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.
Russ Gurley will be joining us tonight at 9 pm EST to discuss the upcoming Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group's conference, which will be held this week in Mesa, Ariz. The event will be held in the Reptile and Amphibian chat room.
If you have questions for Russ, drop a line here in the comments or email me at phfaust@pethobbyist.com.
Winter is coming and for the people in certain states, its already here. When winter arrives, its time to prepare for changes in the home environment to help avoid health problems with our herps. Winter is notoriously dry as forced-air heat dries out the already dry winter air. Some homes experiencing single digit humidity that saps the humidity out of everything from your wood floors to your tropical herps cage. This is a critical time of year when cold drafts and low humity work to make your animals suffer respiratory distress leading to infection and illness. So what do you do to prevent this? Isolate your herps to a room that you can control the humidty with a good humidifier. Change the filter in the humidifier using the manufacturers instructions to avoid bacteria build up. If you cannot do that, then increase the water bowl and spray the cage periodically (daily mostly). There are great misting and fogging systems for smaller cages. Avoid soggy cages that can also lead to mold and fungus.
Also, drafts happen in our older homes dropping temps in the house below level too low for the cage heaters to keep up with. Don't just rely on your remote thermometers. Use infrared thermometers to scan the various temp ranges of your enclosures. Be aware that cages close to walls, windows and concrete floors can be 10-20 degrees lower than other cages connected to a cetnral thermostat. Increasing basking lights helps increase day time temps or using a larger under tank heater. Incandescent lighting will reduce the humidity so you need to compensate.
Also during this time as with our holiday decorations and scented candles, be wary of fire hazards! Don't overload your circuits and use properly rated powerstrips and avoid the electrical octopus. Watch out for extension cords that are hot to the touch as they are being overloaded. This is critical when you are dealing with space heaters which draw lots of current. If you use an oil heater, make sure you get one that has tip over protection.
Keep it safe for you and your herps. Remember that signs of illness are subtle so keep a close eye on your herps during this time.
The Snow Skink is the first reptile to determine sex of the offspring in two locations with completely different methods. We as humans know there are a variety of way to determine sex of an incubating clutch, but with these guys, they do it on their own.
From ABC Science:
At low altitudes, the lizard's gender is determined by temperature, while at high altitudes where the climate is more extreme, it's all down to their genes, according to a study in Nature.
....
The snow skink is a small six centimetre long lizard which lives in coastal and sub-alpine areas beneath rock slabs, eating insects and wild berries. It gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs, producing between one and six babies.
Previous research shows that the sex of baby skinks is determined during the first half of the pregnancy, depending on how long the mother remains in warm sunshine. Warm temperatures generally produce females, while cooler temperatures produce males.
....
The researchers found that lowland mothers had very different ratios of boys to girls, depending on how much sunshine they had. By contrast, the highland mothers showed no difference in sex ratio of offspring, regardless of how long they spent in the Sun
A 130-year-old festival aims to educate locals about the snakes that live in their backyards.
In India, there is a reason to have hesitation of some snakes; even reptile folks would need to double check closely before reaching out and just grabbing the snake on the ground. Kraits and Cobras are not things of child's play.
From the Times of India:
"Legend goes that gunins and ojhas used to worship the snake goddess on this day. Snakebites were very common in these parts. The ojhas and gunins were the ones who used to treat the victims. During the fair, the goddess was worshipped and snakes were made to perform. That tradition has stayed on," said Subodh Patra, a descendant of Jhatunath Patra.
A postal department employee, Subodh is now one of leading figures in the fair and a rescuer of snakes. "We rescue the snakes, look after them throughout the year and then release them. Snakes are a very important part of our environment. Through the fair, we try to educate and inform the people about the different kinds of snakes. Not all snakes are poisonous but people have misconceptions," he explained.
