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, November 27 2014
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user anialady!
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Wednesday, November 26 2014
![](/blog/uploads/turtlefarm_3.jpg) If I were only going to do a single pen, I could have stopped with where I was in my last post, and do the finish out. All that was left was to set the steel panel hoophouse roof up, cover it in wire, and throw a tarp over it. But not yet.
We had planned on three pens for our initial test, so digging another four holes with the auger, I quickly expanded to three pens, using the same approach as for the first pen, one pen at a time. Then I added the posts, the 2x4 toppers on the edges, then the corrugated panels.
The only difference was I needed to snip out a small amount of corrugated steel with tin snips on each of the interior wall panels, to allow the 2x4 top frame to seat properly on the 4x4 posts. Building the two remaining pens took about the same amount of time as building the first pen.
Once all three pens were up, all the walls were checked where they met the ground to ensure that there were no gaps that could provide an escape path. Once that was done, fill dirt excavated from the post holes was used to build up the dirt around the edges of the pens to a depth of 3-5 inches. This would prevent immediate escapes. but would do little to dissuade a burrower from either direction.
When we were done with the basic pens. it was time to consider our herp greenhouse roof. Stay tuned!
![](/blog/uploads/Tortoise11.24.14.jpg) Researchers at the Yuma Proving Grounds are making headway tagging tortoises to study their movements.
From the Yuma Sun:
To track the tortoises and study their habits, biologists attach small VHF transmitters and GPS data loggers to the shell of each tortoise they find. They also paint a unique number on the tortoise’s shell, and file a small notch through one of the keratin scutes at the thin rear edge of the shell, which has a consistency similar to a human fingernail. All this is done after an examination of the tortoise’s health and weight.
Coaxing one of the creatures out of their shelters can be a challenge: if they feel threatened, they oftentimes wedge themselves against the rear wall and ceiling of their miniature caves, which can be yards deep.
“They’re shockingly strong,” said Hillary Hoffman, a herpetologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department who has been coming to YPG since 2009. “If they don’t want to come out, they’re not coming out.”
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user snakepunk!
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Tuesday, November 25 2014
I sat in the yard this morning watching the ducks swim in their little pool and the dogs play rambunctiously over the expanse of the yard. It was a sunny 75 degrees Fahrenheit and very comfortable overall. Then came the blue jays. Within moments there were 8 or 10 of them, all screaming at the top of their lungs.
Then came an American crow, and then another. Cawing and gurgling they joined the screaming jays. At first I thought this to be an owl response, but even with binoculars I could see neither an owl nor a hawk. But then I noticed the birds seemed to be looking down and finally, in a leafy limb-end bower, I made out a sinuosity of form - a snake. It was small, probably only 3 feet long or perhaps even a bit smaller.
As I watched, it began moving downward and it was apparent that it was a yellow rat. The snake's movement prompted the jays to find a new upper level of volume to their cacophonous calls. The snake didn't seem to care. I stood and moved towards the tree and the crows, more nervous than the jays, departed.
The snake continued downward until less than 20 feet separated us. The jays, with a final look of disdain, flew away. The rat snake got to the lowest limb, moved in towards the trunk and the last I saw it was coiling slowly, largely secluded between the trunk and an immense grape vine that clambered up the tree.
I walked away thinking this was a lucky snake. Perhaps it was because I was so close that the frenzied calls of the jays and crows hadn't summoned a red-shouldered hawk. Had one of these herp-eating buteos arrived the ending for this tale and the snake would probably have been just that: a literal ending.
Continue reading "Yellow in a tree "
![](/blog/uploads/24327cserpentina017-med.JPG) A just-published study has turned scientific concensus upside down by suggesting turtles aren't very closely related to snakes and lizards after all. Instead, their closests cousins are birds, crocodiles, and dinosaurs, a group researchers are now calling " Archelosauria," which is believed to be the largest group of vertebrates to be assigned a new scientific name.
From Phys.org:
A team of scientists, including researchers from the California Academy of Sciences, has reconstructed a detailed "tree of life" for turtles. The specifics of how turtles are related—to one another, to other reptiles, and even to dinosaurs—have been hotly debated for decades. Next generation sequencing technologies in Academy labs have generated unprecedented amounts of genetic information for a thrilling new look at turtles' evolutionary history. These high-tech lab methods revolutionize the way scientists explore species origins and evolutionary relationships, and provide a strong foundation for future looks into Earth's fossil record.
