Reptile & Amphibian News Blog
Keep up with news and features of interest to the reptile and amphibian community on the kingsnake.com blog. We cover breaking stories from the mainstream and scientific media, user-submitted photos and videos, and feature articles and photos by Jeff Barringer, Richard Bartlett, and other herpetologists and herpetoculturists.
Friday, January 31 2014
Check out this video "California Kingsnake Eggs & Laying" submitted by kingsnake.com user boa2cobras.
Submit your own reptile & amphibian videos at http://www.kingsnake.com/video/ and you could see them featured here or check out all the videos submitted by other users!
Thursday, January 30 2014
 He's considered one of the world's ugliest animals, and the salamander-like axolotl is also one of the most threatened.
From the Austin Statesman:
It's disturbing news for an admittedly ugly creature, which has a slimy tail, plumage-like gills and mouth that curls into an odd smile.
The axolotl is known as the "water monster" and the "Mexican walking fish." Its only natural habitat is the Xochimilco network of lakes and canals — the "floating gardens" of earth piled on reed mats that the Aztecs built to grow crops but are now suffering from pollution and urban sprawl.
Biologist Armando Tovar Garza of Mexico's National Autonomous University said Tuesday that the creature "is in serious risk of disappearing" from the wild.
Describing an effort last year by researchers in skiffs to try to net axolotls in the shallow, muddy waters of Xochimilco, Tovar Garza summed up the results as "four months of sampling — zero axolotls."
Read more...
Photo: Austin Statesman
Wednesday, January 29 2014
 The Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Penn., is adamant that there are not now and have never been any snakes in their casino. Any rumors to the contrary, said a spokesperson, are just the result of a Facebook rumor related to the just-ending Chinese Year of the Snake; the only snake eyes at Sands are on the dice.
From LeighValleyLive.com:
State police, who operate the Sands Casino Station inside the South Side Bethlehem facility, report "absolutely zero snakes in this place," Trooper William Ortiz said.
The rumor, as passed on to The Express-Times, indicates someone went to the doctor with what was believed to be a bite; the doctor said it's a snakebite and asked immediately whether the patient had been to the Bethlehem casino.
Sands Bethlehem, owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., issued a statement today saying, "There have been no reported incidents of snakes on our property. We do not allow any animals on property with the exception of service animals."
Read more...
Tuesday, January 28 2014
 Can you help a long-time herper who needs a new heart?
West coast herp photographer and kingnake.com community member Dave Northcott has been notably absent from his usual place at herp events and shows over the last two years, suffering from heart problems that have progressively worsened. Now Dave's doctors have given him more bad news: he needs a new heart.
Dave, a fixture in the community whose photographs of reptiles and amphibians have graced the covers and pages of countless reptile and amphibian magazines as well as dozens if not hundreds of books, faces months of rehab and recovery, and countless medical bills.
Faced with mounting medical costs that even with insurance will likely end up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, his daughter Kait Northcott has set up a fundraiser at GoFundMe to raise money to help offset their rising medical bills.
As part of this fundraising effort to get Dave a new heart, kingsnake.com has donated $1000.00 and is asking other businesses in the reptile community to match our donation at the GoFundMe site.
If your business would like to match our donation, or if you would like to contribute as an individual, please visit http://www.gofundme.com/6g1rak.
 A good Samaritan in Brooklyn thought he'd found an abandoned baby in a duffel bag in a trash can. Turned out to be three boa constrictors.
Maybe if New York City wasn't such an inhospitable place for herps and other "non-fluffy" pets, things like this wouldn't happen.
The good news: A home is being sought for the snakes, instead of the usual deadly solution.
Photo (not of snake in story): kingsnake.com user minicopilot
Monday, January 27 2014
 After the death of Lonesome George, the last known Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise, the extinction toll on the species seemed irreversible. That may not be the case, however, says Michael Russello, an associate professor of biology at the University of British Columbia.
From the Harvard Gazette:
The findings prompted a larger 2008 expedition, in which teams sampled 1,669 individuals, drawing blood, noting the locations, and marking the tortoises so they could be monitored after analysis. The work found 84 hybrids of Floreana ancestry — of which 30 were less than 15 years old — and 17 with Pinta ancestry. A follow-up expedition is planned for next year to search the area where those populations were concentrated, hoping to find pureblood individuals and bring them to a captive breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. If all goes well, those individuals will serve as founders of a restored population.
"Human activity may have led to the preservation of lineages of species thought extinct," Russello said.
Read more...
Friday, January 24 2014
Check out this video "Regal Horned Lizard" submitted by kingsnake.com user variuss11.
Submit your own reptile & amphibian videos at http://www.kingsnake.com/video/ and you could see them featured here or check out all the videos submitted by other users!
 Six endangered green sea turtles are being treated for the fibropapilloma virus, which has left them blind and unable to survive in the wild.
From NBC Miami:
"When the Fibropapilloma virus shows as tumors on the eyes, if it grows over the cornea on both eyes, the turtle has no vision and has no chance of survival," said Bette Zirckelbach, manager of the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys.
Zirckelbach and others from the Turtle Hospital transported the animals in their 'turtle ambulance' to Pinecrest Veterinary Hospital for care with Dr. Lorraine Karpinski.
Read more here...
Thursday, January 23 2014
 A new study suggests microscopic organisms may help amphibians fight off chytridiomycosis.
