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.
Monday, April 27 2015
By
Mon, April 27 2015 at 05:58
![](/blog/uploads/SachinBandedKukri.jpg) The kukri snake, Oligodon arnesis, isn't very familar to snake lovers from the African and American continents. If you're among them, you probably wonder where he got his name.
These snakes are called "kukri" because their teeth/fangs look like a Nepali weapon called the kukri.
Despite their weaponized name, these snakes are non-venomous. They are found in many Asian countries including China, Thailand, and Malaysia.
India is home to 12-13 species of kukri snakes amongst which the banded kukri is the most common -- and probably why it's also called the common kukri snake.
The body of the banded kukri is round with a short tail, and the body color is ash-or reddish-brown with black or brown bands. The underside is white and usually three black ‘V’ shapes are present on the head.
These beautiful snakes are found in ant hills, crevices in rocks, tree hollows, old houses, or heaps of stones. It’s a shy-natured snake and generally they don’t bite, but there's no guarantee as I have been a victim of their painful bite. They feed on reptile eggs, geckos, skinks, and mice. These snakes constrict their prey with 2-3 coils before swallowing it. Size varies from 40-70cms in adults. They are oviparous by nature, laying 5-7 eggs in crevices.
It’s always a joyful experience during the rescue of these snakes as they are usually quiet and I love them, even though I still carry some fear because of that one bad experience.
Photo: Riyaz Khoja
![](/blog/uploads/Dart.jpg) Inspired by poison dart frogs, an engineering professor developed a new way to construct airplane wings that keeps them from becoming icy.
From CNET:
Rykaczewski, an assistant professor of engineering at Arizona State University, was inspired by the bad-ass dart frog to devise a new type of artificial anti-ice "skin" for airplane wings. His research, which was conducted with several colleagues, was included in the latest issue of Advanced Materials Interfaces, published this week.
In the same way that dart frogs hold their venom beneath their outer skin and release it when they're in trouble, Rykaczewski's skin has two layers. The bottom layer contains an antifreeze liquid, and the outer layer is made from a superhydrophobic material, which means it is crazy good at repelling water. The outer layer also has a series of pores in it through which the antifreeze can be released.
Read more here.
This Chondro seems to be saying "Give me 5 more minutes" in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AJ01!
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Friday, April 24 2015
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Fri, April 24 2015 at 06:15
![](/blog/uploads/SaxhinHumpNosed.jpg) India has 17 species of pit viper, mostly found on trees. The hump-nosed pit viper ( Hypnale hypnale) is an exception.
Hump-nosed pit vipers are found in Goa and some parts of Karnataka, India. Like other pit vipers these snakes have hemotoxic venom, but mildly so. These snakes are not fatal to humans as they are very rarely found on rescues and they mostly spend their entire lives in forests.
Hump-nosed pit vipers are nocturnal by nature but sometimes are seen coiled on rocks near streams, low bushes, or under fallen leaves on the ground during day. The head of this snake is pointed and triangular with a tip curved upwards, giving it its lance-headed apperance.
The body color is grey or brown with dark brown bands and yellowish or reddish tail tip. What I like best about the young hump-nosed pit vipers is the way they wriggle their tails to attract lizards, skinks, and geckos.
The maximum size of hump-nosed pit vipers is 55 cm. These beautiful snakes are viviparous by nature and give birth to 4-10 young ones.
It was really an unforgettable experience encountering this beauty in the jungles of Goa while herping at 2 AM. I was so amazed to see this snake that I didn't leave the place for 1-2 hours. I just sat on a rock and observed the snake until it disappeared in the dried leaves.
Photos: Riyaz Khoja
Let's follow the lead of this Saltie in our herp photo of the day and let it all hang out for the weekend, uploaded by kingsnake.com user croc2005!
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Thursday, April 23 2015
Everywhere and nowhere best describe where you may find this tropical American lance-headed snake. Certainly the fer-de-lance, Bothrops atrox, is one of the commonly seen venomous taxa on the Project Amazonas Biological Stations and in nearby villages, as well on trails far distant from all activity. Many seen are neonates or juveniles but some are 4 foot long adults.
Depending on weather patterns, this snake may be seen in some numbers on one day and night and then be absent, or at least not seen, for several days.
Such was the case on one rainy trip. Small puddles along busy trails on Madre Selva Biological Preserve had drawn sizable populations of breeding frogs and the presence of the frogs had, in turn, drawn the fer-de-lances. Day or night for two days following the storm, we could check the perimeters of the puddles and find 3 or 4 of these snakes, often with body distended by a belly full of frog. However, by the third night we found that they had mostly dispersed and by the following day we saw none.
