Reptile & Amphibian News Blog
Keep up with news and features of interest to the reptile and amphibian community on the kingsnake.com blog. We cover breaking stories from the mainstream and scientific media, user-submitted photos and videos, and feature articles and photos by Jeff Barringer, Richard Bartlett, and other herpetologists and herpetoculturists.
Tuesday, July 12 2016
Sonoma County has some beautiful Black Speckled Salamanders, just like this one 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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Monday, July 11 2016
This gorgeous Bredli's Python is coming up for a closer look in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sincitydragons ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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![](/blog/uploads/Atherisdesaixiiadult.jpg) Adult Mt. Kenya bush vipers are clad in a contrasting pattern of black and yellow.
It was back in the 1970s I acquired my first Mt. Kenya bush viper, Atheris desaixii. I hadn’t been looking for the taxon and I’m not even sure that I was aware of the existence of this viperine species until then.
Even then the acquisition was happenstance. I got a phone call one night from Hank Molt. It was back in those old those old days when Hank was “king of the herp rarities.”
“Dick. I know you like bush vipers and I’ve got one here that you just have to see.” It’s from Mt. Kenya and you’ve got to see it. C’mon up.” The fact that I was in Tampa and Hank was in Philadelphia was of small consequence. I hopped on the next northbound Delta and was soon in Philadelphia.
Hank met me at the airport and an hour later I was staring at one of the prettiest snakes I had until then seen. About 2 feet long, the ground color was charcoal and besides almost every dorsal and lateral scale bearing a tiny dot of butter yellow, the yellow was carried over into an intricate pattern.
When I asked Hank the price of the snake I was taken aback. Back in those days herps were usually quite affordable. This one teetered on the brink of being non-affordable. But I wanted the snake, Hank wanted to sell it, and after a bit of bargaining, it became mine. Ahhhh. Those were the good old days!
Continue reading " Mt. Kenya Bush Viper"
Friday, July 8 2016
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! To end the week, flash back to this Albino Eastern Diamondback from 2003 for our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ShawnHeflick ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
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![](/blog/uploads/LampropeltistriangulumelapsoidesLevyCnty11May1634.JPG) Scarlet Kingsnake! Need I say more?
Levy County is huge and still relatively untrammeled in many areas. Lately I have been spending less and less time fieldherping and more time birding, pursuits said by some to be relatively similar but that I find vastly different.
It was not until I had turned and was well on the way out that I noticed the remains of a huge long dead pine. But it was not the standing pine, itself well hidden in a canopy of green, that had caught my eye. Rather it was a huge fallen limb, a foot or more in diameter, that beckoned.
I slowed the car, passed, continued about 100 yards then decided to stop. Backing up that final 100 yards took only a few seconds. Shift lever in park, I stepped from the car and walked the couple of dozen few feet to the limb, shifted one end of it an inch or two, stepped back, looked down, and found myself staring at what until that moment been a well-hidden partial coil—red, black, yellow, black red—a beautiful, adult, scarlet king, Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides. A worthwhile stop indeed.
Continue reading " Scarlet Kingsnake!"
Thursday, July 7 2016
What a lovely looking pair of Chinese Water Dragons in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Agata ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Wednesday, July 6 2016
Love this gorgeous Santa Isabella ground boa in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user simonebrito ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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![](/blog/uploads/NerodiaclarkiiclarkiiHickoryMound24Apr153.JPG) Body color can vary to blend with the substrate.
It was just past sunup and I was walking a boardwalk over a saltmarsh in Levy County when I noticed the chunky, charcoal-on-gray snake lying loosely coiled on some bent over marsh grasses. A little further on there was another in what seemed an easily duplicated scene and then a third. In fact, the only divergence from this snake-on-the-grass format, from what I had begun to think of as the “norm” after seeing it over and over on the last 2 trips occurred almost at the end of my stroll where the elevated walkway passed through a stand of mangroves. There, a slender, more alert, and more brightly colored yearling Gulf salt-marsh snake, Nerodia clarkii clarkii, took immediate notice of my not so stealthy approach and with alacrity moved from its sunny position on the walkway into the darkness and obscurity of the mangrove branches.
Simple statistics: Since being described in 1853, this small water snake has had an unsettled nomenclatural history (Regina clarkii – Baird & Girard 1853, Tropidonotus clarkii – Cope 1861, Natrix clarki – Allen 1932, Natrix sipedon clarki – Conant 1958, Natrix fasciata clarki – Conant 1975, Nerodia clarkii clarkii – Conant & Collins 1991). When healthy this snake is of moderate girth, seldom exceeds 30” in adult length but is often 21 to 25 inches, with females being the larger sex. Dorsal ground color can vary between tan or pale gray to charcoal and there are 4 darker stripes, 2 dorsal and 2 lateral. There are from one to 3 rows of lightspots on the belly.
