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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, October 8 2015

Missing Orlando Cobra Found Under Neighbors Clothes Dryer

By Jeff Barringer
Thu, October 8 2015 at 05:27

A missing King Cobra that went on walkabout over a month ago has turned up underneath a clothes dryer at a neighbors house a half mile from it's cage. Found Wednesday night Orange County Animal Control officials and the wife of the snake’s owner confirm the snake is the one that escaped 35 days ago and it has been returned to its owners.

“Every time I put something in the dryer this hiss sound happened.” - Cynthia Mullvain

The cobra’s owner, Mike Kennedy, is facing charges for failure to immediately report the escape and has pleaded not guilty.
To read more check out the article at http://wfla.com/2015/10/08/missing-king-cobra-snake-found-in-orange-county-home/

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Florida Wildlife Commision to revoke lost cobra owners permit

By Jeff Barringer
Thu, October 8 2015 at 05:27

Just days after capturing the once-missing king cobra from a local garage, Florida wildlife officials on Friday confirmed their intent to revoke the owner's license to own the venomous snake in a revocation letter, sent a day before the king cobra was captured.

"Allowing you to continue to possess your venomous reptiles after three escapes would send a message that there will be no consequences for serious rule violations,"

The owner of the cobra has held permits to keep various exotic and potentially deadly animals for years, but records show numerous violations for not properly containing the animals including being cited in 2001 after another king cobra escaped from a house in the College Park area of Orlando, and in 2004 when an albino diamondback rattlesnake escaped and ended up in a neighbor's yard.

Read more at the Orlando Sentinel

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Wednesday, October 7 2015

Marines Release Tortoises

By kingsnake.com
Wed, October 7 2015 at 14:03

Photo: Lauren Kurkimilis/Marine Corps via AP

Near Twentynine Plams Marine Corps Base, 35 Desert Tortoises were recently released in an effort to repopulate the Mojave Desert at a ceremony with Marine Corps officials, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and researchers from the University of California Los Angeles.

Biologists have been raising tortoises over the past nine years at a six-acre facility to help boost the population that was nearly decimated by a respiratory virus in the late 1980s.

Monday, October 5 2015

Pet store owner critically injured by python

By kingsnake.com
Mon, October 5 2015 at 19:47

A python, reported to be 20 feet in length, critically injured a pet store owner in Newport Ohio in an apparent feeding mishap. According to media reports store owner Terry Wilkins was feeding the snake when it latched onto his arm and wrapped around his head, neck, and torso. Wilkens was not breathing when officers arrived to free him but he did resume breathing before he was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

"It was only by the grace of God that one of the officers knew how to deal with snakes," - police chief Tom Collins

The owner appears to be recovering after two officers pried off the 125-pound python that was wrapped around his head, neck and torso, according Collins.
The snake is currently alive and being held at the store where the incident occurred. Police are working with animal control to determine if the animal will need to be removed from the shop.

Click here to read more at WCPO Gallery photo by ahas

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Black Pine Snakes Added to Threatened and Endangered Species List

By Jeff Barringer
Mon, October 5 2015 at 13:44

In what is likely to be the first of a number of reptilian additions the Black Pine Snake, Pituophis melanoleucus lodingi, has been added to the USFWS Threatened and Endangered Species List. Found in southwestern Alabama through southeastern Mississippi into eastern Louisiana, Black Pine Snakes are the only melanistic pine snake, ranging in coloration from an overall black and brown banded snake to a nearly jet-black animal. A threatened designation means a species is at risk of becoming endangered within the foreseeable future. The snake’s threatened status allows the USFWS to include exemptions allowing certain management activities to continue to occur with protection from the loss, injury or harassment.

“We crafted the exemptions to provide landowners flexibility to manage for their objectives while still affording conservation benefits to the black pinesnake,” - Cindy Dohner, USFWS Southeast Regional Director.

The Black Pine Snake’s decline is primarily attributed to the loss and degradation of the longleaf pine ecosystem because of habitat fragmentation, fire suppression, conversion of natural pine forests to densely stocked pine plantations, and agricultural and urban development. Other threats to the snake’s survival include road mortality and killing by humans.

The Black Pine Snake was added to the US Fish and Wildlife Services list of candidates for federal protection in 1999, and the Service published a proposed rule to list the black pinesnake as threatened on October 7, 2014. The black pinesnake final listing becomes effective on November 5, 2015 which is 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register on October 6, 2015. The decision is part of the Service’s effort to implement a court-approved settlement under an agreement aimed at significantly reducing it's current litigation-driven workload.

To read the USFWS Press Release click here. Gallery photo by user noMad627

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Protection on the way for Massasaugas

By kingsnake.com
Mon, October 5 2015 at 05:38

Photo: Eric Sharp, Detroit Free Press
Despite being up for consideration of listing on the Endangered Species Act since 1999, the Eastern Massasauga has remained unprotected. Now it appears that will change. Known for their docile nature, the massasauga rattlesnake has it's greatest known population density in the state of Michigan, but as with most endangered species, habitat destruction has started putting extreme pressure on the current populations.

The biggest threat to the snake, across its range from Missouri to New York, is loss and degradation of habitat, Kingsbury said.

"The snakes don't travel as far as other animals do from habitat patch to habitat patch," he said. "Anytime you have paved roads, a farmer's field, a residential area, they will be barriers to the snake, and it will turn around and head back from where it came."

Thursday, October 1 2015

Genetics Prove Kauffeld Right

By kingsnake.com
Thu, October 1 2015 at 15:09

Photo Credit: Matthew Schlesinger, New York Natural Heritage Program
Carl Kauffeld believe there were two very different species of Leopard Frogs, but he did not have the means to prove it. Thankfully we now do! With the help of a geneticist, a team of researchers recently proved Kauffeld's belief to be true and named the Atlantic Coast Leopard Frogs after the herper great, Rana kauffeldi.

"There might have been some jumping up and down," recalled Dr. Matthew Schlesinger, the head of zoology at the New York Natural Heritage Program, who was part of the team. "There might have been some high fives going around."
...
Now, with virtually nothing known about this animal, the team trying to track and learn about its range and habits. "It's like we're trying to write the page of the field guide that's devoted to this species," Schlesinger said.

Learn more at WNYC.

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