This week I have the honor of speaking at the International Herpetological Symposium in Atlanta. I will be sharing a variety of stories of my over 25 years working in reptile rescue and with a limited time, only so many stories can be shared. I thought I would share one that didn't make it here as a preview!

The IHS is a fantastic conference held annually in different locations around the world in partnerships with local zoos. The speakers range from people like me who love reptiles and people in the trade to experienced researchers, vets and zoo professionals. There is always the greatest banquet and behind the scenes tour at the local zoo. Just in case you were unaware of what IHS is.

One story I had to cut was that of Wylde Stallion. Sit back and grab a drink, because this is a long one.

Through massive conservation efforts, the wild population of Jamaican Iguanas may have a chance at becoming established once again!

Through work with the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Jamaican Iguana Recovery Programme, they hope to release 1,000 of the endangered iguanas back into the wild by 2026. Working with in-situ efforts such as predator management and nesting site management as well as the ex-situ headstart program.

Read more about this amazing recovery effort of a once believe extinct animal https://jamaica.loopnews.com/content/nepa-plans-release-1000-iguanas-hellshire-hills!

Inset Photo: A Jamaican Iguana labelled for tracking in its natural habitat in the Hellshire Hills of St Catherine. (Photo: NEPA)

Do you ever have an issue explaining why you love your pet snakes so very much to friends? Have you ever had problems putting into words your love of those cold blooded pets that share your world? Never fear, we all have!

A recent opinion piece in the New York Times puts our love of snakes into a special light.

The snake is as much symbol as animal, and this oversaturation of meaning prevents us from seeing the snake clearly. In reality, they are gentle, healthful to the environment, “more scared of you than you are of it,” a sort of tragic hero of the ecosystem that is, when gazed upon without malice, beautiful.

To read the whole article, click here.

BTW, a hearty congrats to WooHoo for reaching 25 years old!

Love this gorgeous Moluccan python, Morelia clastolepis, in all its shimmering beauty in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user krantz!
Be sure to tell them you liked it here!



Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!

On December 1, 2020 House Bill 6455 (HB6455) was introduced in Michigan that could impact many reptiles keepers. The reptile portion of the bill does primarily impact ownership of venomous, crocodilians and some monitor species. While it is not an outright ban and offers provisions for owners to keep their pets, it can have very far reaching implications.

The reptiles impacted by the Bill are:

“Dangerous reptiles” per HB6455:

(I) A member of the order Crocodilia, including, but not limited to, an alligator, crocodile, gharial, or caiman.
(ii) A member of the family Atractaspidae.
(iii) A member of the species Dispholidus typus of the family Colubridae.
(iv) A member of the family Elapidae, including, but not limited to, a cobra, mamba, krait, coral snake, or Australian tiger snake.
(v) A member of the family Hydrophiidae, including, but not limited to, a sea snake.
(vi) A water monitor or crocodile monitor.
(vii) A member of the family Viperidae, including, but not limited to, a rattlesnake, cottonmouth, bushmaster, puff adder, or gaboon viper.

Our friends at USARK have made it easy to speak out to your representatives. Please visit the USARK page here for the full action alert.

There was some great news regarding the regulation changes for Florida; including Tegus, Iguanas and a selection of large constrictors.

This is the announcement from USARKFL:

We have some news... good news. The judge agreed with USARK FL and found that SB1414 is in fact unconstitutional! We will post full details soon but the judge granted our motion for summary judgment and now we just await his formal order stating the same. Thank you to everyone who supported us. Please keep the donations coming! We must still pay for this lawsuit and future actions. What a win!

NOTE: This will take a few days to all be finalized and for FWC to rescind their Executive Order. We also do not know if FWC will appeal. Also, by "unconstitutional" we mean the Florida Constitution, not the U.S. Constitution. This is a state lawsuit against a state agency, not a federal lawsuit.

Please stay tuned to both USARK and USARKFL to follow updates and please continue to support USARK. They are getting things done!

Happy World Snake Day!

What is that? Well it is a day that is an easy one! It is a day to focus on conservation and education about snakes!

Snakes are one of the greatest fears in the world, but their importance to our environment as well as our health is enough reason to work to change minds. I grabbed a few fun articles for you to read and share today to help reach out and share the joy of snakes.

These articles give a breakdown on the holiday and the issues facing snakes. This post from RepublicWorld is a very basic breakdown that you can readhere. Another option is this article from Newsd. It has some fun little trivia tidbits and again very basic info and can be found https://newsd.in/world-snake-day-2020-here-are-some-snake-facts-you-must-know/.

