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.
Friday, May 9 2014
Rather than herping, on the one morning I had decided to try to find an elegant trogon, I found not one, not two, but three beautiful northern black-tailed rattlesnakes, Crotalus molossus molossus.
I also finally saw the trogon. It sat low in a trailside tree that itself sat behind a number of grass-rimmed boulders. I slowed, tried to focus on the bird, but having only a 100 mm macro lens with me was dissatisfied with the image.
I slowed and edged between the rocks while watching the bird intently. Just one more step -- just one more was all it would take. I lifted the camera to my eye, prepared to take that final step, and a rattler buzzed from almost beneath my feet. I jumped, the camera dropped, and the trogon flew.
Whoever it was that coined the phrase "birding and herping don't mix" was sure on target that day. But after carefully retrieving my camera and determining all was well with it, I at least got pix of the black-tail.
The bird? Unbeknown, but it's probably still in panicked flight!
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "Cave Creek's rattlers"
Check out this video "Baby Turtle eating raspberry," submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Snakeskii!
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Thursday, May 8 2014
![](http://gallery.connectedbypets.com/data/29412GlassFrog3.JPG) While dad's out screwing around, glass frog ( Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni) embryos have to take care of themselves -- and they do.
From Discovery News:
(S)cientists discovered that glass-frog eggs hatched about 21 percent earlier on average when the fathers were removed. They hatched up to about 34 percent earlier when conditions were drier, suggesting that dehydration was the cue the eggs relied on to hatch early.
"Embryos can cope with delinquent dads," Delia said.
The researchers suggest this kind of embryo behavior may be common among species that provide care to eggs, such as insects, bony fishes and amphibians. "Variation in parental care seems to be the norm rather than the exception," Delia said.
Read more...
Photo: kingsnake.com user rockrox83
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user shisuke!
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Wednesday, May 7 2014
Northern Pacific rattlesnakes, Crotalus oreganus oreganus, are variably colored and patterned. All are attractive in a "rattlesnakey" sort of way, but seldom do I see one that I think to be more noteworthy that the last.
But this belief was changed when on a herping trip to the Pacific Coast a friend showed me one of his favorite captive "Norpac" rattlers.
At a glimpse I could easily see why it was his favorite, and neither before nor since have I seen what I consider its equal.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "California's prettiest northern Pacific rattler"
![](/blog/uploads/seaturtleBP.jpg) Fines from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill are being used to help save the lives of sea turtle hatchlings.
Disoriented by the lights of civilization, the newly-hatched turtles often blunder into traffic instead of the sea. By retrofitting nearby homes and businesses with LED lights, however, the risk to the baby tutles is dramatically reduced, because they operate on a frequency the hatchlings can't see.
From Scientific American:
A lot of the money to fund these retrofits comes out of criminal penalties from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which killed or otherwise affected an estimated 100,000 sea turtles. The first two years of the STC’s retrofit efforts were financed by the Recovered Oil Fund for Wildlife (which itself was created with money from Deepwater owner British Petroleum); the organization just received additional funding from the similar Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, both of which are administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
This restitution money, Godfrey says, "has allowed us to actually work with private property owners to go ahead and convert their lights, to work with them, to supplement the money they’re spending. We match money they put in. In some cases where the problem is particularly heinous and the property owners just don’t have the money to fix the problem, we can actually go in and do it for them. That funding mechanism, which has been made available following the spill, has allowed a lot of major progress on this issue."
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user DunnsMtnReptiles!
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Tuesday, May 6 2014
In case you ever wax nostalgic for the age of the giant reptiles, a quick read of The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi will probably change your mind.
In this image, for instance, the artist has depicted the events that must have led to a block of fossils found in Utah. Not exactly anyone's idea of a good time.
See more over on Wired Science.
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pikiemikie!
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Monday, May 5 2014
Christian Dior fine jewelry creative director Victoire de Castellane likes snakes. If you like her beautiful designs, however, be prepared to bring a bucket of money -- prices start at $150,000 per piece.