During the year, Subodh and other villagers are on the lookout for poisonous snakes and cases of snakebites in the adjoining villages. The snakes are caught and their fangs taken out (in most of the snakes), they are kept for the rest of year and then released in forests or rivers.
The festival pays tribute to Manasa, the snake goddess. To read more, click here.
Any herper knows, you say you have snakes, someone will exhibit fear. An article by the Houston Chronicle tries to take some of that fear away, just in time for NARBC to hit town.
Like spiders, most snakes are not harmful to humans, especially the ones common in urban and suburban Texas, says Corey Roelke, a biologist and past president of the Texas Herpetological Society.
Rattlesnakes, coral snakes, copperheads and cottonmouths are dangerous, but if you leave most venomous snakes alone, you're likely not going to be bitten.
"The vast majority of people who are bitten by snakes are trying to catch or kill them," Roelke says. "People think snakes are charging after them. In general, they want to get away from you."
Snakes are also useful. They're experts at catching rodents, slithering into small spaces cats can't reach.
King snakes and indigo snakes eat their venomous brethren, such as rattlesnakes.
Some snakes make great pets, Roelke says, because they don't need frequent feeding or complicated habitats.
The article was inspired by things that make people go jump in the night and also touches on bats and spiders. Any time a snake gets good press, it is a good day.
Six hundred dead sea turtles in the Gulf might seem like a fairly small number given the enormity of this year's catastrophic oil spill, but the fact that each species is struggling for survival makes the impact greater than its numbers alone.
Among the saddest images from BP Plc's three-month-long oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico were those of oil-slicked birds struggling to survive. US officials said preliminary information showed the disaster may have killed up to 6,104 birds and 609 turtles.
But on the positive side, the figures showed that more than 14,000 turtle hatchlings emerged from nests that were relocated to beaches away from the oil spill.
....
The report was based on input from wildlife collection centres, government departments and other sources, but officials warned that the figures reflected "only the initial, field-level, evaluation".
More investigation was needed and not all of the injured and dead wildlife were "necessarily" caused by the BP spill, officials said.
Nest relocation may have helped prevent a true tragedy. There were 278 nests relocated, and as of today 14,676 hatchlings have emerged.
Upset that the turtle traps placed by New Jersey Fish and Wildlife were trapping and drowning not nuisance Snapping Turtles but other species, primarily Painted Turtles, Audra Capps tried to help. That's where she got in trouble.
From NJ.com:
While the traps were apparently put in place to capture snapping turtles, Audra Capps contends they were poorly assembled and instead were trapping and drowning another species of the aquatic reptiles — painted turtles, the report said.
A conservation officer with the New Jersey's Division of Fish and Wildlife caught Capps and a friend pulling out the traps, the report said. Both were issued four summonses each but Capps hopes to convince the judge she was just acting as a Good Samaritan looking out for helpless wildlife.
Capp has quite a bit of public support behind her. To read the full article, click here.
With many sea turtle eggs hatched and released into the Atlantic Ocean as a way to avoid the Gulf Oil Spill, things may be hard for the Loggerheads. From Eureka:
During embryonic development turtle eggs spend long periods covered by sand under conditions of high humidity and warm temperatures, which are known to favor the growth of soil-born fungi.
Dr Diéguez-Uribeondo's team focused their study on the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) population on Boavista Island, Cape Verde, off the West African coast. While Boavista Island represents one of the most important nesting regions for this species a high hatching failure rate is driving population numbers down.
The team sampled egg shells with early and severe symptoms of infection, as well as diseased embryos from sea turtle nests located in Ervatao, Joao Barrosa and Curral Velho beaches and discovered 25 isolates of F. solani associated with egg mass mortalities.
Although this fungal species has been previously described in association with different infections in animals, its relationship to hatching failure had not been investigated before this study.
The finding that strains of F. solani may act as a primary pathogen in loggerhead sea turtles represents an extremely high risk to the conservation of loggerhead sea turtles across the area.
