By Herp News

Last month, we highlighted wildlife tracking hardware and software that allows

An RFID chip worn on a triathlete’s ankle strap at right is read by the receiver on the left to record their start, finish, and passing by of course markers. Photo: rupp.de, Wikimedia Commons

Commercial applications of RFID technology have been common since the 80’s – it is found in badges worn by medical or security staff, electronic toll readers, and hotel or office entry key cards. Only recently have scientists begun to apply RFID to wildlife research beyond merely mark-recapture purposes. Bridge has created a website that provides information and instructions to build the reader system, ranging from a list of parts to a complete circuit board design and accompanying instructional videos. The website is directed specifically at animal researchers with limited budgets.

“People are sometimes surprised when I say that I started with no engineering background and figured out how to build an RFID reader by surfing the Internet,” said Bridge. “But that sort of thing is becoming commonplace. I’ve corresponded with several people, also non-engineers who have done the same thing.”

How does the RFID work?
RFID technology requires three main components: a uniquely identifiable tag, a reading device with an antenna, and software. A passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag is activated as it comes into contact with the electromagnetic field created by the antenna. When the tag passes near a reader, it is activated to send its unique alphanumeric code to the reader module that is then stored in a memory chip.

The system uses radio waves to capture data from the tag, so while the tag must be relatively close to the reader to be recognized, it doesn’t need to be in line of sight.

Use in the field
To integrate this technology into a biological study, a researcher attaches the tag to an animal and places the tag reader in a spot that is regularly and reliably visited by tagged individuals, such as a nest, den, or birdfeeder. The researcher sets the amount of time the unit will spend reading (probing the antenna’s range for a tag) and resting (intervals in between read attempts) to best balance the collection effort and energy use. The more time the system spends reading, the more battery it will use. If you are placing the antenna at the entrance to a nesting cavity where birds typically pass by through quickly, intervals will have to be set shorter. If you are looking at tortoise movement through culverts, you will have a little more time!

Waterproofing on the cheap: the DIY RFID ready for the field Photo: Eli Bridge, University of Oklahoma

Although Bridge and his colleagues designed this do-it-yourself reader with birds in mind, it can be applied to a wide range of taxa. The tag does not require batteries and so is both lightweight and …read more
Read more here: herpetofauna.com

Clean, simple and classic. What other way could we describe this Anery Boa in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pythonas !

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Follow the lead of these Water Dragons in our herp photo of the day and spend hump day with someone you love, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cochran !

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I’m sure a person who is very passionate about breeding reptiles would consider crossbreed reptiles as a major part of his passion, and even a reptile lover is always fond of seeing some crossbreeds. In India, luckily you can find a crossbreed snake known as The Whitaker’s Boa, Eryx whitakeri, named after the renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker.

The Whitakers Boa is a cross of the common sand boa, Gongylophis conicus, and the red sand boa, Eryx johnii, and it shows the characteristics of these two snakes. It has blotches on its body and a similar head like common sand boa and smooth scales, short tail and reddish body color are the characteristics of the red sand boa.

The maximum length of this snake is 80cm, and it is viviparous by nature, giving birth to 5-9 young ones.

I’ve found this snake twice on herping. The last time was last summer while herping in a sanctuary of Goa with a group of people. We saw a bison grazing, so we moved back and changed our direction. After reaching a safe distance we sat on a rock and saw this Whitaker’s boa snake beside the rock. It was around 40-50cm in length and a beautiful one. “Sometimes, changing your path has great benefit.”

Photo: Riyaz Khoja

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Zoo Atlanta is set to release nine threatened Eastern indigo snakes in Alabama woodlands where they once ranged.

From the Atlanta Business Journal:

“A collaborative effort by Zoo Atlanta, the Central Florida Zoo’s Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation and Auburn University will result in the latest release of this iconic reptile in Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama,” Zoo Atlanta said in a prepared statement.
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Three of the nine snakes were reared at Zoo Atlanta, which has reared around 60 eastern indigo snakes for release since the program’s inception in 2008, the zoo said.

