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.
Friday, May 11 2018
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Time to crack a cold one and celebrate the weekend. This A. c. contortrix is already a step ahead of us in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user AlexNevgloski! p.s. Always pick up the trash you see in the field. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
Remember, on Rattlesnake Friday we celebrate ALL venomous reptiles, not just the rattlesnakes, to help raise awareness of their benefits on this planet!
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Thursday, May 10 2018
This Ambilobe Panther Chameleon is all fired up in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user vinniem1210! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Wednesday, May 9 2018
Sassy as babies, sassy as adults! This roaring baby snapping turtle is our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user makonai777! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Tuesday, May 8 2018
How cool is this African Herald Snake ( Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MVH4 . Gotta love colubrids of all types! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Monday, May 7 2018
Alligator lizards are becoming more popular as reptile pets and it is easy to see why in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SalS ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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 It is during the breeding season that the head of the male broad-head is fiery and enlarged.
The broad-headed skink, Plestiodon laticeps, is easily kept but not always easily bred.
It was way back in the early 1950s that I first saw this species. It was then known as the “greater five-lind skink.”
I was on the 2nd floor of a deserted and decrepit house on Okeetee Hunt Club. Gordy and I had just left Carl, Bob, and Zig, and were hoping to find a few more herps before nightfall. I was infatuated with the region’s resident rat snakes, the black (actually more greenish than black) and corn snakes. Knowing that the former were accomplished climbers, I had climbed the rickety stairs and was checking the rotted and loosened window sills. No rat snakes yet but as I moved to where a hefty limb lay against the house I saw what was until then the prettiest lizard I had ever seen in wild. Having it’s body a burnished brown and it’s head a fire orange, I had just met a male broad-headed skink.
I soon had acquired a pair of these beauties—the male from SC and the female from FL. They were kept in a 36gal savanna terrarium with climbing/basking limbs and profuse ground cover/hiding areas that included enough soil to burrow. The diet consisted of insects and occasional small pinkies. They had a large ceramic dog watering bowl. The terrarium was sprinkled occasionally. A natural photoperiod and a hotspot of 105+F was provided on a uppermost limb. The lizards thrived, breeding several times during the years I kept them.
Today I live in Florida and wild examples of this taxon are almost daily warm weather visitors on our back deck. I never tire of seeing them.
Continue reading "The Broad-headed Skink--A Remarkably Beautiful Lizard"
Friday, May 4 2018
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! Let's celebrate in the mighty southwest beauty of the Rock Rattlesnake here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Janne ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Thursday, May 3 2018
Does a kingsnake really need an intro for our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user trevid ? Nope, but hey nice grayband. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Wednesday, May 2 2018
Gotta love the smile from this Monkey Tail Skink in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sreps ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Tuesday, May 1 2018
No need to remember rhymes with this Milk Snake in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user sballard! Be sure to tell them you liked it here.
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 Despite the similarity of appearance to that of a slimy salamander, the white-spot is more closely allied to the Wehrle's salamander
“Looks bad, Jake.”
There was 4” of snow and the higher we climbed the faster the snow was falling. We were on a mountaintop on the WV-VA stateline hoping to find a white-spotted (Cow Knob) salamander, Plethodon punctatus. Although having the white-spots on a black ground color of a slimy salamander, this 6-inch long montane caudatan is more closely allied to Wehrle’s salamander.
As I had done a decade-plus earlier, Jake was now trying to accrue a life list of all USA herps, and P. punctatus was one of the few Appalachian caudatans remaining on his “wannasee” list. But despite our efforts on that day and the next to two locales, we failed to find this wanted and localized taxon.
On day one, after a slow, rocky, muddy, several mile climb on a Jeep trail, my trusty CRV made it to within .8 mile of the destination. At that point we encountered a Jeep-only puddle that prevented us going further. But it mattered not. Because of the snow cover and existing snow storm, we had learned by that time it that it was almost impossible to find the habitat we had hoped to see, and the cover we did find was still frozen to the ground.
Except for not being stopped by a puddle, conditions on day two conspired equally against us. The snow was even deeper, the ground cover was still frozen. And if salamanders were there they succeeded in hiding from us. It was time to give up.
C’mon spring!
Continue reading "The Search for the Cow Know Salamander, Plethodon punctatus"
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