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.
Thursday, October 24 2013
This image of a Galapagos Tortoise hatchlings, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jerry d. fife, is our herp photo of the day!
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Wednesday, October 23 2013
![AnolisCarolinensis.jpg](/blog/uploads/AnolisCarolinensis.jpg) A thriving population of green anoles is living in a Los Angeles neighborhood.
From KCET.org:
The lizards that biologists just found thriving in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles aren't a new species: they're the extremely well-studied green anole. But as the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum's Lila Higgins reports, the discovery marks the first confirmed established population of the common reptile in Los Angeles County, and scientists are curious as to what effect the little lizards may be having on native wildlife.
Green anoles are native to the southeastern U.S. and nearby islands, where --- ironically they're in trouble due to competition from exotic reptiles. Hancock Park isn't the first beachhead green anoles have made in the state: a population has been established in San Diego's Balboa Park for many years, and reptile watchers also report a thriving colony of the sleek lizards in and around Temecula. Individual green anoles have been documented in places like Northridge and Chino Hills.
And according to Higgins, Hancock Park neighbors have told Natural History Museum herpetologist Greg Pauly that the anoles have been there as long as they can remember.
Read the full story here.
Photo: PiccoloNamek/Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons License
Our screened back deck is a wonderful addition to the house. Rather than a deck we refer to it as our aviary, for it is home to a half a dozen European goldfinches that entertain us non-stop. But we could just as well call it our "lizardarium," for despite deterring the omnipresent mosquitoes many local lizards wander in and out along pathways known only to them.
Broad-headed skinks appear now and again, but most of the lizards are one of two kinds of anoles, the native green or the introduced Cuban brown. The green anoles are the most active and the most arboreal, and as I watch their antics my thoughts often drift back to the first green anoles I ever saw.
It was in the 1940s, I was 7 or 8 years old, and the anoles, a slender golden chain affixed around their neck (no photos), were being offered for sale as living lapel decorations at the New York Sportsman’s Show.
They were being sold as American chameleons, and with them came a care sheet that explained that all the purchaser needed to do to assure the lizard a long life was to provide it with sugar water.
I had never seen such wonderful creature and sugar water would be easy enough to provide, so I wheedled my parents into buying me one lizard. Through trial and error I learned that the little lizard needed a much more varied diet than sugar water and that when he was turned loose on my mother’s houseplants he avidly hunted houseflies and other insect repast.
Could this little lizard have been the cause of my lifelong infatuation with herps? Well, it and the long ago herp supply company, Quivira Specialties, certainly were contributors to my lingering interest.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "Green anoles and bygone days"
This image of a Giant Mexican Musk Turtle, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Katrina, is our herp photo of the day!
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Tuesday, October 22 2013
![](/blog/uploads/frogs.jpg) Scientists are honing in on the immune factor that is allowing amphibian populations to succumb to the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which has caused a loss of nearly 4 percent of amphibian populations every year between 2002 and 2011.
From Popular Science:
It's been most baffling, given the amphibians' complex immune systems, not far off from the immune complexity of humans and other mammals.
"There's been a big question in terms of why the amphibian immune system hasn't been able to respond to this nasty skin infection," Louise Smith-Rollins, an associate professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt, tells Popular Science. "The question is, if it's a failure to recognize the pathogen, what's the defect?"
Rollins-Smith has been studying this immune response for more than 10 years, and she and her team have found another clue as to why amphibians can't clear this fungus. This week in Science, a paper she co-authored brings in new information to understanding the answer to that question. The study, led by Vanderbilt graduate students J. Scott Fites and Jeremy Ramsey, shows that it may be the second line of immune defense where the breakdown occurs.
The first line of defense, antimicrobial peptides produced in the skin, seemed to be effective at producing an immune response. But during the next stage, something happened to stop the usual inhibiting response.
"It appears that the defect is that the fungus itself is able to release factors that target vulnerable lymphocytes and induce them to commit suicide," Rollins-Smith says. "Mediators that should be regulating and calling in the troops, they're stopped right there."
Read the rest of the story here.
Photo: Joel Sartore/Popular Science
This image of a Rhacodactylus Gecko, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mrusso, is our herp photo of the day!
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Monday, October 21 2013
This image of a Milksnake, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sballard, is our herp photo of the day!
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Check out this video "Ball Python Clutch, Day 41," submitted by kingsnake.com user kcalderala.
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Friday, October 18 2013
Scientists working to protect loggerhead sea turtles know how to save them; they just can't get stakeholders to cooperate.
From Mission Blue:
It's been our experience that those who would spend two decades or more working closely with fishermen to understand and protect sea turtles typically have the best interests of both people and nature in mind, although sometimes they are called "turtle-huggers" or scapegoated over another competing agenda.