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You go to the campground and the frogs will be at the pond. Of course, the fact that the campground and pond were a couple of thousand miles west of home in Colorado complicated the search for a while. But then on a late summer day I decided to make the drive and search for the frog.

“The frog” was a high elevation population of wood frogs, the ones that were once known as Rana maslini. They were dark of color, somewhat warty, a little short-legged and squatty, but overall they were quite pretty — or at least interesting.

Although wood frogs are widely distributed from Labrador and Newfoundland to northeastern Georgia to northwestern Alaska, in the continental west they are found in only a few small montane populations in CO, adjacent WY, northern WY, and northern ID.

The fact that they were geographically isolated and seemingly genetically incompatible with other populations prompted systematists of the day to name them Rana maslini. It was later found that they could interbreed successfully with other populations of wood frogs and this led to Rana maslini being considered a synonym of Rana sylvatica. With today’s concept that the ability to interbreed is a primitive characteristic, I must wonder whether the status of these frogs will be revisited.

But anyway, there I was in Colorado. I found the pond. But after two days of not finding any frogs I declared myself a failure and drove back home. Three days later I was discussing the frog with a friend and learned I had been at the wrong pond. The one I really wanted was about 3/4 mile farther, down a road closed by nearly impenetrable mazes of fallen trees. So what could I do?

I drove back. I parked the car in the same spot as before, made the hike and found the frog. It only took a week and a half and a few miles over 10,000 to succeed. I’d call that dedication.

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Continue reading “The Colorado Wood Frog” …read more
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First a rattlesnake took a bite out of Todd Fassler. Then the bill for the antivenin that saved his life took another.

From the Washington Post:

The bulk of his hospital bill — $83,000 of it — is due to pharmacy charges. Specifically, charges for the antivenin used to treat the bite. KGTV reports that Fassler depleted the antivenin supplies at two local hospitals during his five-day visit. Nobody expects antivenin to be cheap. But $83,000?

There’s currently only one commercially available antivenin for treating venomous snakebites in the United States — CroFab, manufactured by U.K.-based BTG plc. And with a stable market of 7,000 to 8,000 snakebite victims per year and no competitors, business is pretty good. BTG’s latest annual report shows CroFab sales topped out at close to 63 million British pounds, or $98 million dollars, last fiscal year. The antivenin costs hospitals roughly $2,300 per vial, according to Bloomberg, with a typical dose requiring four to six vials. In some cases multiple doses are needed, according to CroFab’s promotional Web site.

BTG has fought aggressively to keep competitors off the market. A competing product, Anavip, just received FDA approval this year and likely won’t be on the market until late 2018. This lack of competition is one reason that snakebite treatments rack up such huge hospital bills — $55,000. $89,000. $143,000. In May of this year, a snakebit Missouri man died after refusing to seek medical care, saying he couldn’t afford the bill.

Read the rest here. …read more
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A keen eye will pick up this well camouflaged Garter in the field, but thankfully we make the job easy for you in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user snakekate !

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By Herp News

A new collaborative study examined predator-prey interactions between tiger sharks and sea turtles off the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean. The research team used long-term satellite tagging data from large tiger sharks and adult female loggerhead sea turtles, common prey of tiger sharks, to examine their movement patterns and evaluate if turtles modify their behaviors to reduce their chances of a shark attack when turtle and shark home ranges overlapped.

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By Herp News

Up until recently there was a single known species in the only vertebrate family endemic to West Africa, the torrent tooth-frog. Based on morphological and molecular results, however, four new species are now described. Unfortunately, they might all be at a risk of extinction. Their habitat needs and small distribution range call for immediate conservation measures.

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The fossil record tells us an ancient snake had four feet — but he wasn’t using them to run any marathons.