Research results, appearing in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, describe how a new genetic sequencing technique called Ultra Conserved Elements (UCE) reveal turtles' closest relatives across the animal kingdom.
Read more here.
Photo: kingsnake.com user anuraanman
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user HappyHeathen!
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Monday, November 24 2014
![](/blog/uploads/turtlefarm_2.jpg) Dragging some old 4x4 fenceposts for the first pen I used a saw to cut them down to four 40-inch lengths.
Using our recently purchased auger, I dug out four holes spaced 8 feet apart as four corners of my square pen. Dug down approximately 18 inches, we wanted our posts to stick up 22 inches.
Even with the auger, digging into the hard, dry, baked, clay soil was difficult. Every time I tried to dig, the auger bit would bounce off the big chucks it would gouge until they finally choked the bit to stoppage. A simple solution turned out to be pouring a bucket of water into a started hole and letting the dirt soak it up. With the clay thus loosened, the auger had no trouble boring holes in the dirt quickly and as designed,
Once the holes were dug, the 4x4 posts were set into them, dry, and then topped by 2x4s on three sides, one side at a time, the "open" side being left for expansion to the other two pens. With the pens' frame in place on one corner, a cordless drill with a drill bit and another with a Phillips bit were used to mount the corrugated steel walls of the pen.
With all four walls mounted in a simliar fashion and leveled as best possible, the 4x4 posts for the first pen were then set in the ground with approximately a bag and a half of quik-crete per hole. Once set, the first basic pen was complete and we were ready to add the remaining pens. While this was a lot of work it only took a couple hours of labor.
More to come!
![](/blog/uploads/Kidsandsnake11.20.14.jpg) School children in Ireland spent time handling Rascal the Burmese python at the Reptile Conservation Zoo.
From the Independent:
The scary encounter was to celebrate the launch of the zoo’s search for an Irish Junior Conservation Hero.
The new initiative is to help raise awareness about the rapid rate of extinction that is wiping out unique species across the planet.
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user gerryg!
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Friday, November 21 2014
![](/blog/uploads/turtlefarm_1.jpg) Using a simple computer graphics program and a clean canvas, I began to rough out a design for a "small" greenhouse solution, a single pen 8 foot by 8 foot square, covered by steel livestock panels arched over to form the hoophouse roof.
The walls of the pen would be 8 foot x 2 foot corrugated steel roof panels secured to 4 inch x 4 inch posts set in concrete and rising 22 inches out of the ground, topped by 2x4x8s around the outside. As designed, it used both existing materials on hand and new materials that needed to be sourced and priced. And it proved to be relatively easy to duplicate and expand the number of pens as needed. Simply copying the single pen design image and pasting it next to the original allowed me to easily expand the design and figure the budget accordingly.
But while everything looks good on the computer, real life has a tendency to interfere. So we had to prove the design.
After a quick trip to the store for some corrugated steel panels, concrete, and importantly a gas powered auger, we set about our mission, building a permanent 3-pen herp greenhouse that could be inexpensively and readily expanded.
Placement of the greenhouse was the first decision. It needed to be on ground that was relatively flat, yet have a slight grade, on good soil, and positioned so that it was expandable to a considerable size. The perfect place turned out to be right next to my power pole, which was convenient to my house and driveway. Laying out my materials in a rough approximation of where they were to be placed, I was ready to start.
Watch for part 3...
Check out this video "Garter Snake A My Garden," submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Allroy!
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Thursday, November 20 2014
The distribution of the Escambia map turtle, Graptemys ernsti, long thought to be a variant of the Alabama map turtle, is restricted to parts of the Choctawhatchee, Escambia, Yellow, and Shoal rivers and tributaries in western Florida and adjoining Alabama.
The Escambia map turtle is quite similar in appearance and habits to the more easterly Barbour's map turtle and the more westerly Alabama map turtles.
As with other map turtles, there is marked sexual dimorphism in this species. Females attain an adult carapace length of 9 to 11 inches and males are less than half that size. Like several other map turtle species, females develop an immense head and the diet of the adult shifts from the insects of the juveniles to the snails, clams, and mussels of the adult. Males eat insects throughout their lives.
