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, August 31 2015

It was my first herping adventure and one of the best memories in my herpetology career. I am a snake-researcher but I also have to accept the fact that I belong to the society of herpetologists and also need to accept whatever Mother Nature throws at me. The Deccan banded Gecko or Deccan Ground Gecko Cyrtodactylus deccanensis was one of the gifts of Mother Nature which I happily and enthusiastically accepted.
 This reptile is commonly found in out-skirts of my area. Looking at the pictures of these creatures one couldn’t but stop themselves to admire the unique beauty of these lizards. The color pattern of these geckos is simply amazing, the body is reddish-brown with thin yellowish white bands and the average size of this gecko is 2.25cm.
Whenever you set out for herping adventure, you never know what you are going to encounter, sometimes your wishes are fulfilled and sometimes you return empty. As it was my first herping trip I was expecting to see some snakes but I ended up finding just a lizard, a beautiful lizard, and the best part was that I found something new.
Photo: saleel gharpure
Friday, August 28 2015

"There' one!"
I slammed on the brakes, pulled a 180, and sped back to--to another rock. Another 180 and we were moving westward again. The last "turn" had brought the false sightings up to Five. Five times we had thought we had sighted a round-tailed horned lizard, Phrynosoma modestum, basking on the pavement and five times it had been a rock or a piece of flattened vegetation.
I had about brought the old car back up to 65 mph when Jake screamed again. This time I didn't turn, I merely stopped at roadside and told Jake "Go get it." He hopped out, ran back a couple of hundred feet, and stooped to pick up another "rock." But unless he was taunting me he usually didn't pick up rocks. Maybe--just maybe...
By the time Jake had returned to the car he was grinning from ear to ear. That last "rock" actually was the horned lizard we (and especially he) had wanted so badly to see.
We had failed to find a round-tail on the first 10 of the 12 days allocated to this 2015 trip to the Big Bend and had begun to wonder whether 2015 would replicate 2014's trip when we had not found the species. We no longer had to wonder. Success, finally!
Now to find my camera.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "Round-tailed horned lizards at last!"
Thursday, August 27 2015

Most of the time during my herping trips if I spot lizards I usually tend to ignore them, but if it is some unique or beautiful lizard I make sure to mention them in my blogs. So today I present you one of the most beautiful reptiles from India, the Leopard Gecko Eublepharis macularis.
The Leopard Gecko is a ground dwelling lizard found in India and also in Pakistan, Afghanistan and some parts of Iran. Leopard Geckos spend most of their time in burrows during the day. They become active at dawn and dusk when the temperature is favorable, so they are mostly nocturnal. These geckos are called leopard geckos because of their coloration, an adult leopard gecko having spots on its body like a leopard. I find the juveniles more beautiful than the adults, having a black body with thick yellow and white bands on it. These geckos primarily feed on crickets and earthworms and the size varies from 20-27cm.
I always prefer to maintain a distance from lizards because I am a bit scared of them but if there are such beautiful species like leopard gecko, they always fascinate me.
Photo: Saleel Gharpure
Tuesday, August 25 2015

It had been a very long day in West Texas, and it was past time to call it quits. Jake and I had just driven almost non-stop from our Florida homes and following an hour of shuteye had hit the road for a little r&r (herping). We had done pretty well, photographing a pretty male Baird's rat snake at road edge and an equally pretty mottled rock rattler on a roadcut before changing venues.
Now, at 3 in the morning, we had decided to call it a night and had headed back for the motel when a ring-tailed "cat" at roadside caught our attention. I slowed to watch the little mammal and was just speeding up when we saw a solfugid (sun spider) on the yellow center line. Photo time. As I stepped from the car I noticed a small snake that was lying quietly on the center line only a few feet from the solfugid. Immediately recognizable as a long-nose, Rhinocheilus lecontei, the little snake was as obviously different as it was recognizable -- it lacked even a vestige of the red pigmentation so typical of the species. It was merely black and white, anerythristic if you prefer.
What a great find at the end of a long and busy day.
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "An aberrant long-nosed snake"
Monday, August 24 2015
 While India is technologically well developed in urban areas, it is also a country dominated by many superstitions regarding it's beautiful gifted and diverse fauna.
Nagpanchami, an Indian festival very true to its name, is celebrated to worship the Nagas, or Cobras, as these creatures have a great significance in Indian mythology. Strange but true, as a part of the worship ceremonies, cobras are offered milk, as well as a variety of spices, which is not food for cobras, in fact any snake in the world. At times, devotees are seen pouring bowls of milk over the snake’s head, and sprinkling the head with haldi (turmeric), kumkum (saffron) and other powdered spices that form the worship rituals. The milk and the different spices enter through nostrils into lungs often causing a slow and painful death.
These religious ceremonies are difficult to stop because people have been following them for centuries, even though they have been outlawed.It's my feeling that people don’t worship them because of the spiritual connection, they worship it out of fear, the fear of getting bitten by Nag.
Photo: saleel gharpure
Thursday, August 20 2015

Having kept and bred Santa Cruz (Channel Island) gopher snakes, Pituophis catenifer pumila, for several years, I had become enamored with this smallest of the gopher snakes. Even though these snakes are of nervous demeanor and have an occasional tendency to huff, puff, and strike, their 28 to 34" adult size makes them an easy gopher snake to handle.
Restricted in range to two of California's Channel Islands (Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Island) there seems to still be a paucity of information on this snake's preferred habitats. However, it is probable that like other forms of the gopher snake, the Santa Cruz subspecies is a habitat generalist that utilizes most if not all of the varied insular habitats--be they montane, pastoral or littoral.
The entire range of the Santa Cruz gopher snake is now under the protection of the National Park Service and/or The Nature Conservancy. Therefore this tiny gopher snake can be difficult to acquire.
And how tiny is "tiny"? As mentioned above the adult length seldom exceeds 30" and hatchlings are 6 to 8" in length. For a gopher, that's tiny!
More photos under the jump...
Continue reading "Santa Cruz gopher snakes"
|