From Mashable:

The roughly 120 million-year-old snake, dubbed Tetrapodophis amplectus (literally, four-legged snake), likely didn’t use its feet for walking. Instead, the appendages may have helped Tetrapodophis hold onto a partner while mating, or even grip unruly prey, said study co-researcher David Martill, a professor of paleobiology at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom.

Previous research has detailed two-legged snake fossils, but this is the first known snake ancestor to sport four legs, he said. It likely evolved from terrestrial-burrowing creatures, and was a transitional animal that lived during the shift from ancient lizards to modern-day snakes, he added.

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When a snake lover imagines seeing a cat snake, he or she probably expects to see a thin snake on a tree with beautiful color pattern and vertical eye pupils. That was my expectation when my friend Riyaz Khoja called me up and said, “Sachin, I have rescued a Forsten’s cat snake! Come to my place right away!”

I accelerated my bike toward Riyaz’s house and was trying to picture the cat snake while on the way. I had never seen a Forsten’s cat snake, boiga forsteni, so even I was expecting a thin cat snake with a length of 3-4 ft.

But when I reached his place and saw the snake I was like, “OMG!!! Bro, are you serious? This is a species of cat snake, are they really so big?”

The size of that cat snake was 6 ft, and it was fat like a rat snake. It had a triangular body like a cat snake with vertical eye pupils and rest of the characteristics of the cat snake family.

That happened three years ago, and I still remember each and every moment of that beautiful scenario. After that I came across many species of cat snakes but never found any of them as big as a Frsten’s cat snake. I would definitely call this snake “the boss of the serpentine cats.”

Photo: Riyaz Khoja

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This Ambilobe Panther Chameleon is all fired up in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user vinniem1210!

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The last surviving female turtle of her species has laid only infertile eggs.
From Scientific American:

Two months ago the world’s conservationists crossed their collective fingers and waited to find out if a 100-year-old female Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei), the last of her gender, would—after artificial insemination—finally lay fertile eggs and save her species from extinction.

I’m sorry to say that those hopes have, at least temporarily, been dashed. The Turtle Survival Alliance reported this week that the centenarian did lay 89 eggs, but all were infertile.

That doesn’t mean the quest is over, however. The female is expected to lay one or two more clutches of eggs this year. They’ll try to inseminate here again before then.

Read the full story, and more about turtle reproduction, here. …read more
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What a beautiful shot to end our week! But really it is hard to not see beauty when you look at the Asian Vine Snake (Ahaetulla prasina) our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 13lackcat! Be sure to tell 13lackcat you liked it here!

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By Herp News

An “absolutely exquisite” fossil of a snake that had four legs has been discovered by a team of scientists and may help show how snakes made the transition from lizards to serpents.

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Read more here: herpetofauna.com

More Florida sea turtle adventures, this time with a guy who loved them so much he brought them home. Too bad that’s totally against the law.

From Tech Times:

Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission visited the home of William Henry Jowett after receiving a tip that he was keeping two of the threatened reptile at home.

The 53-year old eventually received a misdemeanor citation after he was discovered keeping two loggerhead sea turtle hatchling. The penalties for this included up to one year imprisonment and a potential fine of up to $1,000.

Jowett reportedly obtained the animals from the canal in his backyard two months ago and decided to place these in a saltwater aquarium to show to his daughter. He said that he had plans to release the turtles but became attached to the animals.

The animals were taken from the aquarium and moved to the Loggerhead Marine Life Sanctuary Center. The turtles were later released offshore.

Read the full story here. …read more
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Kansas is a state about which I know very little. I have driven across it a couple of times on my way home from Colorado and I’ve driven to it another couple of times to look up some exotic lizards. But I had never visited the state to witness the great snake emergence from hibernation that I had so often heard about.

So when Kenny said, “This spring it’s Kansas,” I said OK. It was past time, and Kenny is a great field companion. So when the time came we loaded the car and were on our way.

Kenny knew just where we should be so when once in the state, after a couple of false turns, I was staring in awe at a rock-strewn series of hills that seemed to stretch forever. Fortunately it was not necessary to go to “forever” to find the snakes we sought. The first 50 or so rocks that we flipped produced nothing, but following that dry start it seemed that every second rock sheltered a lizard or snake.

