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, June 12 2014
![](/blog/uploads/NewYork.jpg) Should the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, be the official amphibian of New York State? Nine-year-old Lili Winkelman thinks so, and Sen. John DeFrancisco wants to make it law.
From the Democrat & Chronicle:
Like several of the state's recognized symbols, the beginnings of the wood frog push came in an elementary school classroom. Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, first introduced the bill last year after 9-year-old Lili Winkelman, a Skaneateles fourth-grader, wrote to him with the idea.
"You probably don't know this, but the wood frog is already the unofficial amphibian of the state," DeFrancisco said on the Senate floor. "A young girl in that class, Lili Winkelman, thought, why is that? She loves frogs. Why should it be unofficial?"
Winkelman followed up the letter with a 4 -1/2-minute YouTube video in January, in which she spoke about the unique qualities of the amphibian as photos of the frog float above her right shoulder — not unlike a television news anchor. Each of her classmates at Skaneateles' State Street Intermediate School followed up with a letter, DeFrancisco said.
Read more...
![Until the rain stopped and temperatures dropped precipitously there were few areas where chorusing Green Treefrogs were not heard.](/blog/uploads/singing1.JPG) Rainy, clear, muggy, rainy, clear, rain, clear -- it was yoyo weather all day yesterday. Jake and I headed north a few miles and the high humidity and intermittent rain induced mile after mile of amphibian choruses.
Green treefrogs, Hyla cinerea, squirrel treefrogs, Hyla squirella, pine woods treefrogs, Hyla femoralis, oak toads, Bufo quercicus, and little grass frogs, Pseudacris ocularis honked, churred, ratcheted, peeped, and twittered.
Even a couple of rat snakes had attempted to cross, but were fatally intercepted by vehicles.
So we planned on making an amphibian evening of the jaunt. But then the breezes shifted, the high humidity and low pressure almost instantly replaced by cooler winds, high pressure, cleared skies, low humidity and a temperature drop.
An hour after hearing the immense choruses the marshes were almost silent. Ours proved to be a dry run.
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Continue reading "Rainy day, clear night, singing frogs"
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Wednesday, June 11 2014
![](/blog/uploads/progressionall.jpg) After the lights and sirens drama of my dog Ruby's encounter with a 36-inch Western diamondback rattlesnake, we began the waiting game of her treatment and recovery.
Within minutes of the bite, Ruby's head began to swell almost immediately. Within a few hours, she was unrecognizable as the same dog.
Given two vials of Bioclon's antivenin intravenously, she looked forlorn and pitiful in her cage at the clinic. Her eyes had swollen shut, and the bite wound seeped blood and other fluids. Neither would stop getting worse until long after she came home. But her vital signs were strong and she had begun to take liquids orally, which were the two major factors allowing her to be released to go home roughly 48 hours after being bitten.
She was sent home with an arsenal of medications, including antibiotics, painkillers, anti-nausea drugs, and eye drops, all of which were designed to help her feel more comfortable but few of which she wanted to take willingly.
Her swollen muzzle had made chewing painful, and for the first 72 hours it was all she could do to lap a little water or baby food; despite making a few cautionary attempts at the kibble in her bowl, little had disappeared from it. Even soft treats were taken only sporadically, and then with little enthusiasm, leaving her to be medicated with a syringe, her drugs crushed up and suspended in water.
Despite the bitter taste, she hesitatingly lapped the watered-down drug solution from the palm of my hand, a process we were to repeat every 8 hours. Mopping up the seepage dripping from here eye, and keeping it clear enough to see out of, would be a continual battle, however, and breaking up the crust that it formed required wet warm compresses and lots of patience on both our parts
By the end of the fourth day after the bite the swelling had peaked, and so had the drainage. Ruby was beginning to take some solid foods, allowing her meds to be delivered in treats rather than in a water suspension. Still. with the pain, solid foods were hit and miss, and several mornings we resorted to baby food until the painkillers had a chance to work.
