NY: Owner of alligator and python seized in May by DEC pleads guilty to owning wild animals
Syracuse, NY -- The owner of Howard the alligator and Sponge Bob the albino Burmese python, two reptiles seized earlier this year from the man's Syracuse home, pleaded guilty today to two counts of unlawful possession of a wild animal, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/owner_of_alligator_and_python.html

MO: Judge orders alligators returned to owner
A Boone County judge cast doubt on Ken Henderson’s animal caretaking abilities even as she ruled yesterday that six alligators should be returned to his custody.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/jul/29/henderson-get-back-gators/

PA: Fox 29 Reporter Talks About On-Air Attack
Our reporter, Chris O'Connell was attacked Tuesday night in South Philadelphia while reporting on what SPCA officials were calling one of the most bizarre cases of animal hoarding they have ever seen.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/good_day_philadelphia/Fox_29_Reporter_Discusses_On-Air_Attack_072711

MD: Charles proposal puts stricter control on pit bulls
Other revisions would ban the sale or possession exotic animals including poisonous snakes, monkeys and apes, wolves and wolf-dog hybrids, wildcats weighing more than 30 pounds, and wild animals including skunks, raccoons and bears, bringing county regulations in line with state law, the presentation states.
http://www.somdnews.com/article/20110729/NEWS/707299849/1055/charles-proposal-puts-stricter-control-on-pit-bulls&template=southernMaryland

HI: Police seize ball python from Waialua home
Police seized a snake from a Waialua home today after someone called Crime Stoppers to report it. It is the 13th illegal reptile taken in by state officials since June 29.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/126043528.html

We at the Bean Farm will be attending the 34th Annual International Herpetological Symposium this week in Ft. Worth Texas.

This is a unique event that brings the Zoological, Private Hobbyist and Institutional attendees together for three days of papers on all the cutting edge aspects of herpetology. We at the Bean Farm have been attending and later vending at this event since 1989.

There is also pre-conference field trips to local places of interest hematological, this year we are going to Tour of Herp collection at the University at Arlington with Carl Franklin, then tour the Dallas World Aquarium.

On Friday we will go for a tour and picnic at the Fort Worth Zoo.

On Saturday we have a closing banquet, talk and auction.

This is a great event and something very different than reptile show you should check it out. It moves to a different city and zoo every year.

www.kingsnake.com/ihs

Today is a sad day in Norway and around the world. A lunatic named Anders Behring Breivik, allegedly, blew up a bomb in downtown Oslo killing a number of people, and then went to a popular island vacation spot, where he killed as many people as he possibly could, over the next hour and a half. Most of these vacationers were defenseless children that he hunted like shooting ducks in a barrel. The latest count is over 90 fatalities due to this madman.

He seems to be a self proclaimed conservative, and according to his Facebook page, identifies himself as a "christian". In fact the Norwegian police have identified him as a "right-wing fundamentalist Christian". He was known to be an outspoken critic of some of what he saw as threatening policies that the Norwegian government has taken. He was also a member of the Norwegian Masons. Was. You see the Mason have expelled him from their group following this senseless act of barbarism. The right wing can't expel him. Christians can't boot him either. Oh, if they could they would, but they cannot.

There are no partying right wingers of any particular religious belief anywhere partying in the streets after this cowardly act. No Christians of any stripe will be celebrating the terrorist act perpetrated by this monster in masses or church services tomorrow. There will not be a Masonic Lodge anywhere looking to wrap their arms around this booted member, ever. There will not be crowds of white people anywhere on the planet celebrating what this murderer has done. No riotous people celebrating this act of barbarism will occur anywhere on the planet. Least of all anyone that calls himself or herself a Christian.

The fact is, that you can count on virtually every white person, every person that considers themselves "right-wing", every individual that calls himself or herself a Christian, every Mason and yes, every Norwegian in Norway and around the World, will universally stand up and in the strongest possible terms will condemn what this terrorist has done. In fact, the pulpits in Christian Churches all around the world will offer up prayers for the hurt, the hurting and their families. Offerings will be taken in financial support of the victims. Hundreds of volunteers who claim the name of Christ, will put action to their feelings of empathy in helping.

I list these types as that is what the media seems to have used in a description of Anders Behring Breivik, as if any of these have anything to do with what this horrific individual has done. This is a singularly despicable act, of what so far seems to have been a single individual has done. This is NOT a movement of "like minded" individuals who seem to have been maligned by much of the media as if they too are some sort of similar threat. Ridiculous. In fact individuals of similar description used in the news articles I have read today, are far more likely to desire that the book be thrown at Anders Behring Breivik for the crimes he has committed.

How about an honest reporter detailing how exactly the opposite Breivik’s actions were to everything the right wing fundamentalist Christians beliefs would have them do? How about a piece about how profoundly abhorrent those actions were to “right wing Christians” the world over? Can we read an article like that please?

New York Times Article

A far too serious blog post, but one I felt compelled to write.

This is my first KS blog, so forgive any potentially awkward composition.

Two years ago, I obtained a beautiful young adult corn that was captured in 2007 in South Carolina. I bought it with the hope its phenotype would reproducible, and this year, I was excited to hatch more of these beautiful mutants in F2 productions.



They obviously resemble leucistic mutants found in other serpent species (overall white and pigment-less coloration with silver/blue irises), with the exception of the random displays of color. It appears that there are several different expressions of color (some color splashes are not relegated to individual scales, some scales exhibit one color that is confined to that scale, some scales have a smoky gray "shadow" margin, and some scales have many colors that appear to be expressed in more than one way). The latter-mentioned scales exhibit heavily color-saturated specks with sharp profiles, while - often in the same scale - color smudges have indistinct and fading profiles. The random distribution of color areas renders a pleasing and interesting aggregate. Of course, shocking white serpents with dark eyes have always impressed most snake lovers.



The hatchlings average 5 grams in weight, and 8.9" (23cm) in length -- the extremes of which are 8.1" to 9.6" (21-25cm) and 4-6 grams. Scale counts are more appropriate for the Cornsnake Pantherophis guttatus species than the only other suspect species found in South Carolina, the Black Rat Snake Pantherophis obsoletus - though these two cousin species have some overlapping scale count zones. Head shape is not like that of the Black Rat - in that the jaw/neck intersection is not pronounced. Demeanor of the hatchlings - as well as that of the only known adult - is remarkably and utterly mild, in so much as not one single specimen has ever struck or otherwise shown any human intolerance (the opposite predominant temperament of the Black Rat species). Other features that distinguish the Palmetto as being a pure corn snake are semen color and a cross-cut body profile more cornsnake-like, regarding its more rounded ventral keel. There is no doubt in my mind that the demonstrated characteristics of all the Palmettos reproduced (and of the only adult specimen) point to this mutation being purely cornsnake. The odds of a NEW leucistic rat snake variation consistently exhibiting so many color anomalies existing in the wild OR in captivity is rare enough, but the notion that such a heretofore unseen and unique mutant variation suddenly entering herpetoculture in the form of a cornsnake, surely decreases the likelihood of this being an inter-species hybrid between Black Rat Snake and Cornsnake. The seven people that I know have handled the adult all instantly discounted the possibility of it being a rat snake. I only emphasize these observations because hybridization between species (and genera) in our hobby is so prevalent lately, it is inherent for someone to suspect that ANY new snake phenotype that is dramatically atypical for one species - could be a man-made, inter-species (or inter-genera) hybrid.



Suffice to say, we're excited about this latest - and most unusually colored - cornsnake mutation, and we hope you will agree that the Palmetto rivals even the most astonishingly beautiful boa and python mutants in herpetoculture.