We found prairie ringnecks by the score, a fair number of lined snakes, some Great Plains skinks were seen, and then, in quick succession, 2 Central Plains milk snakes, Lampropeltis triangulum syspila. I’m told that we actually missed the major herp emergence but as far as I’m concerned we just couldn’t have done better.

In fact, I liked it so well I may actually try it again.

More photos under the jump…
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This is an attractively marked Eastern Box Turtle is named Louie and the owner says he is 9 years old! Louie the Box Turtle is our spotlight in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user terrapene! Be sure to tell terrapene you liked it here!

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A good veterinarian needs the skills of a super sleuth…in the category of Sherlock Holmes or Poirot….given that most of their patients don’t speak. The super sleuth veterinarian must draw on excellent skills of observation and deductive reasoning to figure out what is wrong with their patient.

Owners need the same super observation and deductive skills. Regretfully, my skills were slow to notice that something was wrong with Frankie. In the last few weeks I was slow noticing what was going on and wrongly deduced the situation. I mistook Frankie’s lack of “getting around the yard” to mean “it’s to hot to walk around the yard.”

Frankie wasn’t getting around the yard much and it was defiantly hot outside. Frankie would find a cool spot in the yard and stick there for most of the day. That I noticed.

The bigger clue that got me thinking something was wrong was Frankie wobbled when he walked. Still, I just watched.

It was cooler outside one evening so I took Frankie for a Big Walk. He walked, slowly, down four houses, sat on the neighbors lawn, and then sat to grazed eating only the the grass that was within “head reach”

The walk back to the house, took an soooo long and Frankie kept stopping to rest. I started adding up everything I’d seen in the last two weeks and came to one very sure result: Frankie was having mobility issues.

Frankie’s local veterinarian was unable to do an x-ray saying his equipment was not appropriate for large tortoises. He suggested I find a horse veterinarian to have them do the xray on a portable machine.

The equine veterinarians I called would have this very long pause when I explained that I needed an xray of a 100 pound sulcata tortoise. Only one would consider doing the x-ray and it would be another week before they could see Frankie.

I had a sense of urgency that Frankie needed to be seen SOON, and I needed a very confident veterinarian could do the job.

So I drove four hours to Birmingham, AL to see the best turtle doctor in Alabama: Dr. Alvin Atlas.

Yes, I did. Just Frankie and me, in the car, for four hours.

At the vet’s office, they sent staff to help me get Frankie out of the car and into the building. It took some time to get the limping Frankie inside. Just walking into the examination room was painful. Unlike his last visit to see Dr. Atlas, Frankie just sat there.
This is far enough. Not walking another step.
When Dr. Atlas came in to see Frankie all I told him was Frankie was having mobility problems. Dr. Atlas sat on his stool and he and Frankie just stared at each other.

Dr. Atlas said, “That is unusual.”

“You mean Frankie just sitting there?”<br …read more
Read more here: Turtle Times

The beautiful pygmy frog, Microhyla pulchra, is a one-of-a-kind amphibian. But its uniqueness, known as crypsis, is making conservation efforts challenging.

From io9.com:

Crypsis is an entity’s ability to avoid detection. It can be a predator’s ability to avoid being spotted by prey, or prey’s ability to avoid being spotted by predators, or, in this case, an animal’s ability to avoid being spotted by biologists. Although I know it’s a valid term for a behavior, I can’t help but admire the ability of biologists to make their own failure to find an animal into a recognized property of the animal.

Read the rest here. …read more
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I have been giving lectures and conducting workshops on reptile management and awareness for some time. I’ve never written about them until now because, to be frank, I never found anything special to be shared. That changed with my last workshop, however, and I would love to share it.

My soccer coach, Mr. Savio Dsouza, has always been supportive of my passion for snakes, and he was the one to organize the reptile management workshop. It was conducted in a boarding school named Rishi Gurukulam Ashram. The best thing about this school is that it is situated in a valley with only greenery and mountains to be seen.