Signs of Ruby's improvement were appearing, she was going outside on her own to defecate. There had been no blood in her stool or urine, and she was beginning to explore the house and her dog run a bit more. She was tentatively barking at the bicyclists and deliverymen which was a strong sign of continued improvement. She was still in pain, however, and her companion, Scout, found out the hard way that jumping on her head was the wrong way to get Ruby to play, eliciting a sharp growl that sent Scout off to hide in a closet.
On the fifth day we woke to find Ruby's facial swelling dramatically decreased, along with the drainage. Ruby was no longer on a liquid diet, and was eating soft foods and kibble from her bowl, despite the swelling that remained. Her right eye was still swollen and crusted over, but you could see it, it could see you, and with each hour that passed it seemed to open a little more.
By the sixth day Ruby's swelling had almost completely disappeared except around her eye, which continued to show increasing improvement. After a follow up stop at our regular vet, Dr. Haley at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital, we were cleared to discontinue all her meds except the remaining antibiotics. Dr. Haley and here staff were very impressed with Ruby's recovery and noted that there appeared to be little or no necrosis, tissue or muscle damage, and Ruby was released from their care with no required follow ups.
A week after being bitten Ruby is doing great. She still has a small amount of swelling and crusting around her right eye, which continues to improve each day. She appears to have no permanent damage and may not even have a physical scar as a reminder of the encounter. Dr Haley attributes Ruby's rapid recovery to her quick treatment and the administration of antivenin almost immediately after the bite, as well as the excellent after care she received at the hospital and at home. There were no ill effects or allergic reactions to the new antivenin, something that had been problematic with the older antivenins.
Ruby and I want to thank all the doctors and staff at the Heart of Texas Veterinary Specialty Centerand the Georgetown Veterinary Hospital for both their emergency and follow-up care. It helped make the best of a very bad situation, and their daily calls for status updates gave me a sounding board for my questions and concerns that was welcome and needed.
We also want to thank the thousands of people who have been sending emails and posting messages of support on our site, Facebook, and Twitter. Your support helped pull us both through this crisis.
![](http://gallery.connectedbypets.com/data/11903Marine_Iguana-med.jpg) Can the native species of the ecological treasure that is the Galapagos really be protected from invasive species?
Laura Santoso of the California Institute of Technology takes a thoughtful, in-depth look at the issues and conflicting interests in Wired Science:
Even with unlimited cash, it seems impossible to eradicate certain intruders without also harming native species. Small but pervasive species, like rats, are extremely difficult to target without catching resident wildlife in the crossfire. In 2012, 22 tons of rat bait were dropped by helicopter on Pinzon island, blanketing 7 square miles with little blue poisonous cubes. Several organizations, including the Galapagos National Park and CDF, supported the move because the rats had been devouring the eggs of native giant tortoises and lava lizards. But the “raticide” sparked significant controversy, imperiling neighboring native species like the Galapagos hawks. While pesticides are often the best available option (biological interventions are technically challenging to develop), they cannot suppress invasive species without causing side effects.
The final piece of the puzzle, after thwarting new invasive species and removing existing ones, is actively helping endemic species recover. Some local fauna, like the tortoise and the mangrove finch, have been so decimated that they may be destined for extinction without significant help. On the other hand, Giant Tortoise rehabilitation is one example of seemingly productive human intervention. When tortoise populations had dwindled from thousands to dozens on some islands in the 1960s, they were taken in by humans and bred in captivity. Repatriation projects on Santa Cruz, Isabela, and Espanola have increased total tortoise populations to 26,000, but the current dependence on human assistance sparks questions about whether the intervention itself is unnatural, or unsustainable. Although the repatriated tortoises have begun to mate by themselves in the wild, it is unclear if they can maintain their numbers once captive breeding stops.
Read more...
Photo: kingsnake.com user Ivory Tortoise
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Tuesday, June 10 2014
Of course, everyone on kingsnake.com would love this, and the locals say it's a sign that the marriage is blessed. But Jason and Kate Crowe were probably pretty shocked when a leatherback sea turtle crashed their Saint Croix wedding.