The good news for this year's releases is that they were hatched in secure locations. Furthermore, the identification leads conservations and scientists to a starting path of recovery. To read the full press release, click here.
Two news reports are reporting an adder was found in a box of grapes imported to the UK from Spain, but some information just doesn't add up.
From the BBC (the Yahoo article just takes excerpts from the BBC article):
The 10" long adder was found during a quality check by a worker at Orchard County Foods in Craigavon.
The grapes were imported from Spain.
The staff member did not panic and raised the alarm with management.
The USPCA was called to the scene and took the snake away to a specialist reptile shop in Belfast.
....
Wayne said the reptile is poisonous and dangerous to anyone who is allergic the bee stings.
He added: "You can tell that it is some sort of adder because of the shape of its head. It turns into a diamond shape when it gets annoyed. This is because it has venomous glands on either side."
Dr. Bryan Greig Fry posted this to his Facebook page, and a lively discussion ensued. One of his friends ID'd it probably more correctly as a Natrix Maura or perhaps, as Fry says, a Natrix tessellata. But it is most definately a Natrix. You decide; the grainy lead photo is from the news article, but after the bump, photos of the other two more probable species.
Fluffy was a record holder after being raised by python breeder Bob Clark from a hatching. She measured 24 feet and weighed in at 300 pounds. She died Tuesday at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio of what appeared to be a mass on her ovaries.
Fluffy came to the Columbus Zoo as a temporary addition, but the Zoo actually ended up buying her from Bob for the whopping price of $35,000 in 2008. She was a crowd favorite and had an amazingly mellow disposition, which helped gain her fans.
Fluffy will be cremated and the words of Carrie Pratt, Assistant Curator at the Zoo, to the Columbus Dispatch ring true.
"To us and probably a lot of our guests, she really is an irreplaceable animal,"
While Ohio folks think of the Zoo and Fluffy, we folks here think of Fluffy with Bob. After the bump a few images and videos of Fluffy and Bob.
I prefer by far to purchase animals in person in Tinley Park simply because I can drive them home, but this time I broke the rules.
Shipping can be stressful, although I would almost say it was harder on me than the snake! I spent all of Tuesday stalking the Fed Ex tracking page. Not like the purple tracking bar was going to move, but if for some reason the package landed in say Africa, I would know. I woke up extra early, pottied the dogs so they would not be out and got some clothes on. I even had my shoes on and was ready well before 8:00 am.
Last evening I was going to clean up the kitchen, but since that window overlooks my front side walk (exactly where the Fed Ex man would be this morning) I put it off and crashed. As of now, my dishes are half done, but Madness is in my house.
At NARBC Anaheim, I was in heaven, finally getting to see some of the Psychotic Exotic snakes in person. Going through their boxes the night of set up was like Christmas, one purty snake after another. For some reason when I got home, I had a TON of pics of the same snake. On my cell phone, on both my cameras, even on my husband's camera. Yeah they had other snakes, but the head markings on this one caught my eye.
So I made a deal with myself. If when I next saw Kerry, if he had NOT sold the snake, I was going to buy it. Amazingly, what I thought was the coolest looking Jag at Anaheim did not sell. Ahhhh, for once the fates were with me!
Mr Tegu out for some sun... with a flick of his tongue turns and goes in his burrow... I will see you in spring after a long winters over... till I return flicking my tongue again good bye and good night..
ive been told im passionate about herps since I was a kid. some of my thoughts.? first thing is invasive species florida has had invasive species forever is not a new problem lets just pin up a target species burmese pythons well in my words IF ANIMALS ARE SURVIVING FLORIDAS WINTERS AT 30 DEGREES THEN LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE ... NATURE AND THE EARTH BEEN DEALING WITH INVASIVE SPECIES SINCE MAN WAS PUT ON THIS GREAT EARTH .... Im just another crazy herper thank god we have so many great herpers like kingsnake.com and USark....
