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.
You think getting your kids to brush their teeth is hard, imagine doing it with a croc! Check out the dental care given to Jaws over at Madras Croc Bank in India in our Herp Video of the Week.
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!
Black-tailed prairie dog burrows scar the landscape. Stop for a moment while driving through Wind Cave National Wildlife Refuge in the Black Hills during the hours of daylight and a dozen or more prairie dogs will come running in hope of a handout.
Look both ways before you begin driving again because a curious bison just might be standing in front of your vehicle. But things are quieter at night. Bison drift away from the road to bunk down on the open prairie. The prairie dogs are all snoozing in their burrows. As a great horned owl flies over on silent wings, a summering burrowing owl ducks into a prairie dog burrow for safety.
But what is that tiny head emerging from the next prairie dog burrow? It's a salamander - a blotched tiger salamander, Ambystoma mavortium melanostictum! And we were to learn that the use of these havens by the salamanders was not at all uncommon.
The blotched tiger salamander attains a robust 6 to 11 inches in total length. Some examples have a well-defined reticulum of black against the predominating olive-yellow to olive-green, while others are less precisely patterned.
Neoteny is well documented, and it is this subspecies that is often offered for sale as "waterdogs" in the pet trade. Captive conditions usually cause waterdogs to metamorphose so be ready to change its housing from aquarium to terrarium.
But, whether adult or larva, this is a hardy salamander that often survives for more than a decade as a captive and that is easily fed on pelleted salamander food and/or earthworms.
A newly approved rattlesnake antivenom is being tested in Arizona.
From KVOA.com:
The Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in Tucson and the Banner Poison and Drug Information Center at Banner-University Medical Center in Phoenix will be conducting a study to find the most effective way to use the two antivenoms.
"Arizona has the largest diversity of rattlesnake bites in the country and what we see in all these rattlesnake bites is an incredible diversity of patients and the kind of effects we see in the rattlesnakes themselves," said Keith Boesen, director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center.
Every year, there are between 250 to 350 rattlesnake bites in Arizona. Many of the victims credit antivenom for saving their lives.
What a great shot! Check out this close up of the eye of the dragon (a bearded one that is) in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mecdwell!
Water management plans are making it difficult for alligators to find prey.
From the Sun Sentinel:
The Everglades alligators appear to be suffering from the artificial water management imposed on the area to drain land for cities and farms, he said.
Before the canals and pumps and other structures went up over the past century, he said there were sufficient dry periods to concentrate prey, allowing the alligators to find enough food. But now, some areas are flooded year-round, allowing fish, turtles and other prey to spread out over a wide area. That makes it harder for the alligators to find enough to eat.
"They are thinner," he said. "They're not getting enough to eat. We've been seeing that for a number of years, specifically in the Everglades and the water conservation areas.'
Baby shots are always a favorite! This Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae grabs its first breath in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user nategodin!
The London Zoo has become the first zoo in the world to successfully breed an incredibly rare Lake Oku clawed frog.
From the Irish Examiner:
The Lake Oku clawed frog is native to only Lake Oku in Cameroon and, due to their unique history of evolution (including the loss of their tongues), the aquatic frogs are tottering on the brink of extinction.
A team of amphibian keepers at the zoo are the first to ever successfully breed the frog, sparking fresh hope of ensuring the survival of the species.
Zookeepers have been intent on maintaining perfect conditions for the amphibians to thrive and four of the zoo’s 13 tadpoles have already metamorphosed into young, colourful frogs.
In many areas where once common, the smooth green snake, Opheodrys vernalis, seem to have become hard to find. In various areas where I have searched - Michigan, Massachusetts, Virginia, West Virginia, South Dakota, and New Mexico among them - in locales where the taxon was known to have once been fairly common, I have often failed to find any. I may have found only one or two after extensive searches.
Jake, who grew up with smooth green snakes common on the family property in Maine looked long and hard for the last several years, finding none until in 2014 when he found one - just one.
The last ones that I saw were in the Black Hills of South Dakota (a single snake) and then, while returning to Florida, I found two examples in Missouri. The Black Hills example was beneath a recently fallen dead tree trunk of moderate diameter in a blueberry flat. The Missouri specimens were beneath pieces of cardboard at the edge of a pasture.