At 14 to 20 years of age the females attain sexual maturity. Males, as noted, smaller and less bulky, may begin breeding when only 3 to 6 years old. Females nest from late spring through midsummer. From 3 to 6 nests are produced, more or less at 3 week intervals and produce an average of four nests containing 5 to 13 eggs.
Continue reading "Meet the Escambia map turtle"
![](/blog/uploads/MonitorLizard.jpg) An exotic pet hospital in Australia saved a monitor lizard that was hit by a car, and warns drivers to keep an eye out.
From the Daily Telegraph:
“If you see one hurt ... it’s best to be cautious and call an expert.
“Also, try and look out for them on the roads. They tend to move slowly across the road when they want to warm up or look for food.”
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Marijan!
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Wednesday, November 19 2014
![](http://gallery.connectedbypets.com/data/8248BoxTurtle092314_25-med.JPG) While our little temporary greenhouse was great for its purpose, it wasn't much of a barrier to large threats, such as a big dog, or heavy winds or weather. It wasn't anchored at all, and could be lifted up and moved with two hands. And in the end it was temporary, just as planned.
To do box turtles, and tortoises, properly, and in the quantities I was planning on, I needed to design something larger, more permanent, and most importantly, expandable, so I could add on as needed.
It didn't require heating or cooling, but did need to be screened to keep the pets in and the threats out. And it needed to have overhead cover during the summer to provide some shade during the oppressive heat of July and August.
It wouldn't need electrical connections, but it would need water for the planned misting system. Most of all, it had to be stable in the weather, and with winds often gusting over 50 mph and higher, it would need to be secured and anchored well. And it had to be designed so a single person could build and install it.
Some things I tried worked well, others not so much. Some design elements didn't scale, and attempting to use existing materials sometimes burdened the design, leading to somewhat catastrophic failures.
Along the way I found better ways to do things, and better materials and tools to use. But first, I needed to start with a single small greenhouse for the first groups of box turtles. Stay tuned for part 2!
![](/blog/uploads/TurtlePower.jpg) What does the evolution of the tortoise shell have to do with breathing?
From Phys.org:
Lead author Dr Tyler Lyson of Wits University's Evolutionary Studies Institute, the Smithsonian Institution and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science said: "Tortoises have a bizarre body plan and one of the more puzzling aspects to this body plan is the fact that tortoises have locked their ribs up into the iconic tortoise shell. No other animal does this and the likely reason is that ribs play such an important role in breathing in most animals including mammals, birds, crocodilians, and lizards."
Instead tortoises have developed a unique abdominal muscular sling that wraps around their lungs and organs to help them breathe. When and how this mechanism evolved has been unknown.
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pikiemikie!
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Tuesday, November 18 2014
"Got one, Patti."
"Good. A copperhead?"
"No. A crayfish."
"Oh."
I didn't know why she sounded so disillusioned. After all, it was wanting to see a crayfish, the firebacked crayfish to be exact, that had drawn us to the Apalachicola National Forest. The copperhead (a southern copperhead, Agkistrodon c. contortrix) was to have been a secondary prize.
But now, with the beautiful crayfish--one of several species, the natural color of which is similar to a well-boiled Maine lobster, found and photographed, it was copperhead time.
Our plan was to follow and check both leaf-strewn, sun-patched, banks of the meandering ravine-stream in hopes of seeing one of these well-camouflaged snakes.
That was our plan. But the copperheads had plans of their own. Their plans, it seemed, contrary to the norm, were to make things as easy as possible for we bumbling humans.
And their plan superseded ours. Barely 2 steps out of the stream we found the first copperhead stretched across one of the few open patches. And although we only needed one for photos, about 10 steps farther, lying quietly in a tight coil, was a second copperhead. Success.
Our next stop would be on the Chipola River in hopes of finding a map turtle. But that's another story.
Continue reading "Liberty County, Florida Copperheads"
![](/blog/uploads/Embryo11.17.14.jpg) New research explains why snakes have two penises instead of one.
From the Washington Post:
In snakes and lizards, the external genitals get a little funkier. These reptiles have paired external genitals, even though they only use one at a time during mating.
But all of these genitals spring out of the same embryonic structure, called the cloaca. This structure sends out signals to the cells around it in the embryo, telling them to turn into genitals.
Scientists have wondered why these structures — which are triggered to grow by the same genetic mechanisms during embryonic development, and have the same function in adulthood — develop so differently.