The SREL study may have shown that Burmese Pythons pose no threat outside of Florida, but Everglades National Park wildlife biologist Skip Snow is determined to re-write national law to ban their transport and sale anyway. From the Christian Science Monitor:
“We’re bringing them into the county under the idea that they’re all innocent until proven guilty. But we have historically had such a high standard of guilt, if you will, that it requires these animals to first of all escape, establish, get out in the wild, breed, and do something egregious like eat something that someone likes,” Snow said. “By then it’s way too late.”
[....]
Burmese pythons have been crawling amok in South Florida since at least the mid-1990s. The population's forerunners were probably released by pet owners daunted by the prospect of maintaining a predator that can grow to 20 feet (6 meters) long and weigh 200 pounds (90 kilograms).
No one knows exactly how many there are now, but estimates put their numbers in the thousands or tens of thousands. The pythons have been devouring local wildlife, indulging in mega-meals like deer, bobcats and alligators, as well as endangered species like the woodstork and the Key Largo woodrat.
Wow, this hits all the regular notes: Blaming pet owners despite evidence that indicates the initial snakes came from one small, genetically isolated population more than likely displaced from a breeding facility during a hurricane. Implying that banning interstate transport will somehow reduce Florida's wild populations. And ignoring the science of the SREL study (just like we predicted everyone would do.)
Even on the heels of that study, in which ten animals were left exposed and died (ummm, PETA, where is your outrage over intentional killing of pythons for science?), he is claiming NEW research is out there!
All 10 pythons did well through the summer and fall, and even survived 12 December nights that were no warmer than 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). Then, in January, the region was plunged into an extremely unusual cold spell. With temperatures dipping below freezing at night for long stretches, the 10 snakes died, according to a paper published in September online in the journal Biological Invasions.
Still, said study leader Michael Dorcas of Davidson College in North Carolina, "there certainly is a possibility that pythons could survive in South Carolina and possibly even farther north."
[....]
Finally, the pythons that survived the longest were the ones that crawled into underground cavities at night, and Dorcas wonders whether they might have fared even better outside the enclosure.
"There are certainly in South Carolina much deeper retreats that they could have found if they were out in the wild, such as armadillo burrows," Dorcas said. “If we provided deeper refugia, well, would they have survived? We certainly had snakes that survived a long time and were finally killed by the extreme cold snap we had in January. But snakes had survived many nights where it got below freezing.”
The problem is there won’t be people digging deeper holes to aid in python survival. Continually subjecting these animals to freezing temperatures is a drain on federal funds for real and valid research. It also is inhumane.
Enough already; your first study did not get the hoped for result. Just accept it. Why must we again go through a winter with animals suffering needlessly to prove what we pet owners already know?
Elephants are nature's greatest ecological engineers. As they tramp through their habitat, the create microsystems in which reptiles and amphibians are able to flourish.
A recent study pointed these damages out and I know NONE of this will come as a surprise to herpers. Notice what they call the heavy damage, sounds a bit like laying tin to me.
HABITAT DAMAGE CATEGORIES High - main trunk pushed over and/or uprooted Medium - damage to the main trunk (not pushed over) and more than 50% of branches and foliage damaged
* Low - no damage to the main trunk and minimal damage to branches and foliage
....
"They will do everything from digging with their front legs, pulling up grass to knocking down big trees. So they actually change the shape of the landscape."
Not to mention their great ability to fertilize the landscape.
He added that elephants' digestive system was not very good at processing many of the seeds that they eat.
"As the faeces are also a great fertiliser, the elephants are also able to rejuvenate the landscape by transporting seeds elsewhere," Dr Schulte told BBC News.
They had 4 areas that they looked at and the species count was variable.
"Eighteen herpetofaunal (amphibians and reptiles) species... were sampled in areas of high elephant damage. Medium damage areas were comprised of 12 species, while areas of low damage had 11 species.
"The control site (fenced area) had the lowest species richness with only eight species."