Then there was the time when a fer-de-lance wasn't present when we left the tambo (2-person cabin) to walk to the kitchen, but one was coiled tightly between the stepping stones when we returned a half hour later.
On another occasion, we hadn't seen a fer-de-lanc in the week we had been at the station. But one evening one person (who later told me he hadn't believed all of my warnings), was distracted in conversation with his son and almost stepped on one that was crawling slowly across the camp clearing.
We were sure glad it was "almost."
As I say, these brown on olive-brown snakes are everywhere, and nowhere. If you're in Amazonas use care - always. Plan ahead when out at night. Carry a flashlight and use it.
Continue reading "The incredible disappearing fer-de-lance"
![](/blog/uploads/Shifter.jpg) Scientists recently discovered the first vertebrate that can change its skin texture.
From National Geographic:
On a nighttime walk in 2009, scientist Katherine Krynak spotted a well-camouflaged, marble-size amphibian that was covered in spines. But when she brought it inside, suspecting it was a new species, Krynak found a rather smooth and slimy critter.
"I was so mad at myself! I thought I had brought back the wrong frog," said Krynak, who was surveying amphibian species in the Reserva Las Gralarias.
She hadn't. When she tucked a small piece of moss in the frog's container to make it more comfortable before releasing it back into the forest, the spines slowly reappeared.
"It was shocking. Vertebrates don't do that," she said. Inspired by its spiky physique, she dubbed it the "punk rocker" frog.
Read more here.
Often called the rubber eel, this Rio Cauca caecilian ( Typhlonectes natans) looks quite content in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chrish!
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Wednesday, April 22 2015
![](/blog/uploads/Canetoad.jpg) Could Australian cane toads be shipped to China for medicinal uses?
From the Daily Mail:
Their venom could be effective in fighting cancer, researchers have discovered, and the potency of Australian cane toad's venom is stronger than those in China.
This means that potentially millions of toads could be shipped to China, so they could have their venom extracted and turned into medicine, to be sold on the multi-billion dollar traditional medicine market.
Harendra Parekh, from the University of Queensland's pharmacy department where the research took place, said this discovery could lead to a 'potentially a very lucrative export market'.
Read more here.
From a tiny range in Texas, the reticulated collared lizard ( Crotaphytus reticulatus) seems to be plotting a world-wide reptile take over in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user reptoman!
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Tuesday, April 21 2015
![](/blog/uploads/Bullfrog.JPG) Do you live in Michigan? You can help the Department of Natural Resources inventory the state's herps.
From the Detroit Free Press:
The state Department of Natural Resources is inviting people who see turtles, frogs, toads, snakes, salamanders and lizards to report the sightings.
Project coordinator Lori Sargent says information is needed on all species, no matter how common or rare.
The Herp Atlas Project is intended to document the distribution of Michigan reptiles and amphibians, collectively known as herpetofauna or "herps."
Read more here.
Although eastern glass lizards, Ophisaurus ventralis, live in our yard, finding them on demand is a definite problem. I have never been able to do so yet! When it comes right down to it, whether I'm looking for them in my yard or elsewhere, I seldom succeed - at least on the first try.
There are 4 species of glass lizard (family Anguidae) in the United States. Three of the four, the mimic, the island, and the eastern, are restricted to the Southeastern United States. The fourth, the slender glass lizard, has two subspecies. The eastern subspecies is found from Kentucky and Virginia to Louisiana and Florida. The western subspecies ranges from a disjunct population in Wisconsin to Nebraska (barely) and southward to south Texas and west Louisiana.
Glass lizards are accomplished burrowers. In addition to making their own burrows when substrate is of the proper consistency, they may enter and follow a burrow pre-made by a small rodent or large insect. They also often seek seclusion beneath surface debris.
I have been fortunate enough to have found four eastern glass lizards in our yard, three beneath sheets of tin or plywood and one found about 12 inches below the ground surface while I planted a tree. The island and the mimic glass lizards seem a bit less urbanized and are most often encountered in open sandy woodlands or meadows.
Despite being seldom seen, of the four American taxa in this genus of oviparous lizards, only the mimic glass lizard is considered uncommon.
Continue reading "The hard-to-find glass lizard"
"Me? I'm just hangin' out doing snake things in a tree," is what this wild black rat snake seems to be saying in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user peaceodarock!