Read the story and see more photos here.
Photo: Jason and Kate Crowe
![Beautiful though they may be, the powerful jaws of male Western (European) Green Lizards can pinch hard.](/blog/uploads/list1.jpg) Do you remember a day before kingsnake.com?
I do, and I don't even have to think very hard to do so.
Not only was there no kingsnake.com, there were no computers, either. I can remember those long ago days when my herp interest was fueled by monthly price lists brought to us by the now-struggling USPS.
One of the first companies I can remember was Quivira Specialties. Owned by Charles E. and May D. Burt, it was from this Topeka, KS, wonderland that I purchased my first Texas horned lizard (85c), green anole (65c), neonate boa constrictor ($4.65), Mexican jumping beans (I don't remember the cost), and dozens of other natural history-related items. And all were delivered to me for pennies via the USPS!
Over the years other companies came and then disappeared, leaving in their wake collections of orange, pink, tan, fluorescent green, and bright blue catalogs that listed herps and are now considered collector's items.
But back to Quivira for a moment. Besides their price lists, Quivira Specialties left another legacy. For the last 50+ years Italian wall lizards, Podarcis muralis, and Western (European) green lizards, Lacerta bilineata, escaped and established, have bred in Topeka. To this day the former can be easily found and, although you'll have to work harder to find them, pockets of the beautiful green lizards continue to exist.
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Continue reading "Can you remember a day before kingsnake.com?"
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AJ01!
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Monday, June 9 2014
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pitparade!
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Sunday, June 8 2014
Want to start your week off with a herp-themed laugh? Read this Wired story about the biggest snake who ever existed, and its messed-up social media campaign.
Have fun, and a great week, too!
Friday, June 6 2014
Check out this video "Iguana eating grapes," submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Madisyn74!
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Thursday, June 5 2014
Scientists recently discovered 28 new species of reptile in the Mekong Delta, bringing the total of new species discovered in Southeast Asia to 367. One of the new species is a primitive viper known as the White Head Burmese Viper, Azemiops kharini.
From the World Wildlife Foundation's report:
The venomous species is thought to be a primitive viper species because it has an elliptically shaped, flattened head; enlarged head plates; smooth dorsal scales; folding front fangs; the absence of heat-sensing pits; and a coiled venom gland duct in adults.
The species can be found in dense bamboo and tree-fern groves interspersed with open, sun-lit zones, and usually inhabits deep leaf litter that accumulates near fallen trees. Its diet consists mostly of rodents that are associated with quick-flowing mountain streams. The genus is known to inhabit cooler mountainous areas at altitudes of up to 1000 m, as well as disturbed areas, including agricultural lands and secondary forests.
Read the full report and view images of all the new species here.
Photo: Nguyen Thien Tao/Vietnam National Museum of Nature
![](/blog/uploads/Horned1.jpg) Failure. Yep, failure. It looked for a while as if my Caatinga horned frogs, Ceratophrys joazierensis, had decided to breed.
The male vocalized extensively, the female allowed amplexus, and then a super cold front rolled in and even with heaters on the room cooled, the frogs separated, moved over to an area of deep sphagnum, burrowed down, and formed cocoons!
That was in mid-January and now, in late April, the perpetually warmer weather has roused them. Having ended their prolonged fast, both frogs are again avidly accepting nightcrawlers.
The other night Grumpy, the male, emitted a few half-heared vocalizations. I'm thinking that its almost time to reactivate the rain chamber. Almost -- but not quite yet.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "The great horned frog failure"
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Michael K.!
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Wednesday, June 4 2014
It was dusk and I heard my dog Ruby's distinctive "snake" bark before I realized that the buzzing I was hearing wasn't coming from the window air conditioner. With a buzz that loud, I knew Ruby had a large rattlesnake cornered. As I yelled to her to back off, I raced for a pair of tongs and a bucket I keep handy for such occasions, only to hear a loud "yelp" as the snake struck home.