Ok I could use some input on this one from some professionals. What do you think this could be that is causing my 17 year old female Iguana to do this type of choking ONLY after eating. It seems as if she either cannot breathe or cannot swallow after she eats. This has been going on almost every day for a week and occasionaly a few times to several times a year for the last 5 years or so. Please help as it has become DAILY. I will take her to the vet in the morning but could use some honest input on this one. I love her very much. She is fine right now but every time she eats she does this and HHHHHHHH like she is going to throw up??? I dont know. Her tounge and throat look fine to me inside. Sometimes when she chokes or does this there is food in the back of her throat.
PLEASE WATCH THE YOU TUBE VIDEO BELOW...and give my your opinions. Thanks so much
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPoUYsZkYcw
Here is another video to look at for me.
No replys YET? Why?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr_fSubDdow
Ok the meds given to her today were Fortaz for some sort of throat or mouth infection and Metronidazole for small bacteria in her stool. Hopefully she gets better soon. If anybody knows anthing about this stuff please fell free to let me know what to expect or what else to expect.
During the busy October Northwestern Berks Reptile Expo in Hamburg, PA, I had an opportunity to catch a moment with John and Gregg from Squatama Concepts. They have developed the S.I.M. incubator container.
From their website:
The S.I.M. stands for Suspension Incubation Method relating to how the eggs are incubated on a grid off the substrate. This prohibits direct contact with a wet substrate and allows approximately 100% gas exchange between the container environment and the egg membrane. Eggs incubated buried in dampened substrate are subjected to excess water which often results in drowned egg(s). Also in contrast to this, too little water or humidity results in egg desiccation.
Lucy, an African Spur Thigh Tortoise, or Sulcatta, decided a few weeks ago that she wasn't fond of the confines of her fenced in yard and proceeded on a walk-a-bout.
For those not really familiar with these guys, there is a reason so many are named Tank. From The Denver Channel.com:
"She can cover some ground," he said. "She walks 2, 3 miles an hour. So, in a single day she can potentially walk 10 miles easily."
Robin said this is typical of Sulcata tortoises, which are native to North African deserts.
"She was seen by several people in Brighton. They put her in a field, believing she was wild," he added.
Even more stunning, Lucy briefly found her way back home.
"She followed her scent all the way from Brighton back to our house," Sheila Rockley said.
Alas, the couple was out of town when Lucy crawled up.
"There was no one there to let her in. So she walked over to the neighbor's house, where a new family was moving in," Sheila said.
"A mover saw her, picked her up and took her to his house," she said. "The mover's wife said that she didn't want her. So he went and dropped Lucy off at a pond in Lafayette."
But Lucy, not being a water-loving turtle, wasn't thrilled with pond life.
She's likes people -- and food.
"She walked over to the Lafayette feed store, because she's very, very smart. She's like, 'I'm not eating this outdoor crap,'" Sheila said.
Returned, slightly lighter but no worse for the wear, Lucy is back home in time for the cold snap. Of course Lucy's story is the biggest reason my rescue microchips Sulcattas. So they can hopefully find their way home.
All throughout history people have been ignorant to various situations in life. For example... back in the old days when people got bit by venomous snakes they thought they could actually suck out the venom and you would be fine. People actually thought that a coachwhip would chase you down and beat you with its tail. People thought that milk snakes actually miked livestock. People are still ignorant about snakes today and I just wonder to myself why someone would rather be ignorant to a certain situation instead of being informed. Education has always been really big in my book. Without education what else do we actually have? Houses, cars, and nice things can always be repossessed, but no matter what people can never take away the things we learn in life. Reptiles have always been my passion in life, especially snakes and it just bothers me to see how must people are still ignorant about them even in today's society. People will always fear what they don't understand and kill what they fear. i don't know why people just can't inform themselves about the world that we live in and come to terms that the planet is not solely ours.