The lecture was conducted by me and my partners Akshay Parahlkar (Axy) and Anirudh Rathod, and we had carried four snakes to show them: The common krait, the common trinket snake, the checkered keelback water snake, and the most common of all, the rat snake.

If I were to try to praise the students and teachers of the school, it would take ten more pages to write. The reason why I loved this school so much is because each and every person there loves snakes and respects them because they have been encountering them regularly and they are very well aware that these slitherins are harmless.

During the lecture the students were very interactive, and I was very amazed to see that even a first grade student was able to identify the snakes found in that area and there was not a single person in the crowd who was scared of snakes. Being a snake conservationist I would say these are the actual people who I respect a lot because after all the thing which makes me happy is that even people who are not into herpetology or the reptile world are trying their best to conserve and protect these magnificent creatures.

Photos: Chetan Waga

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Snakes and Cats living together, it will be anarchy! Wait what? Nah it is just a nice shot of a Cat Snake (Boiga cyanea) in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ptahtoo! Be sure to tell ptahtoo you liked it here!

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Apprently the friend of your enemy is your enemy, when it comes to sea turtles — at least in Florida, where a Vietnam veteran was allegedly shot with his own gun by someone who took exception to his efforts to protect a sea turtle nest.

From Local10.com:

A Vietnam veteran was shot while trying to save baby sea turtles at a South Florida beach.

Stan Pannaman, 72, of Tamarac, was shot Friday night near a sea turtle nest in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Pannaman said he and Doug Young, a fellow volunteer trying to protect the nest, were confronted by Michael McAuliffe, who approached them and said he didn’t like sea turtles.

“He got more aggressive and he got up and he came towards us and he started pulling the stakes away from the nest area,” Young told Local 10 News.

Read the full story here. …read more
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This past winter, as a cold front came barreling through, I decided to make certain that all of the tortoises were snug in their heated winter houses. I quickly scanned the pens and saw only a few desert box turtles, Terrapene ornata luteola still out. Although I probably needn’t have worried about them I quickly shepherded all into their warmed quarters and then took a head count of the tortoises already slumbering soundly in the houses. Hmmmm. One missing leopard tortoise, Geochelone (Stigmochelys) p. pardalis, and 2 missing desert box turtles. Well, those shouldn’t be hard to find so I began a search of pen. Under the ground level philodendron leaves? Nope. Resting quietly on the grassy substrate? Nope. Hidden by the few patches of tall grasses? Nope. No chelonians to be found. So I started over and again came up empty handed.

“Patti! Could you please help me find this tortoise?”

We both looked and we both failed. Still no star.

Then when I looked down I was standing right next to a patch of tall grass that was about 12 x 14 inches. Way too small for a 10 inch long leopard tortoise, right? But that’s where it was, smack in the middle and all but invisible. Those camouflaging carapacial markings sure are sure effective. We didn’t find the desert box turtles that night but they showed up again when the weather moderated. And I won’t mention the several times I’ve looked for an hour or more for an Indian star tortoise in their 30 x 40 foot pen.

More photos under the jump…
Continue reading “Camouflaged tortoises, hiding in plain sight” …read more
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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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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!

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By Herp News

Researching one of the world’s most endangered penguins in New Zealand, the yellow-eyed penguin, has led to a remarkable discovery. DNA from 500-year-old penguin fossils has shown that the country was once home to not just one penguin species, but two. The DNA has resurrected an unknown extinct penguin, which researchers have named the Waitaha Penguin.

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By Herp News

South Korea’s Daewoo has signed a 99-year lease for half of Madagascar’s arable land, reports the Financial Times. The agreement covers 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) — an area half the size of Belgium. Daewoo says it plans to plant corn on 1 million hectares in the arid western part of the island and 300,000 ha (740,000 acres) of oil palm on land in the tropical east, a region that is home to the bulk of Madagascar’s rare rainforests. The company will produce the food for export and plans to import workers from South Africa, although a Daewoo spokesman said that the project could create up to 70,000 local jobs.