Continue reading "Gulf Saltmarsh Snakes"
Tuesday, July 5 2016
Now that's a handful! A handful of Peninsular Newts in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user avidoutdoorsman ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Monday, July 4 2016
An all American, this Baja black-collared lizard basks in it's own freedom 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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![](/blog/uploads/Rhinophrynusdorsalis4.jpg) A burrowing frog floating quietly between the bleating calls.
So What’s a Waaaaaaaa-mooch?
It was probably about 1949 or 1950 when I learned of the "waaaaaaa-mooch." A couple of my favorite childhood books were by naturalist Ivan T. Sanderson. And it was in his "Living Treasure" (published in 1941) that he discussed his first encounter with this, the tropical Mexican burrowing frog Rhinophrynus dorsalis. He perceived its vocalizations as a series of long, mournful, “waaaaaaa-moooooch” cries
Despite its name, this frog may actually be found well beyond Mexico. It is known to range from Costa Rica northward to southern Texas, but its distribution is spotty. Additionally, the frog is very secretive, usually emerging from its burrows to forage only during heavy rains, and to breed only during sustained torrential rains.
It was during a hurricane event in Texas’ LRGV that I finally met this anuran in the state. It had been pouring for 2 days and the countryside was awash. Gusty rain was driven in through the cracked windows. I was soaked. A flooded ditch and beyond that a flooded pasture… Then a chorus of waaaaaaaAAAHHHHS.
Different dialect but the very same eagerly sought frog.
In the ditch were a number of triangle shaped faces. As I watched I saw that those tiny frog faces were attached to inflated bodies that bobbed up in down in time with their calls, a bit like a flattened carousel where the horses go up and down in time to the music.
Success.
Continue reading "The Waaaaaaa-mooch"
Friday, July 1 2016
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! To end the week, flash back to this patternless Nitsche's bush viper (Atheris nitschei) from 2006 for our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user reptilelocators ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
![](http://gallery.kingsnake.com/data/28887Atheris_Nitschei.JPG.jpg)
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![](/blog/uploads/Leiocephaluscarinatusarmouri21.JPG) Curly-tails are alert and very fast.
The curly-tailed lizard, Leiocephalus carinatus, looks superficially like a heavy bodied swift (fence lizard) with an unruly, upcurled, tail. Present in Florida since the mid-1930s when it was deliberately introduced in the hope that it would consume unwanted insects in the sugarcane crops, this active diurnal Bahamian native is now seldom seen in the cane growing regions but has become common to abundant along the east coast of Florida from Martin to Miami-Dade counties and in lesser numbers in Monroe County. There it may be seen displaying on curbstones, parking barriers, and garden ornaments in locales as varied as sea-dunes to inland parks and urban neighborhoods.
The genus Leiocephalus is large and diverse. Alone, the species L. carinatus¸ the taxon present in Florida, contains 13 Bahamian and Cuban subspecies. Most are of quite similar appearance and the subspecies are best differentiated by range. Although over the years at least 3 subspecies ( L. c. armouri, L. c. coryi, and L. c. virescens) have been introduced to Florida, only the first of the 3, the northern curly-tailed lizard, has become firmly established.
Although not particularly inclined to do so, this lizard would much prefer to bask or dart actively about at ground level as it forages for insects in piles of building rubble or oolitic limestone.
Continue reading "Bahamian Curly-tailed Lizards"
Thursday, June 30 2016
This Sulawesi forest turtle seems like he has zero cares in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user andystorts ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Wednesday, June 29 2016
The always fascinating Gharial graces us today 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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![](/blog/uploads/Ambystomaopacum4.jpg) Most adult male marbled salamanders are precisely marked in black and white.
The beautiful marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum, ranges southward from extreme South Eastern New Hampshire and Southern Michigan to East Texas and Northern Florida. Interestingly and sadly, the Florida range of this pretty autumn breeding mole salamander once extended as far south on the FL peninsula as Hillsborough County (Tampa Bay). I know this as a fact, for back in the mid-60s Ron Sayers and I found both adult and juvenile marbled salamanders beneath weathered ties under railroad bridges near Lithia Springs.
I am not sure when this population of marbled salamanders disappeared from that area. Nor do I know the whys of its disappearance. Having moved northward, it was not until 1979 that I returned to Florida and was able to return to the locale. By then everything about the area had changed. The area was dustbowl dry, the discarded ties were gone and the railroad itself was little more than a memory.
Now, when I hope to see one of these autumn breeding, light banded, black salamanders, I start my search in woodland locales about 200 miles northwestward of Tampa. But as I search I can’t help but reminisce about the Florida, the herping, of the last half of the 20th century and thinking that the changes herpers see now are not for the better.