A friend who visits Wisconsin on fairly regular intervals has found this little snake to still be common in Door County, a peninsula jutting eastward into Lake Michigan. Not only is the smooth green snake still common there, but it occurs in at least 2 color phases, the typical leaf green and a gray-green.
And as I write this I'm thinking that it is long past time for me to visit Wisconsin.
And just as a "by the way," smooth green snakes, known to be insectivores (perhaps arachnivores would be more accurate), have proven to be difficult to feed, delicate captives that are best left in the wild.
This yearling Okeetee corn snake is just hanging out doing snake things, like climbing a tree, in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cochran!
Conservationists are working to make sure Florida has a great turtle season this year, and are on the lookout for green turtles.
From news-press.com:
Kelly Sloan, sea turtle program coordinator Sanibel/Captiva Conservation Foundation, also has plans to make this a good year for turtles.
"Coyotes are a problem," Sloan explained. "We are going to attempt to screen every nest this year. Hopefully that will keep the coyotes out."
Sloan is also hoping for lots of green turtles this year. They had a record number of greens, 23 of them, in 2013 and none last year. Sloan is also starting a big campaign with a slogan "After Nine it's Turtle Time," in an attempt to get people to turn off or conceal lights at night. Hatchlings use the lights from the horizon to find the water. Artificial light can lure them the wrong way.
I've been rescuing snakes and other animals for a long time now, and I'm very well aware of the species found in my area. Nonetheless, my last rescue really surprised me.
Two days ago, somewhere around 7 PM or half past, I received a rescue call from a nearby area where I had rescued common trinkets twice before. The person said it was the same snake I had rescued previously, so I was sure it was a trinket.
When I saw the snake, though, I couldn’t believe my eyes: it was a Montane trinket snake, Coelognathus helena helena. I was never so surprised before while on a rescue, and for a minute I just stood there, wondering how it was possible, since these wild siblings of common trinkets prefer staying in the wild.
But it was real. It was a semi-adult Montane trinket, around 60-70 cms. I had to travel 30 miles to the jungle to release this snake where it belongs. The only places where I have encountered these snakes are the jungles in the outskirts of my cities, and I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would get this snake on a rescue in my urban area -- but sometimes there are unexpected surprises in life.
A salmonella outbreak in 16 states, linked to crested geckos, has been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although usually associated with turtles, salmonella in its various sub-types is found in all reptiles and amphibians. This outbreak is a reminder to all that proper hygiene is required after handling any reptile or amphibian.
As of May 13, 2015, a total of 20 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Muenchen have been reported from 16 states since January 1, 2014.
CDC is collaborating with public health, veterinary, and agriculture officials in many states and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) to investigate an outbreak of Salmonella Muenchen infections linked to contact with pet crested geckos purchased from multiple stores in different states. Crested geckos are popular pet lizards that come in a variety of colors.
This outbreak is a reminder to follow simple steps to enjoy your pet and keep your family healthy. CDC does not recommend that pet owners get rid of their geckos.
It is very important to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water right after touching pet reptiles or anything in the area where they live and roam.
The white-lipped pit viper, Trimeresurus albolabris, is one of the most common species of pit vipers found in southeastern parts of Asia, which includes some northern states of India. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, India is home to 17 species of pit viper; among these 17, the white-lipped pit viper is most commonly found in northern and northeastern parts of India.
The white-lipped pit viper is green in color like other green tree vipers, and the ventral body is pale yellow or whitish yellow in color. A light ventrolateral stripe is present in all males, but absent in females. The color of the tail is reddish-brown or reddish-maroon. The size of these snakes varies from 2-2.7 feet, and these snakes are viviparous by nature.
It’s very difficult for a snake lover in the southwestern part of India to encounter such a beautiful snake, but I find myself very lucky because I’m native to Uttarakhand, one of the northern states of India. I found this snake during the summer of 2013 in Uttarakhand.
The thing that surprised me the most was that I always thought pit vipers are found only on trees and sometimes on land, but this fellow was enjoying himself in a stream.
When I picked him up I noticed that its belly was fully loaded with small fishes. This is one of the main reasons I love snakes as I've been studing them for a long time, but they never stop surprising me. Photo: Hazard-Bot. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.