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Monday, April 20 2015
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Mon, April 20 2015 at 05:51
![](/blog/uploads/tri1.jpg) "Pit viper" a very familiar name to all snake lovers across the world. India is home to 17 species of pit viper; I'm sure this is the largest snake family in the country. One can find pit vipers in all parts of India.
The bamboo pit viper, Trimeresurus gramineus, is the most commonly found pit viper in India. Studies say tree pit vipers are hemotoxic by nature, but their venom is mild compared to the vipers on the land. I guess this might be the reason for excluding pit vipers from the "Indian big four" venomous snakes. There is no proper evidence of any deaths caused by pit viper bite in India, and even I have not come across a case during my research.
The bamboo pit viper is moss-green, yellowish-green, or bright green, with a faint or distinct brown or black pattern on its back. This pattern is darker in juveniles. The head is triangular, flat, and broad, and the eyes have vertical pupils.
Pit-like sensory organs are present between each eye and nostril. Lip scales are yellowish, and the underside is pearl white or yellowish.
Pit vipers are found in hilly forests. They are slow moving, and it vibrates its tail when disturbed and may strike with mouth wide open.
Bamboo pit vipers feed on small mammals, mice, young birds, frogs, and lizards. The maximum length is 3.5 to 4ft. They are viviparous by nature and give birth to 5-15 young ones. A captive female in Maharashtra had given birth to 21 young ones.
As I have mentioned a couple of times in my articles, it's very difficult to find tree snakes in my area as it's a concrete jungle, so I never rescued a bamboo pit viper. But because they are somewhat easily found on herpings, I have come across these snakes many times, and these are one of my favourites -- as I've said before, "I love the shade of green."
I would thank my friend Riyaz Khoja for allowing me to share these beautiful photographs.
![](/blog/uploads/DallasZoo.jpg) Bradley Lawrence of the Dallas Zoo recently gave an interview to KERA news about the zoo's antivenom supply.
From KERA News:
Interview Highlights: Bradley Lawrence
... on the Dallas Zoo's stockpile of antivenom: "The reptile department goes back quite a while especially in the '80s. We were pretty groundbreaking in research and learning how to take of all these exotic reptiles from around the world. Dallas was definitely groundbreaking at the time and we've continued it since then."
Listen to the whole interview here.
This Leucocephalon yuwonoi looks as displeased as we are that it's Monday in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user andystorts!
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Friday, April 17 2015
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Fri, April 17 2015 at 05:35
![](/blog/uploads/gunther.jpg) The Günther's racer, Coluber gracilis , (non-venomous), is one of the species of racer snakes found in India.
It is named after the great German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist Albert Günther.
Racer snakes are known for their speed and quickness; the Günther's racer is also known for his beautiful appearance, with large eyes having round pupils, and grayish-brown body with narrow, black-edged yellow bands.
These bands are darker toward the head and lighter toward the tail. The head can be distinctively identified with a black-edged yellow inverted ‘V’ mark. The underside is white.
An average size of Günther's racer that I’ve been familiar with was 30-50cms long. This beautiful, fast snake lives under dried leaves or stones and feeds on geckos and skinks. It is viviparous by nature and lays 4-7 eggs during May and June.
I've only had the opportunity to rescue these beautiful snakes three times. When I got the call about Günther's racer, it was from someone I knew telling me a tiny snake entered her office. She even sent me its picture online, but before I had a look at the picture I was planning to transfer the call to another rescuer because the place was around 20 miles away. However, the picture was very helpful for me to recognize it was a Günther's racer.
I decided to rescue this tiny creature myself, as it is very rare to find one. It was a very delightful rescue, as it was an average sized Günther's racer which helped me a lot in my research as well.
Photo: Riyav Khoja
Time to crack a cold one and celebrate the weekend. This A. c. contortrix is already a step ahead of us in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AlexNevgloski! p.s. Always pick up the trash you see in the field.
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Thursday, April 16 2015
As a herping youngster in New England, I eventually found several eastern milk snakes. On my first trip to the New Jersey Pine Barrens with my mentor, Gordy Johnston, I had seen several Coastal Plains milk snakes Asa Pittman's, an at erstwhile dealer. But a drawing I saw of the southeastern scarlet kingsnake, (then Lampropeltis doliata doliata, now Lampropeltis elapsoides, but for a very long time between these two names it was known as Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides) ran continually through my young mind.
