Photo of Gideon, a Grand Cayman hybrid bred by Ty Parks in FL, but living his best life safe in WIsconsin - Cindy Steinle

Recently, the State of Florida deemed all Green Iguanas (Iguana Iguana) as a restricted species and created quite a stir, confiscating animals from even private zoos and killing the animals rather than allowing them to be rehomed or allowed to remain on display at the zoo. Now in a move to destroy the reptile industry further, Florida Fish and Wildlife is making the move to change the language from Iguana (Iguana Iguana) to simply Iguana. This would thus include all species including Cyclura and Ctenosaura most definitely but potentially all species under the family Iguanidae which would also include Amblyrhynchus, Brachylophus, Cachryx, Conolophus, Dipsosaurus, and Sauromalus as well.

This is not only bad for pet owners and breeders, but seriously detrimental to worldwide conservation efforts as many assurance populations of a variety of both Cyclura and Ctenosaura species are maintained safely in Florida.

Read the update after the jump or click here to be taken to USARKFL's notice! There is also a link to the bill after the jump.

In the hottest and wryest region of Vietnam, deep in the dry lowland forest of Nui Chua National Park, researchers discovered a new species of blind skink. Searching around the leaf litter around the yellow-bellied termite mounds that these skinks preferred to dine on, the found 7 specimens. When they looked closer, they realized they had a new species, the Ninh Thuận blind skink ()

Ninh Thuan blind skinks have a “worm-like” body that can reach about 4.6 inches in length, the study said. Their eyes are “rudimentary” and “completely covered by scales.” They are also “limbless” with only males having “rudimentary” hind limbs that form “flap-like structures” near their tails.

To read more about this cool discovery click here.

photo courtesy - Missouri Department of Conservation The male hellbender found in the Gasconade River

An Eastern Hellbender, reared in the St. Louis Zoo and then re-released as an adult in the wild was found to have been the first zoo reared animal to have reproduced in the wild having fathered 86 "well-developed" eggs in the Gasconade River.

Justin Elden, curator of herpetology and aquatics at the Zoo, said hellbenders are cryptic, secretive creatures. Numbers might be rising faster than known.

“If there’s one there’s likely many more,” said Elden. “It’s exciting stuff, and my hope and thought is that this is the first of many that we will find.”

This means awesome things for the future of hellbenders! Go check out the full story here!

Presque Isle Co, MI, July 4, 2007, photo by kingsnake user ratsnakeheaven

The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy is closing on 457 acres of property known as the La Grange Valley wetlands that is known as a "biodiversity hot spot" that houses a pair of nesting bald eagles and two endangered species, including the eastern massasauga rattlesnake.

The agency’s ultimate goal is to protect an important fen habitat with upland islands and tall hardwood trees that harbor a lot of wildlife, including several state threatened or endangered species like the Blanding’s turtle. And no, Hansen says, the agency’s not revealing the other federally endangered species — apart from the massasauga rattlesnake — out of a need to protect it.

To learn more about the project visit swmlc.org

To read the full article, click here.