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 9 2021
 Yellow-blotched Palm Pit Vipers remain comparatively uncommon in collections.
This montane, arboreal, venomous beauty, ranges from the state of Chiapas, Mexico to northern Guatemala. Like is congenerics, it is small (to about 30 inches) and slender in build. The tail is strongly prehensile. As with most snakes, both the common and the scientific name may be misleading. Although most examples are leaf-green with prominent black edging around the yellowish dorsal blotches and black facial markings, and some have black-edged green blotches that are nearly the same as the body in color. Others may be uniform green, lacking both dorsal and facial black patterning. Black, variably distinct, irregular vertebral striping may connect the dorsal blotches. If present this marking is often most discernable anteriorly. The belly of adults is usually marginally lighter than the dorsum and neonates are a pale green with the expected dark markings. Captives readily accept mice and it is expected that in the wild the diet may include small rodents, mouse opossums, and, for neonate vipers treefrogs and lizards.
The Yellow-blotched Palm Pit Viper, Bothriechis aurifer, considered by biologists to be a “vulnerable species,” is not frequently imported and is currently uncommon in both zoo and private collections.
Seemingly little is known, or at least has been published about the venom of this pit viper. I’ll close here by saying that as with any venomous snake, extreme care should be used when handling.
Continue reading "The Yellow-blotched Palm Pit Viper"
This isn't our forefathers Af Rock! This beautiful patternless African Rock shines in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user MEIER21288 ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Friday, August 6 2021
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! How stunning is the red on this Speckled Rattlesnake ( Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus), uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! This Speck was found in Arizona. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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Happy Rattlesnake Friday! This gorgeous Eyelash Palm Pit viper, uploaded by kingsnake.com user outonalimbo is so perfectly poised! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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Thursday, August 5 2021
There is so much to love about Colubrids, so why not celebrate them with a big ole pile of beauty in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user xtranch ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Wednesday, August 4 2021
What wonderful field find in Mexico of this Lyre Snake our herp photo of the day uploaded by kingsnake.com user Chuck_Ch ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Tuesday, August 3 2021
What a sassy lil Tokay in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mattcrum! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Monday, August 2 2021
What a wee lil Kinyongia tenue , commonly known as a Flap-nose Chameleon in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user pardalisberlin! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Friday, July 30 2021
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! How stunning is the red on this Speckled Rattlesnake ( Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus), uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! This Speck was found in Arizona. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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Thursday, July 29 2021
These Uroplatus pietschmanni in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user mcamo3 ,show us what amazing masters of camoflague they truly are! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Wednesday, July 28 2021
This variable kingsnake is on fire in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Rod_McLeod. Be sure to tell them you liked it here!
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Tuesday, July 27 2021
Love is in the air with this pair of Gran Canaria giant lizards ( Gallotia stehlini) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user John-C . Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Monday, July 26 2021
Awesome feeding shot of a chameleon in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user 1Sun s! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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 A profile of the Southeastern Slimy Salamander.
By Dick and Patti Bartlett
Plethodon grobmani, the Southeastern Slimy Salamander, is a creature of pinewoods habitats. It was once fairly common in our neighborhood. Today (2021) following several lengthy droughts and a major attack of pine bark beetles (and the resulting death of old pine stands), this salamander is almost unknown here. At the turn of the century I would go across the street, enter the pinewoods, and in a half hour search say “howdy-do” to about a dozen slimys. Compare that to my occasional searches over the last 10 years when my exact total was one—a single salamander-- and it was not in the best of shape. Of course, as already mentioned, most of the pine trees in that area are gone also, victims of the infestation of pine-bark beetles.
In other locales, where the pine bark beetle plague was less pronounced than here, this white-flecked black salamander remains easily found in pine and mixed woodlands. Like others of this, genus this salamander has no aquatic larval stage. The egg clutch is deposited in or beneath moist fallen pines and development, from the newly deposited eggs, through metamorphosis, to emergence as a miniature of the adults occurs in the egg capsule.
Continue reading "Comments on the Southeastern Slimy Salamander"
Friday, July 23 2021
Happy Rattlesnake Friday! How stunning is the red on this Speckled Rattlesnake ( Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus), uploaded by kingsnake.com user lichanura ! This Speck was found in Arizona. Be sure to tell them you liked it here! As always on Friday, we celebrate all of our venomous reptiles for their contribution to the world.

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