I finally met a scarlet kingsnake, again with Gordy, but this time in southeastern South Carolina at a place called Okeetee. Our encounter with the scarlet kingsnake might have been on our very first trip to Okeetee. If not then, it was on our second.
At the partially shaded edge of an otherwise sunny field, a long dead pine had toppled. Probably before its impact the bark had loosened in large sheets, and after impact had loosened even more. Bark had broken free in patches and fallen to the ground beneath the trunk. Other patches had merely loosened and were still lying atop or wrapped around the trunk.
Beneath one of these patches, I found the most beautiful snake I had until then seen - a 12 inch long scarlet king!
Since then I have seen dozens more but only this one, and the largest (a 25 inch monster found years later in central Florida), remain so firmly etched in memory.
Continue reading "You never forget your first scarlet kingsnake"
![](/blog/uploads/Newt.jpg) UK herp lovers are encouraged to create wildlife ponds to shelter newts.
From Express & Echo:
The Smooth Newt is the species most commonly encountered in garden ponds and we can all do our bit to help them, as Dr Wilkinson explains.
"Everyone can help by having a small, or large garden pond populated by native aquatic plants and kept free of fish which will eat young newts," he said.
Amorous amphibians are a key part of UK springtime, so this year why not forgo the frogs and instead nurture a newt by digging a wildlife pond.
Read more here.
Speckles are always better than freckles. Just ask this Crotalus mitchellii in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user simus!
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Wednesday, April 15 2015
![](/blog/uploads/Opposum.jpg) Some costly antivenoms may soon be replaced by opossum blood.
From Chemistry World:
But treatments are costly and inaccessible for many people. Most antivenoms are made by injecting dilute venom into a mammal, such as a horse or rabbit. This results in an immune response, and the animal’s serum is then processed so that it can be injected into snakebite victims to scavenge toxic molecules in their blood. Such treatments typically cost $100-150 (£60-100) per dose, a prohibitive price for many people in developing countries.
But a team led by Claire Komives from San Jose State University has identified a protein from the blood of opossums – animals known for their ability to survive snake bites – that can be produced in large quantities by engineered bacteria, and shows promise as an antivenom.
In studies carried out on venom-exposed mice, those that were given just the venom died within 12 hours, while those that received the same amount of venom but were treated with the opossum peptide exhibited no ill effects. ‘Basically, the venom was completely neutralised,’ explains Komives, who was speaking at the 249th ACS National Meeting & Exposition in Denver, US. The peptide could protect the mice from the venoms of western diamondback rattlesnakes and Russell’s vipers.
Read more here.
Poised and ready to make a sideways retreat this Crotalus cerastes shows us it's beauty in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Ryan-reptilian!
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Tuesday, April 14 2015
There are several snake species in Amazonia that undergo extreme color changes as they progress from hatchling/neonate to adulthood.
The orange to green color changes of two, the two species of emerald tree boa, are well known. However, there is a lesser known species, the rusty whipsnake, Chironius scurrulus (a colubrine) about which you seldom hear, that undergoes color changes as great as, but exactly the opposite of, those of the boas.
This slender snake, adult at over six feet in length, is leaf green and largely arboreal as a hatchling. Predominantly terrestrial (actually a largely river-edge, frog eater that swims well and fast) it is rusty brown as an adult. Between these two color extremes the snake appears more faded, a rather nondescript greenish-gray and then grayish-red.
It is a species that we always enjoy finding on our Amazonian Peru tours.
But enough talk. Meet the rusty whipsnake.
Continue reading "The color shifting whipsnake"
![](/blog/uploads/Eye.jpg) Human and other primates may have evolved keen eyesight to detect dangerous snakes.
From NPR:
In a new paper published in the journal Primates, author William C. McGrew, a former professor of evolutionary primatology at the University of Cambridge, reports a high rate of venomous snake encounters by his team of primatologists seeking to observe unhabituated wild chimpanzees in Mount Assirik, Senegal, West Africa.
McGrew's snake-encounter analysis in the paper Snakes as hazards: modelling risk by chasing chimpanzees is one test of what's known as the snake-detection theory of primate origins, a set of hypotheses that suggest we (along with other primates) owe certain features of our evolution to the risks posed by death and injury from snakes.
During the 609 days that make up the core period of the analysis, McGrew and his team encountered a snake in Assirik, on average, once every 4.3 days — totaling 132 snake encounters. During the entire study period of four years, 142 snakes of 14 different species were identified. Of these, 64 percent were venomous: 33 cobras, 27 vipers and 24 rear-fanged snakes.