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By Herp News

Scientists have yet to conclusively explain the underlying cause of global declines in amphibian populations, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research says that two leading theories for the demise of amphibians — both related to the emergence and spread of the deadly chytrid fungus — are not supported by scientific data.

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By Herp News

With its characteristic horn, the endangered rhino rat snake has been bred in a European zoo for the first time.

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By Herp News

Frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians are disappearing at an alarming rate. Of approximately 6,000 amphibian species in the world, about one third are classified as threatened or endangered. A disease caused by a chytrid fungus has devastated frogs living in mid to high elevation streams worldwide. Amphibians also face habitat destruction as forests and wetlands are developed and polluted by agricultural chemicals. In Panama, highland frog populations west of the Canal have declined at an alarming rate.

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By Herp News

Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of primate on a remote island in Indonesia. Conducting a survey of Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park on the island of Sulawesi, a team led by Sharon Gursky-Doyen of Texas A&M University captured three pygmy tarsiers, a tiny species of primate that was last collected in 1921 and was assumed to be extinct until 2000 when two scientists studying rats accidently trapped and killed an individual. Gursky-Doyen’s team spent two months using 276 mist nets to capture the gremlin-like creatures so they could be fitted with radio collars and tracked. One other individual was spotted but eluded capture.

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By Herp News

A new study has found that colugos or flying lemurs are twice as diverse as previously believed.

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By Herp News

Dr. Laurie Marker, founder and Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), has been awarded $50,000 by the Tech Museum of Innovation for her organization’s Bushblok program which uses a high-pressure extrusion process to convert invasive, habitat-destroying bush into a clean-burning fuel log. Bushblok provides an alternative to products such as firewood, coal, lump charcoal and charcoal briquettes that are costly or result in environmental harm.

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By Herp News

Caspian Seal populations have declined 90% in the past 100 years, prompting the IUCN to switch their designation from Vulnerable to Endangered.

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By Herp News

The Bush Administration is expected to publish rules that relax protections for endangered species ahead of tomorrow’s deadline in order for them to take effect immediately, reports the Associated Press.

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Reading the subject line on this post, most of my American friends might think I’m writing about the beautiful red, yellow, and black coral snake. Sorry, my dear friends; this is an Indian coral snake, and also a very beautiful one.

The slender coral snake, calliophis melanurus, is a species of coral snake found in India, and luckily it is also found in my state.

Because it’s rare, I was never able to see this snake from the day I entered into reptile world and was very desperate to see this beauty. Finally my desperation ended happily when I met this sweet fellow on my herping two weeks ago.

The slender coral snake is a small and thin snake with the maximum length of 35 cm. This snake has a cylindrical body with smooth scales, and the color is light brown with black head and neck. The tail has two black rings. The underside of this snake is coral red, and the scales under the tail are greyish-blue and black. When the snake is disturbed, it curls up its tail. It usually feeds on blind snake/worm snake and lays 2-7 eggs under dried leaves or in crevices.

Finding this snake was so unbelievable that when my friends saw it, I asked them two or three times, “Dude, are you sure it’s a slender coral snake?” A very sweet and gentle snake, I can’t explain the level of happiness of finding this snake, but I would say that the last weeks happiness is still impacting me.

Photo: Riyaz Khoja

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Read more here: King Snake

The Dorset Wildlife Trust has a message to herpers: live tin alone.

From the BBC:

Reptile conservationist Gary Powell said: “If tins are disturbed outside of an official survey then it can affect the results of the research”.

Disturbing protected species could result in breaking the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations Act.

Conservationists from Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and Dorset Wildlife Trust leave small pieces of tin and sometimes roofing felt at Upton Heath nature reserve in Corfe Mullen.

Read more here.
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This Copperhead is looking forward to the what the week hold in our Herp Photo of the Day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user HerpLvr!

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