walk. Several frogs and a few snakes had been found and we now sat on deck discussing the herps that had been seen and what had been missed, watching occasional meteors in the star-spangled sky, and sipping coffee or cold drinks. One by one the participants all headed for the showers and a well-earned few hours of sleep.

I grabbed a net and walked the gangplank to the weedy shore intending to net up a few tropical fish to photograph in the morning. Cichlids and rivulids were common and if lucky I might get a few interesting catfish as well.

But I was really lucky. After a few sweeps of the net I brought up a baby swamp eel, Synbranchus marmoratus, and…I could hardly believe my eyes, a 15” long aquatic caecilian, Typhlonectes compressicauda. I had known that the latter occurred in the region but I hadn’t until then found one. A few more net-sweeps in the shallows brought up another caecilian, this one a bit smaller. Both would be photographed and released in the morning.

Although I had actually kept and bred this interesting amphibian, the “rubber eel” of the aquarium industry, I was happy to make its acquaintance in the field. But it was late and the showers were beckoning. In just a few hours the titi monkeys would be vocalizing, signaling the start of another day of Amazon herping. Life was good.

Continue reading “Remember the Rubber Eel?” …read more
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By Herp News

Researchers warn that the extinction to two amphibian species — the southern toad and the southern leopard frog — may be hastened by the combined effects of climate change and copper-contaminated wetlands.

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This little Dumeril’s Boa is ready to rock 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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Typically our photo of the day is of an amazingly beautiful animal, but today we would like to take a moment to congratulate the Chicago Herpetological Society on another very successful ReptileFest. ReptileFest is the longest running, all educational event about reptiles. This event as occurred for over 20 years. The view from above of the Box Turtle pen in 2003, uploaded by kingsnake.com user PHFaustis not only a blast from the past, but also a shining example of hands-on education needed to in our community! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Thank you to the Chicago Herpetological Society for your continued dedication to education!

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Wild in nature. One of the best places to see this Great Basin Rattlesnake found in Utah, but shared with us in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user crocman6594 ! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate ALL things venomous! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae) tadpoles have the amazing ability to grow at different rates depending on changes in temperature. A new study has revealed that this species, which requires relatively warm environments for breeding, speeds up its capacity for growth in Sweden during the warmest time of the year in order to take full advantage of short periods of high temperatures. This trait may be the key to this frog’s survival in cold climates.

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Four-toed salamanders in their sphagnum habitat.
The bed of sphagnum stretched away from the small woodland stream in a semicircle of perhaps 20 yards. Beyond this, scattered smaller patches of sphagnum could be seen. All in all, the habitat looked ideal for the small salamander for which Jake and I were searching on this cool winter day, the four-toed salamander, Hemidactylium scutatum. But even amidst sphagnum habitats four-toes are not evenly distributed, preferring streamside locales where newly hatched larvae can attain, with just a little squirming, access to saturated moss and shallow water.

This area was intersected by several seepages as well as the main stream but it was along the latter that we finally found the 4-toes. Several females, most with egg clutches were seen. Within the egg capsules well developed, soon to hatch, larvae were wriggling.

The plethodontid genus Hemidactylium contains only this 3” long species. Usually reddish dorsally and grayish laterally, the most prominent diagnostic factors of the species are a white belly that bears well-separated black dots and a noticeable basal constriction on the tail. The tail autotomizes readily at the constriction.

This salamander occurs in a great many disjunct populations that range southwestward from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia to extreme seOK and eLA.

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Natural beauty at is finest in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pitparade with this Kankakee County locality Bullsnake. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Conservation biologists have found that many adult loggerhead turtles are migrating to areas of the Mediterranean where they are dying, trapped in fishing nets used by small scale fishing operations in Cyprus, the Middle East and North Africa.