Continue reading "The Marbled Salamander"
Tuesday, June 28 2016
Gotta love this big ole bullfrog in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user coluberking25 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Monday, June 27 2016
This henkeli is getting a clear view in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user erikstrait! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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![](/blog/uploads/Enyalioideslaticepsadultpair2-Copy.jpg) An adult pair of green forest Dragons, male right.
I had veered from the trail a bit. Darkness had fallen and we had stopped at a riverside Amazonian village. The evening meal was prepared on the riverboat and a half-dozen of us were walking a trail with our Peruvian guide in the lead. So far, all seen had been a blunt-headed tree snake and 2 species of gecko. I wasn’t too far from the trail, and this being my first trip to the region, I wasn’t about to lose contact with the guide. The Amazonian rainforest is a wonderful place, a bastion of greenery at all levels—including face level.
And it was at face level, on a horizontal branch extending outward from a slender sapling, that I met my first green forest dragon, Enyalioides laticeps. Sleeping soundly on that limb, the foot-long lizard was even greener than the surrounding greenery. Blunt nosed, heavy bodied, and long tailed, in appearance the lizard reminded me of an Asian green water dragon.
Waking only after I had lifted it carefully from the tree, the beautiful creature was identified by the tour leader, photographed by the several hike participants, and replaced.
Since then I have found that this lizard species is rather common and is a whole lot easier to find at night as it sleeps than during the day when it is active.
This was a wonderful start to a 10 day long Amazonian interlude during which over 100 herp species were seen and photographed. Life was good!
Continue reading "The Green Forest Dragon"
Friday, June 24 2016
![](/blog/uploads/Deirochelysreticulariamiaria31.JPG) Hatchling western chicken turtles.
Chicken turtles, the 3 subspecies of Deirochelys reticularia are wanderers. Between periods of aestivation or brumation chicken turtles wander from ephemeral pond to equally ephemeral roadside ditch where they hunt crayfish, dragonfly larvae, and occasional small fish, or other turtle fare, and then wander on again. I usually see, more by accident than intent, the eastern and the Florida subspecies every year, but the western is far less of a certainty. In fact, I have seen the western chicken turtle, D. r. miaria, only twice in the wild.
The most recent sighting, now several years ago, was in a shallow, woodland surrounded, brushy pond in a city park in Houston, TX. Brandon had led Kenny and me to this pond. He had earlier seen the turtle on several occasions and felt that on this sunny day the turtle would be up and basking. He was right. It was an adult and we found it lying quietly on a slender fallen tree, easily visible, but difficult to photograph.
We tried but got only voucher shots and our manipulations alerted the creature. It dropped the several inches from the limb to the safety of the water. Our visit was concluded. Next stop, the Grasslands.
Continue reading "Western chicken turtles."
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! To end the week, a whole lotta squee for these baby Death Adders for our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Oxyrhopus ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.
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Thursday, June 23 2016
It will be hard to find anyting cuter than this hatching Yellowtail Cribo in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user alanB! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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![](/blog/uploads/ksTimberQuintFlip2016.JPG) 5 Timber Rattlenakes, Crotalus horridus, found under the same tin
I wish I could share a picture of my face and a recording of the words coming out of my mouth when Phil Peak and I lifted up a piece of our artificial cover and bore witness to the sight in this photograph! Moments before we had found 1 Timber Rattlesnake beneath a sheet of metal and were feeling really happy about that, so you can imagine how cool it was to find 5 more under a single piece just a short distance away. This particular piece of cover was set out between 2 and 3 years ago. We have had some warm weather this spring, but the 5-7 days leading up to the day we made this flip were unseasonably cool with a lot of rain. On the day we arrived conditions had changed and the sun had finally broken through the clouds. These 5 snakes had emerged weeks earlier but after many days of cold temperatures they all congregated at a place where they knew the heat would arrive once the weather broke.
Phil and I were at the right place at the right time.
Several hours later the blazing sun scorched this same piece of metal and caused it to reach temperatures well over 100 degrees and the snake most certainly found a new place to hide…but only after we were able to capture the moment with our cameras! Spring is turning to summer in our area and it appears that mild days are behind us and the real heat of summer lies ahead. We will continue to check our materials, but the real climax of flipping season is probably over for the year. That is kind of depressing, but at least it was good while it lasted and we had the opportunity to be at the right place at the right time after making some effort to set our table.
Wednesday, June 22 2016
Love the color variation that this mottled Mexican Redtail Indigo (Drymarchon m. rubidus) has in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user alanB ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
![](http://gallery.kingsnake.com/data/16634killer_mottled_rubidus-med.jpg)
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![](/blog/uploads/Xenagamataylori13.jpg) A resting pair of turnip-tailed agamas.