This Helmeted Iguana or Hernandez's helmeted basilisk (Corytophanes hernandezi) in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user chrish is quite the break from our usual. What a regal and stunning animal! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!

In the most recent Covid-19 Relief package is a potential reversal of the USARK federal lawsuit victory by reinstating the ban on interstate transportation of species listed as injurious under the Lacey Act. That victory allowed for captive bred animals to be transported across state lines. This impacts the so called "Big 5" but also several Salamander species. We have added the USARK public notice after the bump.

inset photo Mr. Fowler and Peter Gros in 2002. (Nati Harnik/AP)

I never met Jim Fowler in my entire life, but I can attribute a lot of who I am to our weekend mornings spent in my childhood. My breakfast bowl of Apple Jacks, cross legged on the floor of my living room, I would stare at the TV with rapt attention waiting to learn about the animals in our world. He inspired me to learn and read more about animals. He along with his long time co-host, Marlon Perkins, taught me about conservation. They taught me that beauty was simple to find and hard to hold on to.

Jim's message on nature was simple and I hope he knew this difference it made in so many lives.

"What we have to do is ask ourselves, 'What's in it for me?' Only then will we realize that the continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is ultimately important to the quality of life of humans."

To learn a bit more about Jim's life and hear why the environment is so very important to protect, pop over to The Washington Post obituary here.

Thank you Jim for inspiring a little girl who dreamed of going to see alligators in the wild, she did that and so much more. You inspired me to learn more about our natural world and gave me the desire to help protect it.

On Earth Day, I want to share the first animal I worked a conservation program with. The Utila Island Iguana (Ctenosaura bakeri) in our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user s4sainz! What a STUNNING male! Be sure to tell them you liked it here! That program work lead to working with programs that assisted Grand Cayman Iguanas and Massasauga Rattlesnakes. From there I began helping where I could. Let's celebrate conservation and the envirnoment today!




Upload your own reptile and amphibian photos at gallery.kingsnake.com, and you could see them featured here!

Today, social media will be flooded with photos of dogs and cats to celebrate National Pet Day. If I show you mine, will you show me yours?

This is Karen, an adult male iguana who came to live with me recently through my rescue. Karen was left behind in an eviction, so I really know nothing of his past. Being a green iguana, he came with metabolic bone disease, a few infections, and was just beaten down from neglect. He is slowly recovering and showing signs of breeding behaviors. While he is "technically" available for adoption through my rescue, I know he will live his life out with me. Seriously, I do.Living in Wisconsin, he got his first taste of sunshine recently and I can honestly say this is one happy iguana here!

My very first bulk cricket order was from Jurassic Snacks in the early 90's.This was well before the internet, we herpers were still working on long distance calls and mail order lists. Everyone has that story, especially us old timers. After lamenting my issues of fitting the square box full of crickets into the rectangle aquarium to a friend, he let me in on the trash bag trick. This tale from a twitter user had tears coming from my eyes.

This tale from a new bearded dragon owner in Minnesota might very well be the funniest thing you have read this week.

Having never ordered internet crickets before, I naively assumed that I’d open up the box and find the crickets in some sort of sealed bag or other contraption to facilitate easy transfer to their final storage place. I also assumed that given the near-zero temperatures we were experiencing that morning, any crickets in the box would be groggy and disoriented and easy to manage.

I was wrong on both counts.

I have not lived in the home I received my first cricket order since 2000, but I am convinced the house still has crickets roaming the halls. To read the full story, I strongly suggest you click here.
Inset photo of post feeding beardie courtesy of TazziesMommy

Photo of one of the alligator ponds at St. Augustine provided by Cindy Steinle

St. Augustine Alligator Farm is a fantastic place to visit, but only during open hours. Recently a man in Florida felt it was a good idea to break in to the farm after hours and that is when the shenanigans began. Several exhibits were damaged but so was the trespasser. When workers arrived the next morning, they found the damage to the exhibits, a lot of blood, a pair of shorts and a "croc" shoe. The man was found wandering the neighborhood in only his boxers and covered with blood.

To read the full story and view the video, visit Fox 13.

kingsnake.com's Cindy Steinle is live blogging the 2018 Herp Law Symposium in Maryland today and tomorrow (she is also slated as a moderator for one of the panels). This event, sponsored by PIJAC, USARK, kingsnake.com, and a number of other businesses and organizations in the herp community, brings the voices of many different facets of the reptile world together to discuss regulatory issues, conservation issues, and trending disease issues such as the Chytrid fungus that is decimating amphibian populations worldwide. Below is her live blog transcript from the first day:

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