People are ignorant, greedy, selfish, and cruel. We believe that this planet is ours and we don't even take care of it. We like to think that we are the most intelligent creatures to ever walk this earth but when in fact we are probably the dumbest. We destroy our planet (our home) faster then it could possibly ever repair itself. We consume the resources faster then they could ever replenish but yet we are so smart and brilliant. The human race has only been great at one thing throughout history and that is destroying and killing everything and anything around it. The world is only going to come to an end through one disaster and that is going to be caused by human interference and manipulation. When the world is begging for answers and praying to God to save us all from our own mistakes, maybe then will someone begin to realize that this planet was never ours to destroy and we should have cared a little more about the only place that we have to call home.
Sure you play tug with your dog, but would a Komodo Dragon receive the same joy from that game? Can a turtle play ball and actually understand the fun?
Gordon Burghardt is researching those questions, and he's found that play must match the following criteria: "Play is repeated behavior that is incompletely functional in the context or at the age in which it is performed and is initiated voluntarily when the animal or person is in a relaxed or low-stress setting.”
He describes his first encounter with Pigface, a Nile Soft-shell Turtle at the National Zoo in his recent article called "Recess" in The Scientist:
“It was by itself,” recalls Burghardt, currently at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and “it had started to knock around” a basketball provided by its keepers. The year was 1994, and play had only rarely and anecdotally been reported in animals other than mammals, but he thought that might be what Pigface was doing. The 1-meter-long turtle exuberantly pushed the ball around its aquatic enclosure, swimming through the water with ease as it batted the ball in front of it with its nose. “If you saw a dog or an otter going around batting a ball, bouncing around and chasing it, and going back and forth and doing it over and over again, we’d have no problem calling it play,” he says. “And that’s what the turtle was doing.”
....
But despite this void in scientists’ understanding of the behavior, theories about why play exists abound. “Play is intriguing to me because it takes in so many other aspects of behavior. It’s a big mystery,” says Lewis. Although it may be hard to define, “when you see it, you think, ‘What is it, if it’s not play?’ They’re not feeding themselves, they’re not trying to get a mate, they’re not searching for shelter. They’re playing.”
The one key seen in all non-mammals is security. In the wild, reptiles particularly are engaged in avoiding predation, thermoregulating and outright survival leaving less time for fun antics. What we are seeing in captive reptiles is the ability to play. An amazing video is after the bump, showing various acts of play. Be sure to check out the full article to learn how octopi and even wasps play.
I am a hardcore Morelia fan and the other day I came across one interesting post in the Morelia forums. Someone had asked if anyone has ever bred a carpet python with a retic. My first thought was "what the hell, why would anyone want to do that"? It just bothers me a little I guess. I am 22 and I want to start my own business by breeding and selling carpets and I don't want genetic "mutts" circulating around in the reptile industry. I don't see anything wrong with breeding Morelia to Morelia but Morelia to Python regius or reticulatus to irresponsible and more and more people should frown upon this behavior for the sake of the animals. I just want the Morelia genus to stay as "pure" as possible for not only me but the upcoming generations of Morelia enthusiast. Thanks for reading.
The croc had been hidden in a passenger's sports bag - allegedly with plans to sell it - but it tore loose and ran amok, sparking panic.
A stampede of terrified passengers caused the small aircraft to lose balance and tip over in mid-air during an internal flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The unbalanced load caused the aircraft, on a routine flight from the capital, Kinshasa, to the regional airport at Bandundu, to go into a spin and crash into a house.
A lone survivor from the Let 410 plane told the astonishing tale to investigators.
Ironically the crocodile also survived the crash but was later killed with a machete by rescuers sifting through the wreckage.
I don't even think Samsonite would make a carry-on that tough.