Fortunately, looking is free.
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MikeRusso!
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Friday, May 2 2014
Check out this video "Leopard Gecko Morphs," submitted by kingsnake.com user PH FasDog.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pastorjosh!
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Thursday, May 1 2014
Feeding day for the snakes had rolled around once more and I had just one more hungry mouth to feed. This was my male Everglades rat snake, Pantherophis obsoletus rossalleni.
Now three years old, this pretty snake has been a sporadic feeder since hatching. Sometimes he will eat two or more times consecutively, but as often as not he will refuse the offered food at least once out of every two times.
This was a day he didn't choose to eat. But, as always, I left him in the feeding bucket with his thawed mouse hoping he'd change hismind (he didn't).
But at one time, when checking him, I neglected to relock the bucket. The result was, as might be expected, that when I checked the next time, the snake was gone.
The "critter" room is pretty well escape-proof but try as we might, neither Patti nor I could find a trace of that snake.
As it turned out, we really shouldn't have worried. The next afternoon, as the sun warmed the room's southern wall, I was cleaning a few cages when I glanced up and there, emerging from behind one picture, his anterior already draped over another, was the missing rat snake.
All was well with the world again. Now if I can only remember to lock things when it's necessary...
Continue reading "Escape of the rat snake"
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user terrapene!
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Wednesday, April 30 2014
You don't normally think Burmese pythons when you hear about therapy animals helping kids, but that's just what they're doing at Nova’s Ark in Brooklin, Ont.
Read about it here.
Photo: MSN Canada
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 1Sun!
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Tuesday, April 29 2014
The lament from an old country song ,"You slip through my fingers just like quicksilver," describes the most unusual-appearing of the American skinks perfectly.
Long placed in the monotypic genus Neoseps, the Florida sand skink is now known as Plestiodon reynoldsi. This fossorial skink is highly specialized for a life of burrowing in the sugar-sand locales (often low dunes) of central Florida.
Although four limbs are present, they are tiny. The forefeet bear only a single toe each and the slightly larger rear limbs bear two toes each.
The eyes are small and the lower eyelids each have a transparent "window." Despite the very real limb-size reduction, this silvery 3-1/2 to 5 inch long lizard is alert, remarkably agile, and very difficult to hold.
Whether found by accident or as the result of a concerted effort its response to the light is immediate and decisive: it dives headfirst into the sugar-sand and within a fraction of a second has disappeared into the substrate for which it is so very well-adapted -- and named.
Continue reading "American's most unusual skink"
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user uggleedog!
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Monday, April 28 2014
![](/blog/uploads/GaboonViperWiki.jpg) Now, see, this is what we mean when we say "decent media reporting about snakes where the reporter actually takes a few minutes to do his or her job," which is something we don't get to say much.
Sadly.
So thank you, Brian Hicks, of the Post and Courier, for pointing out that the media frenzy over the Gaboon viper threatening a small South Carolina town is probably based on... absolutely nothing.
Read it here.
Photo: Wikicommons, released to public domain
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user amcroyals!
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Friday, April 25 2014
Check out this video "Boa on a stroll," submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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This image of a Pixie Frog, uploaded by kingsnake.com user FrogUs, is our herp photo of the day!
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Thursday, April 24 2014
Along the side of the road that had traversed the driest-appearing of desert lands, a small sign proclaimed the presence of a spring.
A widened parking spot beckoned us to stop for a few moments and stretch our legs. We found the little spring, and, while limbering up from the long drive, checked the area over carefully for herps and birds to photograph.
We found little, but as it turned out, a most impressive find found us. We were standing next to a treefall when a fleeting movement among the broken limbs caught our eye. Whatever had made the motion had disappeared again and we had no idea of what the perpetrator was.
