Nesting female Florida Softshelled Turtle, Apalone ferox.
Jake and I were zipping along on our favorite “Canebrake Rattler road” when Jake hollered “softshell, a big one.” Translated that meant photo-op so I swerved, turned, and drove almost up to the turtle—a big female—and she was nesting. Pix were taken and we left, the turtle still undisturbed.

Two hours later, after finding a beautiful canebrake rattler, we decided to recheck the nesting Florida Softshell, Apalone ferox. She was gone. Initially, from the car, it seemed that all was well, that she had laid, covered the nest, and returned to the flooded swamps. But, deciding to take some pix of the turtle’s swampland home, I left the car, our security from the dozens of gathering deerflies, horseflies, and “skeeters,” and Jake elected to take pix of the turtle nest.

Disaster. Her primary nest and several other attempted nestings, had been pilfered.

Our initial thoughts ran to raccoons, a well known and abundant predator of turtles and their eggs. But before leaving we had changed our minds, now leaning toward human predation.

The thought change was brought about by the finding of one intact egg at the mouth of the nest and then finding 2 others, one broken and one still intact several feet away on road edge.

We picked up the 2 “good” eggs after deciding to incubate them while all the while feeling sure that after having been rolled about and dropped incubation would be unsuccessful.

But the hatching, more than 2 months later, proved me wrong. And now we have 2 healthy appearing hatchlings to return to the swamp.

This is N. asper, recognized by name rather than appearance
Australia! A veritable land of geckos! But from among this plethora of hobbyist favorites, one group, those of the genus Nephrurus, stands out, or at least once stood out, by the presence of knobs tipping the shortened and/or fattened tails. But now, with its inclusion to the genus by Aaron Bauer, the old Underwoodisaurus millii, a species with a comparatively fat but long tail that bears no visible tipping knob, has become a member of the knobbed cluster. It is N. millii. All are capable of vocalizations.

But this blog post is about only 2 members of the genus whose tails differ from the rest but that are themselves of confusingly similar appearance. These two, the Queensland Rough Knob-tail, Nephrurus asper and the Centralian Rough Knob-tail, N. amyae have, by far, the shortest tails in the genus. The former inhabits much of Queensland, from the Cape York Peninsula southward and the latter ranges over much of central Australia including Northern Territory and extreme eastern Western Australia. Both are associated with ledges, rocks, and arid soils.but in eastern Queensland N. asper may be found to range into areas a little moister than the norm. There it seems associated with creviced, rocky, ledges.

These 2 species are so similar that unless their geographic range is known you will have difficulty determining which is which. The species name asper relates to the rough-skin of these geckos, while amyae is a patronym. Although both are “sand” colored, of the 2, N. amyae, beings associated with red sand areas in Australia, is often the redder while N. asper tends to vary from sand tan to pale brown. Both have faint darker crossbands with the nuchal (neck) band being the most prominent. Dorsally and laterally these two geckos have spiny scales encircled by somewhat enlarged smoother scales.


Both species are hardy captives, feeding well on insects and pill-bugs. They will drink water droplets from the sides of the terrarium or from their own scales when gently sprayed. They may not recognize a shallow dish as a water source. Both species are adult at a svl of 4 ½ to just over 5 inches with the Centralian being slightly the larger and the very short tail adding a few fractions of an inch. They are, like many geckos, terrestrial, lack expanded digital laminae, fully capable of burrowing in suitable soils, and are oviparous.

Peltophryne fustiger is the Giant Toad species from the region of Soroa, Cuba
Our first herping experience was at Soroa, a locale southwest of Habana, known for its waterfalls and streams. The region is home to a big aquatic anole and other lizards, a variety of snakes, and an endemic giant toad, Peltophryne fustiger.

Our second morning proved to be fruitful. Within minutes we were all gazing at several Stream Anoles, Anolis vermiculatus,. There were juveniles on fallen branches in the stream and adult males displaying on nearby treetrunks. Having been told that the species was difficult to find and photograph, we found our experience to be totally opposite.We learned also, that while most accounts claim this and the related A. bartschi to be the only 2 amongst the hordes of anole species to be devoid of a dewlap, that this was not precisely the case. In fact, both of those taxa have a dewlap, small though it is.

An adult Cuban Crocodile. This species is not inclined to have a gentle disposition.
This Island Nation (archipelago) has always intrigued me. ‘Way back in the 1950s I had contemplated a visit to Cuba, but politics prevented a visit. And although politics still play an important role in a visit to Cuba, it is now at least possible. These reminiscences are about Patti’s and my trip number 3, from Havana westward to Soroa and Vinales and then southward to the Cienega Zapata, the home of the fabled Cuban Crocodile.

Cuba’s herpetofauna (and endemic birds) are very different from species found only 90 miles northward on the Florida peninsula and keys. Amongst the herpetofauna, for example, there are no seriously venomous species, although several snake taxa are rear-fanged and produce a venom of “mild” toxicity that assists in overpowering prey. Among the constrictors are the big Cuban Boa and a number of “Tropes” that were until recently considered dwarfed members of the boid family. Simply put, if you exclude the Cuban species of anoles and a treefrog now established in Florida, no matter where we stopped to search, any herps found would be distinctly different from those found only 90 miles distant in the Florida Keys. Now onto the air conditioned tour bus, and driver, Ronel, had us on our way in mere minutes.

Note the slightly upturned nose of this species.
Hypsirhyncus ferox, the Hispaniolan Cat-eyed or Hog-nosed Snake, is an interesting little dipsadine species about which very little is written. Both common names are well deserved, this snake having elliptical pupils and a flattened slightly upturned rostrum.

Coloration may range by individual from a solid brick red, through various shades of yellow, to a deep olive-gray, all with or without dorsal patterning.

Long a single species found in both Hispaniolan countries and having 3 subspecies, recently it has been revisited by geneticists and (surprise, surprise!) has now been split into 2 species, one of which has 2 ssp. Adult size is about 15 inches and prey includes lizards and frogs. Seemingly related to the small dipsadine racers of the Caribbean Islands, the Cat-eyed Snakes can move agilely and quickly. Over the years I have maintained a few as captive and found them to be secretive and hardy, readily feeding on anoles. Other than the fact that this is an oviparous snake, little is known about its breeding methodology.