Back in the early 1990’s when we learned about the mass mortality of loggerhead sea turtles off the Pacific coast of Baja from geographers Serge Dedina and Emily Young, we responded immediately.
Here’s how Dr. Dedina describes what they found:
![](/blog/uploads/LoggerheadGillNet.jpg)
"We first started noticing the mortality of loggerheads on Magdalena Island on the trip out to Cabo San Lazaro in the Spring of 1994 when we noticed a few animals stranded on the beach. But as summer progressed we saw more and more. What was fascinating was to see the correlation between stranded loggerheads and the abundant coyote population who fed on the animals as they washed up. There were literally dozens of coyotes sitting in the dunes apparently satiated after a night of feeding.
By July 1994, on one return trip from San Lazaro, we counted more than 224 dead loggerheads, so many, that the fishermen we were with were clearly embarrassed. They all knew that the turtles were being caught in gill-nets. In fact we had been out shark fishing with fishermen in the spring and had seen the problem ourselves."
Read the full story here.
Photo: Mission Blue
This image of a Carpet Python, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chuckn16, is our herp photo of the day!
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Thursday, October 17 2013
The car was far ahead of us when it swerved sharply. What, we wondered, was the reason for that?
Jake and I were road cruising and not in any real hurry. The car ahead had disappeared from sight around a curve, and we were now near their position when they had swerved.
Suddenly Jake yelled, "Canebrake!" And sure enough, lying almost dead center in the road was a 4-and-a-half foot long canebrake rattler, Crotalus horridus "atricaudatus."
As I slowed to a stop, Jake grabbed a hook and piled out. As he neared the snake, now alerted, another car approached from around the curve. Jake touched the snake on the tail and fortunately, the snake proved to be a runner. It wanted no familiarity with anything and darted across the road, but then stopped on the grassy verge and looked like it was heading back. We stopped it.
The other car, filled with young women, stopped near us. They asked in unison, "What is it?"
"Rattler," Jake replied.
"What are you doing with it?" one of them asked.
"Keeping it off of the road." I replied.
"Let it go," one of the young women said. "We came back to kill it."
"Looks like you’re out of luck," I told them.
"You’re not killing this one," Jeff said. A couple of more unintelligible comments, and they left.
Gives me a warm, fuzzy, feeling to know that Jake and I were able to save this big male from the road idiots.
The locale was rather open, and once the canebrake was in the canebrake, having slowed to cross the roadside ditch, we guided him to the foot of a big pine.
Once against it, he coiled quietly, a monarch of the southern brakes.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "A canebrake kind of night"
![](http://gallery.connectedbypets.com/data/91361jkj-med.jpg) Every year kingsnake.com gets asked, "I want to hold a contest and give away a live animal, can I advertise this on your site?"
The answer is surprising to many: kingsnake.com and our other pet-related sites will not accept advertising for live animal contests.
No, it's not because we don't like contests.
Aside from the ethical problems raised by giving away live animals to people who may not, or cannot, care for them responsibly, many states have outlawed the practice, or limited the practice but regulate it in some manner. Some allow it with certain animals, and in certain circumstances, while others outlaw it completely.
Many of these laws have been on the books for decades, some having been written in response to specific problems. Often they were implemented in response to traveling carnivals that would offer goldfish, green iguanas, anolis lizards, turtles, or even baby alligators as inexpensive prizes in games of chance on the midway. Who hasn't seen goldfish bowls at the carnival?
Most, if not all, of these animals died horrible deaths at the hands of owners ill-equipped to deal with them, many times unsupervised children, and over the years many states took action to make the practice illegal or to limit what could and couldn't be offered as a prize.
Does your state have laws against animal giveaways? If so, you may be subject to criminal charges, either as the contest holder or the contest winner. What makes it even more dangerous and problematic is when the contests -- and prizes -- cross state lines. When that happens, a simple misdemeanor, can easily turn into a federal crime.
When a live animal contest crosses state lines, and the contest violates either the state laws of the contest holder or the prize winner, then according to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, a violation of the federal Lacey Act statutes has occurred, regardless of the species involved. Thus a leopard gecko or ball python that may be 100 percent legal to purchase, keep, possess, and ship across state lines, is illegal as a contest prize instead of a purchase.
So, should you participate in live animal giveaway contests?
If you're a responsible pet owner with experience in the species offered as a prize, and the contest does not violate your state or local laws, or the contest holder's state laws, then there is nothing wrong with participating in a live animal giveaway. But do your homework first! Or that next "prize" might be more than you bargained for.