For years, I have worked with adoptions and rescue of herps and often hear from the owners "it was too much", "my kid went to college and we don't have time to care for it....", etc. I look back at myself over these years and the state of my collection and others I know well with similarly large collections and wonder how we can do it and others can't or won't? Like anything else, it takes passion and commitment. I always joke with my non-herper friends that if you want a solid relationship, marry a herper! Though I have had herps my whole life, it was within the last nearly 20 years that I can claim to having a sizable personal collection. Those who know me know that I don't chince on my collection. A drug problem would be cheaper! But it gives me the satisfaction of know I am providing care for an animal or animals to allow them the ability to enjoy the best of their natural life cycle. To me the gauge of any being's quality of life is directly related to their overall physical health, including amount of stress as exhibited by their behavior and ability to reproduce periodically healthy offspring with out adverse effects to their own well being. Is this anthropomorphic? Maybe, but its the most understandable perspective I have.
It takes commitment, resources and cooperation. Commitment by you and your family over the duration often spanning decades. Dick Bartlett just posted on Facebook keeping a tortoise for some 60 yrs, that's commitment. Not everyone can provide that commitment and when life deals out challenges, a responsible owner acts accordingly. You seek out the best substitute for you. Whether a friend, a collegue or through local herp society or rescue group. Resources of course are needed in both time and money. Another resource often overlooked by novice keepers is fellow herpers either within your own family or herp societies. These fellow enthusiasts not only have the resources of knowledge and experience, but also physical assistance. Ever try going on a honeymoon or vacation with a large collection? How about selling and moving to a new house? What happens if you get sick or injured for a spell? Fellow herpers are more than they appear. Cooperation? It relates to your fellow herpers, but also to your family and funny as it sounds, your herps. Working with aggressive or dangerous animals may be thrilling at times, but what about routine maintenance? Moving a large snake every week or two to clean the cage is often challenging enough, but a fiesty or aggressive one makes it difficult. To address those unwanted behaviors zoos look to condition animals to certain activities to make it minimally stressful and often times fun. You can do this to some extent with herps. I routinely work with many of my snakes to hold their head and pull back their lips to examine their mouth. Over years, many will let me do this in public so people can see their teeth. You may not be able to do this with everyone, but it is an example of the conditioning that can be adapted for routine maintenance. I even had a monitor that would open his mouth using hand gesture so he would let me see inside. I am sure his incentive was to also close it on me, but we never tested that side
My advice to anyone is plan what you can handle and be prepared to set aside time on a regular basis, but also plan your other resources. Budget for your pets. Not just for food, but vet care, housing changes, replacement heating, etc. Identify your fellow herpers and work out details of who can care for your collection in your absence. Share this with your family so they know who to call in an emergency. And my last bit of advice, know your limits. Don't over-extend yourself. Its tough, trust me. But after all these years, I know where my limits are. Keeping to those limits and if you feel you are exceeded them, contact your local herp society, fellow herpers, etc. to help you compensate. Work to make your routine maintanance schedules efficient and effective. Think of how many times you may clean a cage over the years. Sometimes a little investment upfront goes a long way in saving time down the road. And last but not least, enjoy what you do! Its really the passion that will sustain you, otherwise it becomes tiresome work.
In December, I'll be speaking at the Southern Nevada Herpetological Society on a topic near and dear to my heart, "The Evolving Roles of Women in the Reptile Community."
There are some amazing women who lead the way for us, and I have reached out to some of them for background on this talk. I would like to hear from everyone.
Here's my story. When I meet new people and talk about reptiles, somehow it all boils down to this: "Oh, your husband must be happy you like his animals." My husband has no clue what animals live in our house nor what their care entails. I can't remember the last cage he cleaned or feeding he did. The animals are all mine, and their care falls to me. The reptiles are my world, he just gets to look at the pretty things.
Last year, Tracy Barker and I collected stories on the proposed legislation would directly impact women. Again I ask for your stories. I want to know how reptiles in general came to be in your life, how it has changed your life and who inspired you along the way. I also want to hear how people perceive you as a reptile keeper.