From Phys.org:
An international team of researchers has made important progress in understanding the distribution of the deadly amphibian chytrid pathogen. In some regions, the deadly impact of the pathogen appears to be hampered by small predators, naturally occurring in freshwater bodies. These micropredators may efficiently reduce the number of free-swimming infectious stages (zoospores) by consuming them. This natural behavior will reduce the infection pressure on potential amphibian hosts and a goes a long way towards explaining the occurrence of chytridiomycosis, at least in temporal climatic regions. These results were published in the renowned scientific journal Current Biology. The team of researchers state that their results raise the hope of successfully fighting chytridiomycosis, nowadays one of the most deadly wildlife diseases.
Read more...
Photo: kingsnake.com user trinacliff
Tuesday, January 21 2014
 On Monday, kingsnake.com launched a new vendor profile system in the classifieds, allowing all classified account holders to have a permanent presence for their business in the classifieds, even if they don't have any classified ads running at the time.
Available to both standard and enhanced account holders, the new vendor profile is an all-in-one marketing tool for reptile businesses, allowing them to maintain and re-list classified ads, link to their websiite and all their social media profiles, link to USARK and PIJAC, list upcoming trade show appearances, receive customer endorsements, and more.
Check out the huge list of features below:
The new vendor profile system allows you to:
- add a physical address and map
- add a store/shop image that pops up to a larger size when clicked
- add a large background image
- list all your classified ads
- list all the shows/expos you will attend (if in the kingsnake events database)
- display shipping options and package trackers
- display payment options
- add a lengthy business description
- add a FAQ/Terms sheet
- receive recommendations from kingsnake.com registered users
- link to your website
- link to your social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn)
- display your years on-site (if more than one year)
- display your business verification button/info
- display info for multiple physical locations
- allow you to run a special offer/coupon in your vendor profile
- display your enhanced account banner (if applicable)
- view traffic stats on vendor profile visitors
- display a membership button for USARK and PIJAC
- display an embedded video
- search engine friendly URL ( http://market.kingsnake.com/vendors/lllreptile, etc.)
The vendor profile system works whether you have a standard or enhanced classified account, and as long as your account stays active, the profile is visible and can be linked to from your own website, banner ads, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.
Purchasing or renewing a 1-year account guarantees your profile is active year round, so even if you don't have or maintain active classified ads your business can still have a presence in kingsnake.com's popular classified advertising system.
To see sample classified vendor profiles, please visit
http://market.kingsnake.com/vendors/lllreptile
or http://market.kingsnake.com/vendors/RodentPro.com.
To update and view your own classified vendor profile,
please log in at http://market.kingsnake.com/account.
To purchase or renew an existing standard or enhanced classified account, please visit http://www.kingsnake.com/shared/services/classified.php
 In an effort to deter poaching, conservations are permanently marking the shells of the rare ploughshare tortoise. Their goal is to brand every captive breeding animal, plus the estimated 300 wild members of the species.
From the LA Times:
The booming illegal international wildlife trade forced conservationists to do the unthinkable Tuesday: Brand the golden domes of two of the rarest tortoises on Earth to reduce their black market value by making it easier for authorities to trace them if stolen.
"It's heartbreaking that it's come to this, but it's the right thing to do," Paul Gibbons, managing director of the nonprofit Turtle Conservancy's Behler Chelonian Center in Ventura County, said as he gently placed a 30-pound adult female ploughshare tortoise on a small table.
With a steady hand and an electric engraving tool, he carved an identification code on the high, rounded shell as the creature with weary eyes and gleaming carapace peered calmly into the distance. The tortoise was branded for life, which in her case would be roughly 160 years.
Read the full story here.
Monday, January 20 2014
 Two tortoises, named Samson and Goliath, went on the lam from their Arizona home last year. One was found right away, but the other stayed missing for six months, until his new family, 30 miles away, ran an ad looking for his original owners.
Now he's back home thanks to a microchip, and his family is trying to figure out what kind of enclosure they need to keep Samson and Goliath from hitting the road again.
Read the whole story on ABC News.
Photo: ABC News
Friday, January 17 2014
Check out this video "Tadpole Hunting" submitted by kingsnake.com user hdhungryman.
Submit your own reptile & amphibian videos at http://www.kingsnake.com/video/ and you could see them featured here or check out all the videos submitted by other users!
Thursday, January 16 2014
Scientists have long believed lizards are asocial, but research by Cissy Ballen, Richard Shine, and Mats Olsson of the University of Sydney using veiled chameleons suggests the lizards are a fairly social species after all.
From Wired Science:
Ballen and her colleagues staged interactions between pairs of chameleons when the animals were two months old. The researchers found the two groups didn’t differ in aggression, but chameleons raised in isolation were more submissive than their siblings raised in groups. The isolation-reared chameleons tended to flee or curl into a ball during confrontations with other chameleons, and they adopted darker and less green colors than the group-reared chameleons. The researchers also tested the foraging ability of the animals, and found that group-reared chameleons seized their prey (crickets) faster than isolation-reared chameleons.
Studies like this add to an increasing appreciation of the flexibility and complexity of reptile behavior.
Read more here.
Photo: kingsnake.com user 1sun
Wednesday, January 15 2014
What's beautiful? The sweet sounds of the Harding University choir as heard in the Reptile House at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Watch below:
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