It was a 36=inch female Western diamondback ( Crotalus atrox), fat from a recent meal, coiled, angry, and full of fight. I grabbed the snake with the tongs, deposited it in the bucket, snapped the lid on, and raced off to find Ruby.
I found her curled under the covers on my bed. Pulling the sheet back, I could see a small amount of blood above her right eye where the snake's fangs had connected. It had already started swelling and oozing in less than five minutes. This was a "hot" bite, a bad one from a good-sized snake.
I immediately put my emergency protocols into action. With a rattlesnake bite time is often the deciding factor, so knowing where to go and who to call beforehand can save precious minutes and, maybe, a life. Scooping Ruby up and piling her into the truck, I raced to the nearest 24-hour animal hospital, the Heart Of Texas Veterinarary Clinic, more than 20 miles away.
Ruby was starting to feel the effects of the bite, and her head was swelling rapidly. She crawled into my lap as I impatiently watched the mile markers tick by. It seemed as if every slow driver had decided to park in my lane, no matter which lane I picked. I watched the digits on the clock seemingly race upward, while the mile markers slowed.
Finally reaching our exit, we pull up at a red light. After what seemed an interminably long time but in reality was but a few seconds, the light turned green. I punched the accerator and launched through the intersection, and in just a few more minutes was there.
Picking Ruby off my lap, I carried her through the door only to be met by the medical staff, ready to take Ruby back for immediate treatment. While I filled out forms, they gave Ruby a shot of morphine for the pain and began prepping her for an IV. After consulting with the vet we agreed on several courses of treatment depending on the direction her condition took.
And now the waiting begins.
Rubys's prognosis for recovery is good. She's a large dog, young, and in good health and shape. The bite was above the left eye so the fangs were unable to penetrate deeply, and there is little tissue in the immediate area to be impacted by necrosis. The primary worry is whether the necrosis will damage her eye, which only time will tell.
Ruby's treatment and recovery were helped immensely because I had a bite protocol plan in place for my dogs and was able to get medical attention quickly, less than an hour after her bite. If you live in a rural area having a plan in place beforehand can save your pet's life. The first step is to know where your local 24-hour emergency animal hospitals are, and keep their contact information handy.
A newly identified extinct reptile known as a dyrosaur has been named after a literary monster.
From Live Science:
It was 16 feet (4.8 meters) long and tipped the scales at 900 lbs. (408 kilograms). With a blunt snout and powerful bite, it ate turtles and battled monster snakes. Now this extinct dyrosaur, a type of crocodilian, which roamed an ancient rainforest a few million years after the dinosaurs died, has a scientific name.
It's called Anthracosuchus balrogus after the fiery Balrog that lurked deep in the Middle-Earth mines of Moria in J.R.R. Tolkien's novel "The Lord of the Rings."
Read more...
Photo: Live Science
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user aquaplayer!
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Tuesday, June 3 2014
Climate change may not be good for the wildlife we've still got, but the melting glaciers it's causing are revealing some pretty cool fossils.
From HuffPo:
Dozens of nearly complete skeletons of prehistoric marine reptiles have been uncovered near a melting glacier in southern Chile.
Scientists found 46 specimens from four different species of extinct ichthyosaurs. These creatures, whose Greek name means "fish lizards," were a group of large, fast-swimming marine reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic Era, about 245 million to 90 million years ago.
The newly discovered skeletons are from both embryos and adults. The creatures, likely killed during a series of catastrophic mudslides, were preserved in deep-sea sediments that were later exposed by the melting glacier, the researchers said in the study, published May 22 in the journal Geological Society of America Bulletin.
Read more...
Photo: Wolfgang Stinnesbeck/HuffPo
![](/blog/uploads/Oink2.JPG) Oink, oink, oink! Gordy and I had just left Frank Weed's home and had been told by Frank Jr. that we should beware the large number of adult feral hogs in the area.
Then I heard it: Oink, oink, oink! Not knowing exactly what a feral hog sounded like, I stopped in my tracks.
