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