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, July 24 2014
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Gnuby!
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Wednesday, July 23 2014
A 4-foot alligator was rounded up near Wisconsin's Sheboygan River.
From the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:
A team of sheriff's deputies and Sheboygan police officers corralled and snared the snarling reptile in a ditch near the Sheboygan River after a brief search that started in the 2700 block of Indiana Ave. in the city of Sheboygan, Sheriff's Sgt. Matt Spence said Sunday.
The sheriff's office received a call around 10:30 a.m. Sunday of an alligator sighting in that block, east of S. Taylor Drive, Spence said.
After the gator's snout was taped shut for the officers' safety, the animal was turned over to a conservation warden with the state Department of Natural Resources, according to Spence.
Read more...
Photo: Sheboygan County Sheriff's Office
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user casichelydia!
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Tuesday, July 22 2014
It had rained hard for much of the afternoon and the rainforest trails were muddy and very slippery. Trail-crossing creeks were running high, and some slopes, normally steep but safe, had become a true challenge. In other words, the rainforest weather we were experiencing was being very typical rainforest weather: rain, clear, rain, clear, rain...
I had about a half-dozen herpers with me and a few others were with Lorrie, who was either ahead of us or who had started her hike on the opposite end of the same loop trail. The boops, barks, and whistles of various treefrog species serenaded us as we walked slowly along, stopping to look at an insect here or a frog there.
By the time we had reached the intersection (right kept us on the short trail, left was the long trail where if we missed the next turn we could walk until the day after tomorrow) it had begun raining again. In front of us was a huge stand of bananas and a few of our hikers wanted to divert the rain by holding a big banana leaf over their head.
So into the bananas we went, and it was a good thing we did. Just past the first row, at a height of about 8 feet, was a beautiful, slender, red snake -- a red vine snake, Siphlophis compressus.
Rain or not, our night had then been made.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "Interlude with a red vine snake"
 As temperatures in their native ranges change, male reptiles may need to disperse to survive. That's according to a study published in the journal BMC Ecology.
From BBC Nature News:
Alligators, some turtles, and the tuatara - found only in New Zealand - all produce offspring whose gender is determined by temperature.
These species are considered to be especially vulnerable to climate warming, because at higher temperatures they produce only one sex.
Previous studies have suggested that the best way for reptiles to respond is to alter the temperature of their nest by seeking shaded areas, digging deeper nests and nesting earlier in the season.
But the authors say their study is the first to demonstrate that dispersal by the sex that occurs least in a population may be just as important, if not more so, in compensating for the effects of climate change.
Read more...
Photo: kingsnake.com user randyprobst
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user zovick!
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Monday, July 21 2014
 Don't you just hate it when the tortoises turn on you?
From the BBC:
A police officer in Uganda has reportedly shot a tortoise dead after being attacked by the "aggressive" creature.
The incident happened in the Nebbi district in the north of the country near the Congolese border. The officer - named as Charles Onegiu by the New Vision newspaper - said the animal entered his home and attacked him while he was enjoying a post-work cup of tea. "I tried to scare it but the tortoise became very aggressive. I took a stick to chase it but it instead became more violent," he told the paper. After attempting to fend off the tortoise with a plastic chair, he said he "instinctively" drew his firearm and shot it dead. A local Christian group later prayed for Onegiu, "before burning the dead reptile to ashes."
Read more...
It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user StonedReptiles!
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Friday, July 18 2014
Check out this video "Chameleon changing color," submitted by kingsnake.com user PH FasDog.
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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user rmgarabedian!
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Thursday, July 17 2014
Teeny-weeny? That barely describes the tiny patch-nosed salamander, Urspelerpes brucei, which is now known to exist not only in Stephens County, GA, but in adjacent SC as well.
Only an inch and a half in overall length, males of this little salamander are prominently striped while the females are a unicolored greenish-gold dorsally and laterally. Both larvae and adults have a variably prominent light patch on the snout, and it is from this marking that the common name is derived.
Urspelerpes is a monotypic genus and although some initial commenting wondered whether this classification of a salamander that was in superficial appearance quite similar to many of the brook salamanders of the genus Eurycea would stand the test of time, it has.
It was thanks to John Jensen and Carlos Camp that I had an opportunity to photograph this little plethodontid. And although I have procrastinated for the several years that have elapsed since it was described, I still intend to travel to and photograph its montane stream home. That jaunt is planned as one of this month's (July 2014) field excursions.
Goals. There always needs to be a goal.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "A teeny-weeny salamander"
So, that snake infamously fished out of an Alabama toilet? It was retrieved by police officer Ali Thompson and identified by Hueytown Police Chief Chuck Hagler as a venomous cottonmouth. Local herpers came out of the proverbial woodwork, however, to say he was wrong.
From AL.com:
tidey : Don't know about fangs... but this appears to be a rat snake. Very common and not poisonous. Doesn't have the markings of a cottonmouth or copperhead.
umgrizz1: good grief... I know any kind of snake in the house is frightening... but that snake is NOT even venomous, much less a cottonmouth...
AUwildlife81: All snakes can't climb, primarily here in Alabama only the rat snake and corn snake are able to climb because they also feed on birds they would need this ability. Water moccasins eat fish and fish don't live in trees so they don't need to climb. Water moccasins as with most venomous snakes have stocky bodies which will prevent them from climbing. I have a degree in wildlife biology have taken numerous herpetology classes and I used to remove snakes for living. Yes other snakes can climb but those snakes are found in South America, Asia, and Africa.
Hagler's standing firm on his ID, however.
Read more...
Photo: Hueytown Police Department
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