We were walking the marsh edge along Route 84 a bit east of Andytown, FL. Unless you're darn near as old as I, I'll bet you don't remember either that marsh OR Andytown. But in those days there was no Interstate, Routes 27 and 84 were only two lanes wide, and Andytown existed (if only consisting of a general store perched on the not too busy southeast corner of 27 and 84). And there were billboards -- the old-timey ones with a wooden superstructure that were loved while still standing by rat snakes, corn snakes, and skinks and sought as cover by a host of other herp species when they collapsed. In other words, we were in "herp central."
But it was kingsnakes, not rat snakes, that we were hoping to see as we walked the swamp edge along Route 84. Banded water snakes were abundant and finally I saw a king. Success. I bent down to pick the snake up and from just a few feet away in emergent vegetation came a series of "oinks." Oh me!
I hastily looked around for something sturdy to climb knowing in my mind that I was about to be besieged by a herd of ravening hogs. Imagine my humiliation when I found later that day that I had almost been treed by a pig frog, Rana grylio.
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Continue reading "Oinks in the marsh"
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Monday, June 2 2014
![](/blog/uploads/bluetail.jpg) Australian researchers found that brightly-tailed lizards may lose their tails to bird attacks more frequently than their drab cousins do, but they're protected from more serious attacks to the rest of their bodies.
From the Science Network of Western Australia:
Curtin University’s Dr Bill Bateman and Murdoch University’s A/Professor Trish Fleming say their findings support the hypothesis that while increasing the frequency of attack, brightly-coloured tails divert predatory attention away from the head and body, ultimately increasing a lizard’s chance of survival.
To test the theory, they created 48 models of a scincid lizard, half of which were coloured all brown, and half given blue tails.
Pairs of blue-tailed and all-brown lizards were placed in 24 locations, with pairs 300 metres apart, and individuals 25 metres apart, in semi-open conditions on white sand or leaf litter.
Over a week, the researchers assessed damage and damage location daily, recording attacks at 23 of 24 locations, with 65 incidences in total, 60 of which were attributed to birds.
The researchers found that all-brown models suffered an attack to the tail only twice, while blue-tailed models lost their tails on 11 occasions.
The all-brown models were also more frequently attacked on the head and body, which would likely be fatal for a real lizard.
Read more...
Photo: Rob Taylor/Science Network
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sf!
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Friday, May 30 2014
Check out this video "Water Dragon," submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dennisr!
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Thursday, May 29 2014
When I began my search for the beautiful Amazonian fringed leaf frog, it was nestled in the genus Agalychnis (pronounced Ag-ah-lick-ness) along with the more familiar red-eyed and blue-sided leaf frogs of Central America. By the time I had actually found it -- or it had found me -- the Amazonian fringed leaf frog and a more northerly relative lacking fringes had been reassigned to the bitypic genus Cruziohyla. It's full name was (and is) Cruziohyla craspedopus.
For years on every trip to Madre Selva Biological Preserve (on Peru's Rio Orosa, a tributary of the mighty Amazon) on night walks I had heard in one locale, from high in the canopy, the "burping" calls that I thought were those of the Amazon fringed leaf frog. But winter or summer, rain or clear, the frog was never seen.
And then one summer afternoon while I was photographing a few herps that had been found earlier, Rick (an entomologist) returned from a walk handed me a bag and said, "Devon said you'd want to see this." And he was so right. The bag contained one of the eagerly-sought leaf frogs.
After the whys and wherefores had been asked and answered, I learned that the frog had been found resting on a broad-leafed understory plant at the point in the trail where I had so often heard the calls that had so interested me.
And why had it so interested me? One look at the accompanying photos should answer that question.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "On the trail of a canopy frog"
Who wouldn't want to see snake venom turn a dish of blood to jelly? Fortunately io9.com has you covered:
See it here...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Oxyrhopus!
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Wednesday, May 28 2014
Would you find it a relaxing experience to have pythons crawl all over you? That's the latest spa treatment at the Cebu City Zoo in the Philippines.
Read about it here...
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