Tracy has always been one of my herper heroes. She is an amazing spitfire of a woman. Working in the zoological field and the private breeder field, Tracy has taken the python world by storm. She and her husband, Dave, pioneered many of the species I keep today. Grace Olive Wiley was another inspiring woman who lived and eventually died for her passion. While her handling skills still give venomous keepers pause today, she was a pioneer in a world that was at that time heavily male dominated. Both of our ties to the reptile community in Chicago add her to my list of inspirations.
Women make up half of our membership here on kingsnake, and over the years I have always made it a point to spotlight women in all areas of the community. Who inspired or inspires you? What got you going in reptiles? What changes have you seen in folks' perceptions?
Most news stories focus on the harm being done to the environment by humans, but not this time. Timberline Resort in Tucker Valley, West Virginia, takes steps to help the Cheat Mountain Salamanders have a shot at survival.
But over the years, Timberline has spent time, effort and more than $100,000 to protect Cheat Mountain salamanders living adjacent to the ski trail, as part of a mitigation effort for habitat loss that occurred when the trail was cleared, opening the forest canopy, back in the early1980s.
Timberline is the only ski area in the Mid-Atlantic area to operate on U.S. Forest Service land, although only about 40 acres of Monongahela National Forest property is crossed by the ski trail, according to Tom Blanzy, the resort's mountain manager. The first major turn on Timberline's Salamander run is known as Government Curve by the resort's staff, since it marks the point where the trail enters federal property.
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This year, the resort completed its most ambitious mitigation project, designed in cooperation with Monongahela National Forest environmental biologist Terri Evans. A 20-head sprinkler system that simulates an inch of natural rainfall over a four-hour period showers a five-acre chunk of known salamander habitat twice a week.
It's great to hear of businesses taking such an active interest in our natural resources, especially after a year of so much damage in the way of environmental accidents.
We keep a colony of adult adabra tortoises in Naples, Florida. We have had great success with our breeding program, hatching many over the years. If anyone would like any direction or information with this tortoise species please e-mail and I will be glad to share my experiences and wisdom with you. Thank you, Greg. ALDABRAMANGREG@HOTMAIL.COM.
Peptids found on the skin of African Clawed Frogs show a resistance to bacteria. This research will provide a new way to detect if medical equipment is contaiminated.
Princeton engineers have developed a sensor that may revolutionize how drugs and medical devices are tested for contamination, and in the process also help ensure the survival of two species of threatened animals.
To be fair, some of the credit goes to an African frog.
In the wild, the African clawed frog produces antibacterial peptides -- small chains of amino acids -- on its skin to protect it from infection. Princeton researchers have found a way to attach these peptides, which can be synthesized in the laboratory, to a small electronic chip that emits an electrical signal when exposed to harmful bacteria, including pathogenic E. coli and salmonella.
"It's a robust, simple platform," said Michael McAlpine, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the lead researcher on the project. "We think these chips could replace the current method of testing medical devices and drugs."
Hopes are since frogs aren't harmed in the making of the chip, this will reduce the use of the horseshoe crabs (thus affecting the Red Knot bird population as well).
New species are being discovered every day -- unfortunately, often just before they go extinct:
The three new species, dubbed Callulina laphami, C. shengena, and C. stanleyi, were discovered by an international group of scientists, including Tanzanian scientists. Dwelling in forest habitat, Callulina frogs spend their days hidden away in trees or under the leaf litter; at dusk they climb into the trees where they spend the night before descending again to the ground.
The researchers recommend that each of the frogs be categorized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List as Critically Endangered, given their incredibly small ranges: C. shengena has the largest habitat of the three at 13.5 square miles (35 square kilometers) and C. stanleyi the smallest at 3.7 square miles (9.7 square kilometers). The remaining habitats are threatened by forest clearing due to agriculture.
Photo in corner is of one of the three new species, Callulina stanleyi. To read the rest of the article and see the other two frogs click here.