This image of a Tiger Snake, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MVH4, is our herp photo of the day!
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Wednesday, October 16 2013
The sea turtles are here!
Every year in early fall, hundreds of olive ridley sea turtles hit the beaches on Mexico's Pacific coast to lay their eggs.
Read all about it, and see the complete photo gallery, here.
Photo: Weather.com
This image of a Rosy Boa, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Rust, is our herp photo of the day!
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Tuesday, October 15 2013
![Note the very prominent](/blog/uploads/Grumpy3.jpg) The last time Patti and I visited the Daytona Captive Breeders Expo was four years ago. I had looked at about all of the ball pythons and leopard geckos I chose to see on that day, and we were taking the long way around to the exit.
As I was passing almost the last sales booth in that aisle, I glanced to the left and stopped in my tracks. In one of the half dozen tanks on the table was a beautiful lizard that I recognized immediately as a Diploglossus lessonae. I sidled over to the table, and as I got there my interest in the lizards was sidetracked by a tank of frogs.
They were a Pacman-type frog but of a species I had not before seen. The vendor asserted that they were Brazilian horned frogs, Ceratophrys aurita. Based on that, I purchased the only one of the three that looked in good condition. This was a male and even he had what appeared to be a corneal lipid deposit on one eye. We named him Grumpy. Philippe deVosjoli bought the other two, and I believe that they are still alive. Philippe determined that the species was not aurita as initially thought, but was another Brazilian taxon, Ceratophrys joazeirensis, a mid-sized species.
Whatever this little frog may be, he has now stared at me morosely for the better part of four years. His periods of quietude are interspersed with an occasional night of vocalizing as thunderstorms or tropical depressions roll through. And he has never once refused his nightcrawlers. Not once.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "Life with Grumpy: Four years and counting"
![](/blog/uploads/Kelly.jpg) Regeneration of lost organs or body parts is the stuff of science fiction, but it's also science fact. At the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, researchers are studying the many species that can regenerate cells in their body, and hoping to find information humans can benefit from, too.
From a Las Vegas Sun interview with UNLV researcher Kelly Tseng:
Most people don’t know that tadpoles can regenerate their tails — and very quickly. It usually takes seven to 14 days. Planaria, which are flatworms, can be cut into pieces, each of which will regenerate. Zebrafish can regenerate their heart, even if on-third of it is cut away. Antlers of a moose can grow two centimeters a day, which is the fastest rate of organ regeneration. Salamanders are basically the champion of regeneration. They can grow back a limb, a tail, their retina, even part of their brain.
It’s really amazing, all these animals with abilities we would like to have.
The full story is here.
Photo: Las Vegas Sun
This image of a Radiated Tortoise, uploaded by kingsnake.com user zovick, is our herp photo of the day!
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Monday, October 14 2013
This image of a Ball Python, uploaded by kingsnake.com user m_mcmurtray, is our herp photo of the day!
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Check out this video "Snake Hunting Colorado," submitted by kingsnake.com user jfarah.
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Friday, October 11 2013
![](/blog/uploads/PythonWA.jpg) If you live in Washington state and think you could provide a good home for an abandoned python, the veterinarians at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine want to hear from you.
From KGW News:
Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine captured and hospitalized the abandoned 11-foot-long reticulated python Tuesday night. The snake is believed to have been abandoned by renters in a house near Colfax according to WSU officials.
This is the second time in a month that law enforcement has asked for assistance from WSU to catch a large snake, according to College of Veterinary Medicine officials.
WSU workers said the snake was slightly undernourished but weighed 22 pounds. It suffered moderate burns before its capture according to staff at WSU. They said the cold-blooded snake curled around a heater at the rental property.
[...]
Anyone interested in donating to the snake’s care or joining a registry for selection as its potential new owner can contact the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital at 509-335-0711.
Read the full story here.
This image of a Cross-Barred Snake, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MVH4, is our herp photo of the day!
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Thursday, October 10 2013
Meet the cocoa frog, just one of dozens of new species discovered in Suriname.
From NBC News:
"Suriname is one of the last places where an opportunity still exists to conserve massive tracts of untouched forest and pristine rivers where biodiversity is thriving," Trond Larsen, director of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program, said in a news release about the trip.
The three-week survey in Suriname's upper Palumeu River watershed, conducted last year and led by Conservation International, cataloged 1,378 species — including 60 species that are potentially new to science.
Read the article and see photos of all the new species here.
Photo: NBC News
Stopped by the little turtle pool, as I do each morning, and found a hatchling turtle floating in a patch of sunshine. I took a hurried look around on the surrounding land and found a a hole about an inch in diameter and 3 inches deep.