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user galen!
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Monday, November 17 2014
![](/blog/uploads/tempgreenhouse.jpg) In many places, herpers who have the space may have the opportunity to raise their pets in an outdoor enclosure.
Some reptiles just don't thrive inside, and with others, their size or captive requirements my require it. Outdoor enclosures can be as simple or as complex as you want to build them, and many herp owners turn to greenhouse designs as a starting point.
Whether you buy a greenhouse kit or build one from stuff just laying around, as long as the greenhouse is secure and escape-proof, it can be used to raise everything from turtles and tortoises to chameleons and iguanas.
The simple hoophouse greenhouse pictured here was built by one person (me) in about four hours, using scraps from other projects and a total of 16 screws. Designed for temporary use for box turtles, it used some old fence boards and several welded wire livestock panels bent over to provide the hoop frame.
It was wrapped in rolled welded wire and covered with tarps. It could be wrapped in plastic just as easily, but for our purposes the welded wire did the job.
With rocks bordering the walls to prevent dig-unders, this enclosure was used for several weeks while a more permanent home was being built. While the materials you have at hand may vary, a trip to the home improvement store can replace any missing items, and in a nice afternoon you can end up with something functional. And with a little more effort, and more materials, something this simple can be easily expanded into a more permanent structure.
Me, I'm going to need something more permanent. And larger. Much larger.
![](/blog/uploads/Sketch11.14.14.jpg) How would you like to come across a 57 pound venomous snake?
From Live Science:
Laophis crotaloides measured between 10 and 13 feet (3 and 4 meters) long and weighed a whopping 57 lbs. (26 kilograms). Today's longest venomous snakes, king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah), can grow to be about 18 feet (5.5 m) long. But at typical weights between 15 and 20 lbs. (6.8 to 9 kg), king cobras are scrawny compared to Laophis.
What makes Laophis even stranger was that it achieved this bulk not in the tropics, where most large reptiles live today, but in seasonal grasslands where winters were cool.
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user roadspawn!
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Friday, November 14 2014
Check out this video "Got an Itch?," submitted by kingsnake.com user PH FasDog.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user CKing!
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Thursday, November 13 2014
Florida has two species of naturally occurring map turtles, both riverine species. Both are wary. Very wary.
Since they are possessed of excellent eyesight, a hopeful observer is more apt to see only the ripples left behind a plunging map turtle than a view of the turtle itself. One of these species is the beautiful, dimorphic, Barbour's map, Graptemys barbouri. These map turtles are inhabitants of Florida's Apalachicola, Chipola, and Choctawatchee, Alabama's Pea and Flint, and Georgia's Chattahoochee and Flint river systems. In Georgia, the ranges of the Barbour's and the Escambia map turtles abut or overlap, and hybridization is known.
But, if you're both cautious and lucky, you may actually see one of these brownish gray, saw-backed, map turtles basking quietly on a protruding snag. Sometimes you'll catch them perched well above the water level on what would seem to be an impossibly thin branch. The broad, well developed, head markings vary from creamy-yellow to lime green and cover most of the temporal area.
Females of this species are adult at ten to twelve inches in length and probably first breed when they are between twelve and twenty years of age. Adult females develop enlarged heads and feed primarily on snails, clams, and mussels, both native and introduced. Males, narrow-headed, are adult at four to five inches in length, breed at four to six years of age, and like the juveniles feed largely on insects.
Barbour's maps are protected or of regulated take throughout their tri-state range.
Continue reading "Barbour's map turtle"
![](/blog/uploads/Wake11.12.14.JPG) Artists and activists held a satirical wake to raise awareness of Pancho, a Florida croc killed resisting capture, and other wildlife killed by humans.
From the Miami Herald:
Cortada said his goal was to have a dynamic service to honor the fallen croc, but at the same time to bring ecological awareness to community members, and teach them how to coexist with nature.
Florida International University biology students said the death of a South Florida animal is not rare. They cited the manatee, the sawfish, the Key Largo mouse and the indigo snake.
“Why are we here lamenting Pancho when we have killed so many Panchos in the last 100 years?” Cortada said, adding that humans are at fault for the reptile’s death after invading his natural habitat. “I just wanted to cry real tears and have a real conversation about our reptilian friend. We love you, Pancho.”
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 13lackcat!
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