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.
Tuesday, September 10 2019
It is a whole lotta squee in this two for Tuesday pair of hatching Hognose in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user caracal ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Monday, September 9 2019
These two boas are chilling in a fresh tub of water in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user BNixon ! I bet there were babies being made at some point here. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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 Black collared lizard juvenile
Next stop would be a bit closer to San Diego, where amidst canyons and boulder fields we would try to photograph Baja black collared lizards, Crotaphytus vestigium. Because of their color, predominantly black with an intricate pattern of white crossbars and spots, the breeding males of this species are distinctively different in appearance from any other collared lizard in the United States. Breeding females are also dark but have deep brown fields alternating with the black.
The good news about our search for these collared lizards is that we found them. Gary, with his new fangled, reach to eternity digital camera, even got some good photos of a basking (but very wary) male.
Me? My little 35mm never even had a chance with the lizards. So we decided to try to catch one to enable me to photograph it. After a more than casual “look around” the lizard we zeroed in on was a beautiful adult male in peak coloration. He was basking quietly atop a boulder only about half the size of a house about 20 yards from the road. Even before the car had stopped he was on the alert (being alert is how you get to be a big lizard!) and as we got out he darted over the side and disappeared. Gary ran and I hobbled over to where we thought he had gone and found that he had wedged himself in a cul-de-sac of rocks. He was safe from everything but a whipsnake or our lizard noose. Gary manned the noose and after about a half an hour of standing and lizard fishing in sunshine that had heated the desert to a seeming 200F, he exclaimed “I’ve got him!” He withdrew the noose and with it came one of the most spectacular lizards I’ve ever seen. We were elated—for a moment. The lizard dangled free for a moment, seemed to glare (was it balefully or quizzically) at Gary, shrugged a bit, and before either of us could move to grab him, he had dropped free and was gone. We still don’t know what happened, but we do know it was collared lizard, 1, collared lizard noosers, zero!
Continue reading "Black Collared Lizards"
Friday, September 6 2019
Happy Rattlesnake Friday from this Timber Rattlesnake in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user evil-elvis ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! Remember, we celebrate #RattlesnakeFriday to celebrate our venomous animals and spotlight their conservation needs
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Thursday, September 5 2019
With his nose peeking through the baby goo, this boa's first moments are here in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user dpiscopo69,! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Wednesday, September 4 2019
The best part about corn snakes is their wide variety of looks, like this Striped Sunglow Motley in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user jcherry! Be sure to tell them you like it here!
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Tuesday, September 3 2019
This American Alligator is is keeping an eye out for Dorian in our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user mwright82 ! Hang in there Florida, you are in our thoughts! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Monday, September 2 2019
 A Florida black pine snake--almost!
Two of Florida’s forestlands are located on the Panhandle, a 3 or 4 hour drive from my home. The closer of the 2 is the Apalachicola National Forest, more than 550,000 acres of pine and mixed forestlands with stands of hardwoods along the creeks and rivers. West of the Apalach (as it is fondly called) by some 100 miles is the Blackwater River State Forest. This is an expanse of 190,000 acres of uplands, lowlands and in-between-lands, that are home to an impressive array of herp-life, not the least interesting being the Florida pine snake, Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus. On the east side of the forest the Florida pines are of very typical appearance. This means that they are pale snakes—they have a pale, chalk white ground color, and the tannish blotches, widely separated posteriorly but almost contiguous anteriorly, can vary from nearly indistinct to reasonably well-defined. This coloration doesn’t usually vary much throughout this snake’s entire range of from southeastern South Carolina to Mobile Bay and throughout most of the northern 4/5 of the Florida Peninsula. In western Escambia County, Florida though, pine snakes that are obvious intergrades between the Florida and the black have been found. These are big (to over 8 feet in length!) and both ground color and blotch color are variably suffused with melanin. The result is that these hulking snakes are distinctly different in appearance than either of the parent species, but are decidedly dark enough in color to be unexpected on the Florida side of Mobile Bay.
Although neither the Florida nor the intergrade pine snakes are commonly seen throughout most of the year, in the spring when males are surface-active and trailing females, seeing a pine snake is a distinct possibility.
Continue reading "Panhandle Pines"
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