Inside were four eggshells. There was no question about the identification, The only species housed there had been Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima incisa, the Guatemalan (painted) wood turtle. The adults were now in a large pen for the summer rainy season.
This turtle, if you’re not familiar with it has a brown, rough surfaced, carapace that may be quite flat, rather highly domed, or somewhere between these extremes. The carapace is a warm brown (color is sometimes hard to determine because these turtles are adept and persistent at kicking dirt upon themselves) and the yellow plastron bears a large, dark central blotch that is often weakly edged with pale rose.
But it is the facial neck and forelimb patterns that give rise to the common name of painted. The brown to grayish face and anterior neck bears a complex of thin, but easily visible, bright red stripes. The red striping is also present on the anterior surface of the forelimbs but there the striping is broader and even more pronounced. All in all, these are pretty turtles and at least as importantly, they are hardy and easily cared for.
It seemed apparent that there were no more hatchlings in the pond, so I began a methodical search of the surrounding area. Looking amidst and around the grasses disclosed one additional hatchling. The next day, following a hard rain, I found the third, and on the third day I found the fourth baby. I had now found a hatchling for each of the empty eggshells.
The hatchlings (all brought indoors) are quite like miniatures of the adults in appearance, but have less strongly textured carapaces and rosier plastrons.
I wonder if a second nesting occurred this summer. Another month and I should know.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "One, two, three, four baby turtles!"
This image of a Vieillard's Chameleon Gecko, uploaded by kingsnake.com user geckovillage, is our herp photo of the day!
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Wednesday, October 9 2013
![](/blog/uploads/77710544.jpg) If you ever needed proof that no good deed goes unpunished, just read this story of a Florida man bitten by a rattlesnake while helping a turtle get out of traffic.
From the Sun-Sentinel:
The 24-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, and a friend were driving on Interstate 75 in west Broward County when they saw a turtle crossing the highway.
At a point west of the interchange, where I-75 meets Interstate 595, they pulled over. The man got out, grabbed the turtle and carried it to a grassy area on the side of the highway.
"When he reached down to put the turtle in the grass, that's when the snake bit him," said Capt. Jeff Fobb, of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Team.
Read the full story here.
Photo: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
This image of a First Look, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SouthernHerp, is our herp photo of the day!
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Tuesday, October 8 2013
The little creek puddled out a bit as it neared the road and then was constricted narrowly into a metal culvert that passed beneath the road. Upstream a bit, the creek narrowed and gurgled merrily downhill around and over some boulders. Still further upstream, the boulders were larger and the creek was even more precipitous. Beyond that I couldn’t see from my current vantage point, but I’d soon know the scope of things.
To either side of the creekbed grassy meadows interspersed with small escarpments and many boulders sloped far upward, and at their summits were stands of pines. We started at the bottom and began working our way upward. Tough walking. So we moved to the grassy slopes and slipped and tripped our way to the top (hoping all the while for no encounter with a hidden timber rattler), reaccessed the stream, and began our walk downward. This was a little easier.
We were at this creek in the hopes of finding a seal salamander, Desmognathus montanus, exhibiting piebaldism. Kenny had been told by a researcher that there was a high incidence of this aberrancy at this locale. In fact, his initial information was that all of the seal salamanders in this creek were piebald.
We walked slowly along the creek bed, turning and replacing an occasional likely-looking, water-swept rock along the way. Going was slow, but with the first few salamanders found we determined that definitely not all of the salamanders were piebald. In fact, as the day wore on and one after the other the salamanders proved normal, we began to wonder whether we’d actually find one that was piebald.
We did. In fact we found three, one adult and two juveniles. We extend a big thank you to Kenny’s sources!
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "A seal (salamander) by any other color..."
![](/blog/uploads/PinAnole.jpg) For 50 years, the Pinocchio anole, Anolis proboscis, was believed to be extinct. Now researchers have confirmed the species still exists in the forests of Ecuador.
From Mother Nature News:
After searching for the long-nosed animal for three years, a team of photographers and researchers found the lizard recently in a stretch of pristine cloud forest in the northwest part of the country, said Alejandro Arteaga, a co-founder of the educational and ecotourism company Tropical Herping, which conducted the search for the lizard.
Also called the Pinocchio anole (an anole is a type of lizard), the animal is named after a certain dishonest wooden puppet and was first discovered in 1953, Arteaga said. But wasn't seen between the 1960s and 2005, when an ornithologist saw one crossing a road in the same remote area in northwest Ecuador. This is only the third time scientists have spotted it since 2005, Arteaga added.
Read the rest here.
Photo: Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping
This image of a Wood Turtle, uploaded by kingsnake.com user kensopher, is our herp photo of the day!
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