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How adorable are Kelsey and her pal Stubby the BTS in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user danielle4girls4 ?! Seriously, this is why we fight so hard to have our pets! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Two of the several American crocodiles near the Everglades Marina.
I was standing at the edge of the marina near the docks at the general store in Flamingo. It was a quarter moon, partially cloudy, night in Everglades National Park. A slight breeze stirred a few tiny wavelets to life. Their sloshing against the pilings nullified many of the surrounding sounds. But the splash of a surfacing fish could occasionally be heard and a barred owl repeatedly asked a mournful “who cooks for you, who cooks for you-all” from a tree closer to the road. On the docks laughing gulls and black skimmers stood mewing and murmuring , the gulls ghostly pale, the skimmers inky dark. Some ripples below me caught my eye and I turned the headlight on. A fair sized American crocodile had surfaced! My night was complete.

On almost every Everglades trip, day or night, I take a few minutes and stop by the marina to try and search out a basking crocodile. Occasionally one or more will be on the near bank or near the fish-cleaning house, but more often a croc can be found on the far bank. With diligent searching it is almost always possible to see 1 or more American crocodiles, Crocodylus acutus. Most are between 6 and 10 feet in length, but occasionally—I guess it would be more accurate to say “rarely–” a hatchling or yearling may be seen.

From a Florida population in the low hundreds a few decades ago, the number of this very cold sensitive, endangered, croc now probably exceeds 2,000. Known nests are carefully monitored by both federal and state biologists. It has been recorded in coastline habitats from Tampa Bay on the Gulf coast, southward through the Keys, then northward to Jupiter Beach on the east coast. As expected, and as always in the USA, it is most common in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

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Like something out of a sci-fi film, the mighty Mata Mata patrols the depths of the water in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Geo! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Hormonally active substances may contribute to global amphibian decline. Some compounds, for example from pharmaceuticals, occur in biologically relevant concentrations in freshwater ecosystems, and thus can affect the hormonal system and the sexual development of animals. Researchers have compared the effects of the pill estrogen ethinylestradiol (EE2) in three amphibian species. The study shows that EE2 can lead to a complete feminization of genetic males. Without molecular establishment of the genetic sex, this has remained partly unnoticed.

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It’s snack time for this Parson Chameleon in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user rocknreptiles . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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It is clear fromour Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Craig_V_Rensburg why some people call Naja nigricollis nigricincta Zebra Snakes! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate ALL things venomous! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

The Indian Purple frog skeleton undergoes dramatic transformation as tadpoles clinging to underwater rocks become adults digging their way underground, according to a new study.

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By Herp News

A new tadpole that burrows through sand has been unearthed from the streambeds in the Western Ghats of India, according to a recent study.

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By Herp News

Ten million years ago, a green and black snake lay coiled in the Spanish undergrowth. Once, paleontologists would have been limited by its colorless fossil remains, but now they know what the snake looked like and can guess how it acted. Researchers have discovered that some fossils can retain evidence of skin color from multiple pigments and structural colors, aiding research into the evolution and function of color.

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By Herp News

A new study has found turtles released back into the wild almost always return home — even if they have to swim more than 100km or have spent more than a year away.

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

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Small, stock, and with a distinctive tail and scalation, meet the carrot-tailed viper gecko.
Once quite commonly seen in the pet trade, for twofold reasons the little carrot-tailed viper gecko, Hemidactylus imbricatus (formerly Teratolepis fasciatus) is now harder to acquire. Firstly, there are almost no shipments coming to the USA from the Pakistan homeland of this gecko and secondly, for reasons not yet understood some breeders have found the hatchlings delicate. Hatchlings are said to often succumb within the first few weeks of their life.

This gecko of the rocky deserts attains an adult length of about 3 inches and is of stocky build. Despite its small size, once past the rather delicate hatchling stage, this is a hardy gecko that can live for many years in captivity on a diet of vitamin-calcium dusted baby crickets and tiny roaches.

The polygonal body scales are relatively small and only weakly imbricate. However the scales on the carrot-shaped tail are large and strongly imbricate.

My first examples came from a Pakistani friend in the early 60s. All arrived alive, bred readily, and within a year I had added several hatchlings to the growing colony.

Be these Hemidactylus or Teratolepis, they are an alert, primarily terrestrial, easily kept gecko, that is well worthy of consideration.

