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.
Wednesday, April 12 2017
Happy Wednesday from these two "wrestling" Vietnamese Leaf Turtles in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user schroderal ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Tuesday, April 11 2017
What a gorgeous way to spotlight one of the underappreciated pythons! This lovely Olive Python poses perfectly in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BNixon ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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 This nearly patternless mutation was once known as Rana pipiens burnsi, the plain leopard frog.
I stood ankle deep in waters still chilled by the Minnesota winter, listening to the yodels of distant loons, and hoping that in at least one of the flooded swales along this roadway I would finally find at least one of the 2 frogs—1 light colored, the other dark-- for which I was then searching. Both now simply mutant phases of the northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens, were once considered subspecies. The light one had been referred to as the plain leopard frog, R. p. burnsi, and the dark one as the Kandiyohi leopard frog, R. p. kandiyohi. I had first seen both when I was a kid as preserved specimens at a New England biological supply house. Now, a half century later, I hoped to find and photograph them.
On that first trip, made in May, the water was still chilly but air temperatures were in the high 70s to low 80s. Cattails and other emergents were flourishing, mosquitos were rampant and bloodthirsty, and leopard frogs, normal colors and patterns predominating, were abundant.
But I did succeed in finding and photographing a few of each of the hoped for mutants. Both were just as attractive as I remembered them being.
Now, a decade later (I don’t rush into anything!), I was back in Minnesota but a bit further north than my previous trip. It was mid-January, and temps were unseasonably warm, hovering at or just above freezing. The week before the temperature varied from zero to minus 30! In recognition of the season, we were birding, with great gray owls, not leopard frogs, being the target taxon.
This was a good thing, for except an open canal on Lake Superior and plowed roads the whole region was icy and snow covered. The mosquitos of summer were not missed; the leopard frogs were.
But having experienced both seasons, a temperature variance of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit brought the hardiness of those leopard frogs into sharp focus. The adaptations of poikilotherms in boreal regions is remarkable indeed!
Continue reading "Minnesota Leopard Frogs"
Monday, April 10 2017
This Leaf-tail Gecko ( Uroplatus fimbriatus) has his eye on you in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user zmarchetti ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Friday, April 7 2017
In celebration of all things venomous, a photo of a bushmaster taken in the field graces our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user surgeon ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Thursday, April 6 2017
This Blackhead Python momma is taking a well deserved rest after laying her eggs our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user anthill ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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 Eastern hellbenders may be strongly patterned or virtually devoid of markings.
I was in northeastern Georgia, about a 6 hour drive from home, staring in awe at the natural beauty of my surroundings. Delighted by the solitude and cooled by the knee-deep, clear rushing waters, the beauty of the forest greens, off-whites, and pinks of the stream-edge mountain laurels, and the crispness of the mountain air, all tied to the possibility of seeing North America’s largest salamander, the wonderful hellbender, brought memories of similar scenes far to the north.
There were a few partially submerged rocks along streamedge. Beneath some I found southern two-lined salamanders, Eurycea cirrigera. In deeper water, about 6 feet of my starting point—HELLBENDER! Not big, about 15 inches, but a hellbender.
The possibility had become a reality. I had checked beneath only a half dozen stream bottom rocks when beneath a flat rock just to the side of a riffle I found the young hellbender, Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis. Photos were taken. I watched as the little giant slid unhurriedly beneath a riock, and I left, happy.
Now on to the rhododendron edged streams of the Carolina Blue Ridges, terrestrial salamander central!
Continue reading "Southern Hellbenders"
Wednesday, April 5 2017
Loving this little carpet python our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user zmarchetti ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Tuesday, April 4 2017
The Northern Leopard frog ( Lithobates pipiens) is an fairly widespread US Native species that get a spotlight in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Terry_Cox!
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 A pretty Australian green frog in today's pet trade.
Throughout the years I have had several treefrogs that were “dumpy” either by stature or by name, but one in particular stands out in memory. This was a small Australian green (White’s) treefrog, Litoria caerulea (subsequently dubbed “dumpy treefrog” by the pet trade) that my friend and mentor Gordy Johnston and I imported from “Oz” in the mid-1950s.
Only about an inch long when received, the frog had a hearty appetite and quickly began to grow—and grow—and GROW! Within a year it was over 3 inches long and by the time it stopped growing (in length) it was just over 4 inches long. Although its growth lengthwise was noteworthy, its growth in girth was equally so. It became robust, then heavy, then on its diet of insects and pinky mice, it became rotund, and then actually corpulent. Yep, it was “dumpy.” And it remained so for most of the 20+ years of its life.
20 years? Indeed. This and many other amphibians have lengthy lifespans. And the good thing about the dumpy treefrog is even when they mistakenly grab a finger you don’t wind up with embedded teeth as is apt to happen in a horned frog bite. That, in itself, may be enough to sway your choice. Enjoy!
Continue reading "Dumpy Treefrog? Indeed!"
Monday, April 3 2017
This Amazon Tree Boa has a case of the Mondays in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ThaVille ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Saturday, April 1 2017
 In what may be the most sweeping attempt yet to curb the growing spread of the invasive Burmese Python, President Donald Trump signed an executive order today authorizing the National Park Service to begin construction of a massive snake proof wall around Everglades National Park.
Taking to his Twitter Account the President tweeted;
"Have you seen what they did to the 13th tee at Mar-a-Lago? Very bad. This kind of thing has to be stopped. I saw "Anaconda", with Jennifer Lopez. So sad. What's next? These pythons. They're everywhere. "
"We're going to build a snake proof wall around the Everglades. It will be great. It's going to be the greatest snake proof wall anyone's ever seen. All the other countries are going to be so jealous of our snake proof wall. And we're gonna make Burma pay for it. Believe me. It will create so many jobs. It will be great. Really."
President Trump has directed Ryan Zink, Secretary of the Department of the Interior, to immediately begin taking bids on the design and development of a 30 foot tall barrier around the 1.5 million acre park. The Department of the Interior published two requests for proposals late Friday, which included the specifications it expects for a barrier meant to deliver on President Donald Trump's promise to build a "snake proof wall."
The agency provided 11 threshold requirements for the wall, which it says "shall be physically imposing in height." The wall needs to be 30 feet tall — although "heights of at least 18 feet may be acceptable" — and it should prevent tunneling by going at least 6 feet below ground.
The wall, it adds, should be difficult for getting over and offer features that prevent "sophisticated climbing techniques," though it did not define what that means. Prototypes will also need to prove that they aren't susceptible to a "physical breach"
The federal government expects proposals to be delivered by April 29 and will award a contract based on a prototype that contractors would build around the Mar-a-Lago golf course and club house.
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