Meet Xenagama taylori, a species deserving of much more attention by the herpetocultural community.
It was about 30 years ago when I first saw X. taylori, a small (to about 4 ½ “ total length), robust, oviparous, agamid lizard that has come to be known as the shield-tailed or, more commonly, the turnip-tailed agama. It is a burrowing, aridland , omnivorous species of Somalia and Ethiopia. Small insects are relished as are the blossoms, fruits, and seeds, of desert plants. The very spiny, flat, broadly rounded tail is used as a burrow plug by resting lizards. This, like many desert species, is not a brightly colored lizard. Although the dorsal colors may darken or lighten, the ash-gray to rich tan dorsal color blends well with the substrates chosen by the lizards. The belly is white. In fact, the only splash of color displayed by the species are the bright blue chin and chest that are assumed by displaying males.
For several years following the initial importation of this lizard (and one congeneric taxon), Xenagama taylori was popular with hobbyists. When maintained in desert terrarium setups having a temperature of 80 to 95F and a hot spot of 110 to 120F, it proved hardy and was not difficult to breed. Sadly, it is now a seldom seen species in herpetoculture.
Continue reading "Xenagama"
Tuesday, June 21 2016
Herp Keepers with cameras, annoying our eating pets for decades like this bearded dragon in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jdertinger ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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![](/blog/uploads/birdhog.jpg) Eastern Hognose Snake Heterodon platirhinos
This large Eastern Hognose Snake is the first Phil Peak and I ever recorded from Bell County, Kentucky. Phil spotted this snake out basking among a pile of rocks on top of a strip mine surrounded by secondary growth forest. Our group nearly decided not to hunt the area where this snake was located, but Phil liked the looks of it and demanded that we stop and poke around, so it was fitting that he found the nice big Hognose.
While there is no doubt that species diversity is impacted in a negative way by the process of strip mining, the mined areas recover quickly and provide a kind of artificial oasis for many large game species like Bear, Elk, Timber Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, and Hognose Snakes. After many years of experience I can say that I would rather search on strip mines than natural areas where no disturbance has taken place. This snake was a very welcome find on an otherwise slow day and to top it off the snake was just as calm as could be and never played dead. Every year I see people posting pictures and videos of their Hognose Snakes playing dead. That was fun for me once, and since then I prefer to get pictures of the snake BEFORE it goes into the routine.
Monday, June 20 2016
Good things come in small packages, like the Rough Earth Snake in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user gdy! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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![](/blog/uploads/Trimorphodonvilkinsoni2.jpg) Target taxon #1: Chihuahuan lyre snake, Trimorphodon vilkinsonii.As you read this blog, Jake and I are driving westward; destination Texas’ Big Bend…the Chihuahuan Desert. My mind’s eye is already visualizing the desolate roadways, some paved, many dirt and rock, edged with spine studded plants and crossed by packs of feisty javelina (peccaries), lizard-hunting roadrunners, four species of rattlesnakes, horned lizards and lyre snakes. The mountains, the Davis’, the Chisos, the Christmas’s, the Rosillo’s, and if you travel a bit further west, the Guadalupes, islands of boulders and talus, sere and windworn in some spots, lush and green in others. Lajitas, where the elected mayor is a goat! Terlingua that bills itself as a ghost town. Study Butte that fortunately has a 24- hour gas station. There’s Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park nestled tightly against the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo to many) that are, except during tourist season, bastions of solitude. Despite having been to this remarkably beautiful area on a dozen occasions, I still anticipate each visit with excitement. Will the old windmill still be standing? What herps will we see? What birds? Will we see a panther, a badger, bannertail kangaroo rats, Border Patrol? We’ll soon know. We’re almost there.
Continue reading " Big Bend Bound"
Friday, June 17 2016
![](/blog/uploads/Aspidoscelisdixoni2.jpg) Speedy and agile, this species occurs only near Presidio, TX and in southwestern New Mexico.Finding the gray-checkered whiptail, Aspidoscelis dixoni, out near Presidio (TX) wasn't too difficult. Kenny and I located the (now contested) species in an old roadside dumping ground where amidst the sun-baked boards, house hold unwanteds and bullet riddled car skeletons several gray checkered whiptails had found home. But finding them and photographing them proved to be two very different projects. Photographing a lizard that moves only in instantaneously applied bursts of jet propulsion amidst piles of trash and building debris rife with protruding nails and broken glass was another matter entirely. For our own safety we elected to employ capture and release techniques, Lizard nooses to the rescue!
Like many whiptails, this is a hybrid, parthenogenetic (unisexual) species. It is named in honor of the late Dr. James R. Dixon. The species, a member of the confusing Aspidoscelis tesselatus complex, is not recognized by all researchers.
Continue reading "Gray Checkered Whiptail"
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