Additional reading: Bauer, Aaron M.; Varad B. Giri, Eli Greenbaum, Todd R. Jackman,
Mahesh S. Dharne and Yogesh S. 2008. On the Systematics of the Gekkonid Genus Teratolepis Günther, 1869: Another One Bites the Dust. Hamadryad 32 (2): 90-104

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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!

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The name of spider gecko is derived from the long, spindly legs.The air mail letter from Jerry had just arrived from Karachi when our customs broker called and mentioned that we had an unexpected shipment from Pakistan at his facility. He could find neither packing list nor invoice within. Could we supply any info? I asked the broker to wait for a moment, opened the letter and found the needed documentation—a now forgotten number of leopard geckos, and a half dozen each of 3 other gecko species, 2 rat snakes, 2 whiskered vipers, and an Indian python were contained. I would fax it to him immediately. This was back in the 60s, at a time when U. S. Customs was easy to work with and there were virtually no state or federal regulatory laws. I expected no problems from this shipper’s oversight nor did we have any. The next morning the shipment was at our facility and I was eagerly unpacking it. I was familiar with most of the species from earlier shipments, but 2 species of geckos were new to me. One of these was the spider gecko, Agamura persica. What was this (remember there were few herp books and no computers/Google in those days)?

When after opening the bag I got my first look at this slender, big eyed, long legged, skinny tailed, creature I realized that I had never even imagined such a creature existed. I noticed too that they were devoid of toepads, and that when adult they are easily sexed, the males having pronounced hemipenial bulges as 5 of my 6 did. I also was quick to learn that the adult males were incompatible. The 6th individual, then a not sexable subadult, was a male.

Querying the shipper, I learned that this semidesert gecko was a saxicolous species, a terrarium type that was/is easily duplicated. In such terraria I found these geckos undemanding and very hardy.
And for this experience I say many thanks, Jerry.

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It’s Two for Tuesday with this pair of Cresties in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MOC_Reptiles . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Researchers used novel approach with historic film to discover just how endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are. Kemp’s ridley turtles are currently classified as critically endangered on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. The species was on the brink of extinction in the 1980s, but a Mexico-U.S. bi-national conservation program initiated in 1978 was able to reverse its decline.

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LOVE this Cribo in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user steve fuller ! We are so jealous! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Before the final collision of Eurasia and the Indian subcontinent, land bridges between the landmasses may have served as ‘freeways’ of biodiversity exchange that flowed in both directions, new information shows.

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What a gorgeous pair of (V.r.raddei) Radde’s Rock Viper in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user tjern d! On Rattlesnake Friday, we celebrate ALL things venomous! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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The dwarf salamander ranges from Texas to North Carolina and southern Florida.
It wasn’t crossing the road. It was lying quietly parallel with the yellow line and it was only 1 ¼ “ in length with a diameter hardly greater than a broom straw. It was a newly metamorphosed dwarf salamander, Eurycea quadridigitata. It was probably the smallest salamander that Jake or I had ever road hunted, and yes, I still wonder how either of us, never mind both of us, ever saw this creature that looked upon closer inspection like nothing more than a fine crack in the pavement?

Having an average adult length of 2 ¾ to 3 ¼ inches (and a record length just a hair over 3 ½ inches), at its largest the dwarf salamander is aptly named. As currently described this is probably a species complex. It is a salamander of southeastern swamplands and is small enough to hide beneath even tiny pieces of vegetative debris.

In keeping with its swampland habitat, this is a dark colored salamander. The dorsum is lighter than the sides, often bears a vague herringbone pattern and is divided by a narrow, dark, vertebral stripe that may be continuous or broken, and usually shades to a yellowish or sometimes orange color with no stripe on the tail. A dark dorsolateral stripe is present on each side. The sides and venter are grayish. There are only 4 toes on each foot.
I assure you that it was for the possibility of seeing other herp species that we had travelled to Florida’s Panhandle, but the finding of this little dwarf among dwarves was certainly noteworthy.
Continue reading “The Tiniest Salamander” …read more
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