Read more here.
We continue our week of love for all that rattles with this perfectly poised Crotalus viridis in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user akcoldbliss!
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Monday, April 13 2015
By
Mon, April 13 2015 at 10:51
![](/blog/uploads/bronzeback1.jpg) Recently India has been facing a lot of weather and climatic changes. Sometimes it's really hot in winter and sometimes it rains in summer. I usually avoid herping during the summers as the climate is very hot and humid, and the forests are dried up to a certain extent.
In my city, it rained many times in March. A group of herpetologist friends and I decided to go herping in some nearby hills. Four of us were all set for herping.
Me and my group of friends have been into rescuing, conservation, and study of snakes for the past five years, and all of them are part of a new generation of Indian reptile hobbyists. So I would like to introduce them: Akshay Parahalkar (Axy), metalhead and a snake rescuer and studying reptiles; Anirudh Rathod, a newcomer who has been doing great work in snake rescuing; Riyaz Khoja, who I mentioned in my previous article, a very good wildlife photographer and snake rescuer who always helps me with his magnificent photographs for my articles.
So coming back to my story, we started herping at 7 AM so we could see some of our reptilian friends basking in the sun. It did not take much time to find one.
Axy and Anirudh were the ones to spot this amazing snake called the common bronzeback tree snake, Dendrelaphis tristis, one of the beautiful tree snakes of India. The common bronzeback is thin and long with flat elongated head and large eyes with round pupils. A brown or bronze stripe runs along top of body from head to tail. The underside is yellowish, bluish-green, or light green.The upper lip scales are light yellow.The size varies from 3.5 ft to 5.5 ft, and is viviparous by nature.
After finding this beauty, Riyaz clicked these beautiful photographs and we continued with our herping.
Photos: Riyaz Khoja
![](/blog/uploads/CSIHerp.jpg) A Canadian paleontologist identified the remains of several endangered species smuggled from Hong Kong.
From the Calgary Herald:
Don Brinkman, a paleontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, has been studying turtles for three decades and had assisted with previous investigations by Environment Canada.
But this case — which involved combing through a container with 945 turtle plastrons (bottom part of the shell), 2,454 turtle shells, and 52 bags of turtle fragments within 815 cartons, followed by a second container with 224 bags of fragments in 842 cartons — was the biggest Brinkman has ever worked on.
After three days in a Vancouver warehouse sifting through piece after piece, the lone scientist in a room full of officers, Brinkman helped bring the probe to a conclusion by identifying five endangered turtle species and three endangered tortoise species.
Read more here.
In celebration of the Texas Rattlesnake Festival, we are kicking our week off with the most iconic of rattlesnakes. Crotalus atrox thanks those this weekend who hopefully prevented rattlesnakes from being tread on in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user kevinjudd!
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Friday, April 10 2015
By
Fri, April 10 2015 at 05:24
![](/blog/uploads/stripedcoral1.jpg) When I started with my studies on Indian snakes, I was really surprised when I read that India has five species of coral snake. I used to believe these highly beautiful snakes were only found in American countries.
I can find a few in my area, but I have to be lucky enough to get one, and never got a chance to rescue any. Whenever I go herping, I always tell my fellow companions that for a particular period of time they have to search only for coral snakes.
The striped coral snake is very rare to find as compared to other venomous snakes, and very shy by nature. I have never seen an aggressive coral, and to be frank I still don't know how coral snakes attack because I haven’t seen any of them attacking.
That's why, despite being venomous, coral snakes are not included in the “Indian Big Four” as they are not highly harmful as compared to vipers and cobras.
The striped coral snake, Calliophis nigrescens, is thin, very long, and has a cylindrical body with short tail. The body is blackish-blue, bluish-purple, or reddish-brown. There are 3-5 stripes on their body, but they are extremely faint in blue and black individuals.
The head is black with a light streak behind the eyes. The underside is red and the scales under tail are partly white.
Striped coral snakes are found mainly under dried leaves. They curl up their tail as a threat display when they are disturbed. They feed mainly on other snakes and viviparous by nature. These snakes are endemic to certain parts of western hilly areas of India.
I have encountered this snake only twice on my herpings. When I found the striped coral snake ,it was really unbelievable and I forced my companions to pinch me so I could believe I'd really found this beautiful creature.
Photos: Riyaz Khoja
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