That we decided to stand quietly for a few more minutes proved a wise decision. After about five minutes we noted more motion, this about 3 feet away from the initial occurrence. And as we watched a shiny tan lizard head pushed above the twigs and a beady eye watched us intently.
We remained as motionless as possible and a minute or two later the lizard felt secure enough to emerge a little further. Following an elapse of another several minutes the lizard was finally lying fully in a patch of sun. And a rarely seen lizard it was. By accident we had happened into the habitat of the beautiful Panamint alligator Lizard, Elgaria panamintina, just as one lizard had become active for the day.
And to make the sighting even more memorable, the lizard appeared to be a gravid female! Now that's luck!
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "An uncommon alligator lizard"
![](/blog/uploads/GaboonViperWiki.jpg) Nothing must ever happen in South Carolina, given the insane levels of hype over a supposed stray Gaboon viper roaming its streets. So with all that free time and dearth of current events to report on, you'd think the media could, you know... investigate? Or maybe just hit Wikipedia? Anything other than what they've been doing.
From the Charleston Post Courier:
Michelle Reid, of Animal Rescue and Relief, removed the traps and gear Monday after learning that the nearest any antivenin can be found is Africa, and the antivenin can't be brought to the United States until the Federal Food and Drug Administration approves it. She is trying to get that approval.
We thought this seemed implausible, so we checked with Jim Harrison over at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo. This is what he had to say:
Unfortunately, the media did no research on the subject. At the very least, two facilities carry South Africa polyvalent antivenin . They are Riverbanks Zoo and Alligator Adventure. We at Kentucky Reptile Zoo have over 30 vials at the moment of the antivenin. Further more, their experts are lacking as well with their information on trapping as well as the natural history of the Gaboon. It appears they may have spent their time watching Animal Planet rather than researching the real husbandry of the the species.
There's a few facts for you, South Carolina media. You're welcome.
Photo: Wikicommons, released to public domain
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user motorhead!
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Wednesday, April 23 2014
![](/blog/uploads/800px-Costal_Tiapan_at_Taronga_Zoo.jpg) Venom from Australian snakes is helping save human lives. Seriously ill patients are benefiting from shorter turnaround time on critical blood tests, thanks to the coastal taipan ( Oxyuranus scutellatus) and the Eastern brown snake ( Pseudonaja textilis).
From ABC Australia:
The bites of eastern brown snakes and coastal taipans are dangerous because their venom causes a victim's blood to coagulate.
Researchers at the University of Queensland have pioneered a way to use snake venom to speed up the processing of blood tests of patients who have been given anti-coagulants.
Dr Goce Dimeski says tubes infused with snake venom are producing faster and more accurate results.
"From a clinical perspective, results will be available in a shorter time," he said.
"There's a potential to decrease the length of stay for patients, increase patient throughput and in the end could lead to saving lives."
Read more...
Photo: Denise Chan/Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
This image of a Ball Python, uploaded by kingsnake.com user KE, is our herp photo of the day!
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Tuesday, April 22 2014
A half dozen intrepid explorers walked a narrow forest trail on Madre Selva Preserve in Amazonian Peru, each apparently stepping over a patch of leaves on the trail. They walked a few hundred yards beyond, then turned and retraced their steps.
As they neared the bit of leaf cover on the return trek, the head of a small snake was seen protruding from beneath the leaves. Carefully collecting the snake, they brought with them to the field station the only pygmy black-backed coral snake, Leptomicrurus scutiventris, we have yet seen there.
The snake was photographed and released exactly where it had been found -- note that a single ring of yellow on the head and one or two rings of orange on the tail are the normal pattern for this snake:
This species attains a length of about 18 inches but is usually smaller. Remaining is the question of whether this tiny elapine snake is actually rare or merely secretive? But for those of you who believe the red to yellow rhyme (red to yellow, kill a fellow; red to black, venom lack) infallible, take note. This is just one of the many neotropical coral snakes to which the familiar ditty does not apply.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "A very un-coral-appearing coral snake"
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