The extent of the blue suffusion on a male Xenagama can be easily seen on this breeder male.
When I looked in the terrarium at the dealer’s I could hardly believe my eyes. Soaking up the Florida sunlight in an outside pen were a number of little brownish lizards that lay, basking, their bodies as flat as the proverbial pancakes. And except for a short slender tip, the tail was flattened, rimmed with enlarged spike-shaped scales, and turnip or shield shaped when viewed from above.

This was my introduction to the pudgy little turnip-tailed agama. Collected from the aridlands of Somalia and Ethiopia, this agama, Xenagama taylori, is adult at about 4”. Quietly colored like many desert lizards, they may vary from tan through various browns to terracotta. Dark flecks, spots, or ocelli may be present on the back and sides as might small whitish spots. The various markings are most pronounced on young examples. Some metachrosis occurs with an individual lizard being lighter in color when it is warm than when it is cold. Males displaying territorial tendencies or in breeding readiness develop a suffusion of rich blue on the snout, chin, throat, anterior chest and upper forelimbs. Females in breeding readiness may (but not always do) develop a very pale blue suffusion on the chin and throat.

Females produce about a half dozen eggs in a clutch at the end of a nesting burrow and the hatchlings are about an inch long. Although these lizards may also dig shallow sleeping burrows that are “plugged” by the flattened spiky tail, ours seemed to prefer squirming into loose sand beneath their flattened basking rocks.

Adults are omnivorous, eating a broad array of insects and leafy greens. Hatchlings are primarily insectivorous.

These are not “flighty” or nervous lizards and if you like Uromastyx you should love Xenagama. The latter are not always available, so watch the ads carefully.

This is the only green Florida chorus frog that Jake or I have seen in a lifetime of herping.

The chorus frogs, genus Pseudacris of the family Hylidae, vary in size from just over ½ inch in size (the little grass frog, P. ocularis, of southeastern USA) to 2 inches (the California and the Pacific treefrogs, P. cadaverina and P. regilla respectively). Although a couple of other Pacific Coast species do attain a 2” length, the lion’s share of the species and subspecies are adult at a slender 1 ¼” in length.

Among these latter is our little southern chorus frog, Pseudacris n. nigrita and its often synonymized subspecies, the Florida chorus frog, P. n. verrucosa. This latter, whether or not valid, was differentiated from the nominate form by having a broken dorsal pattern rather than complete, although irregularly edged, stripes and a dark spotted, rather than an all-white, upper lip.

One of the draws (for me) when we moved to Gainesville, FL was the fact that the characteristic ratcheting calls of southern chorus frogs could be heard in many places well within the city limits. Sadly, today, 25 years later, most of those choruses have been silenced, the ephemeral waters from which they seasonally emanated now having been replaced by apartments, subdivisions, and parking lots.

Having commented time and again on the absence of chorus frogs in the city, on a recent rainy night herping trip, Jake and I were delighted when one county westward we heard these little winter choristers first in the dozens and then by the hundreds. Despite the loud choruses it took a while for us to actually see any of the vocalizers, because these like most chorus frogs, most often call while hunkered down, with only a nose showing, in grass clumps growing in shallow water. There, their striped patterns and gray and black colors blend perfectly with the background hues and shadows.

So, if you’re driving along on a humid or rainy night and hear sounds like many people dragging their thumbnails over the teeth of a pocket comb, stop and acquaint your self with these little beings of the winter wetlands.

11:00 AM on a cool winter day, the sun is finally out and Blackie is anxious to bask.
At first Blackie as a yearling was no more approachable than any other southern black racer, Coluber constrictor priapus. I’d see him in the tortoise yard, try to approach, and the snake would dart into tall grasses and disappear. When first seen Blackie was well patterned as are most normally colored black racers. It was June when I first noticed him.

But being open to the sunlight the tortoise pen was a great place for a snake to thermoregulate and every couple of days Blackie would make an appearance and on every appearance I managed to frighten him.

Then for a period of about 2 weeks I didn’t see him and I thought, “darn-one of the resident red shouldered hawks had gotten him. But no. He had changed positions and was spending a much of the time when he wasn’t hunting brown anoles behind the tortoise house. We have lots of anoles in the yard so Blackie grew noticeably during that summer. By autumn Blackie was about 26 inches long and most of the dorsal blotches of its baby pattern (I’ve never caught it to actually ascertain its gender) were already suffused by the melanin that would soon obscure all.except chin and throat. These would remain white.

When the seasonable temperatures dropped Blackie disappeared again. Since I heated the tortoise house in cold weather I guessed that the little snake was somewhere near that source of warmth. But then during one of our warm winter spells I found a shed skin coming from a loose spot in our house wall into the tortoise yard. Blackie had found a spot safe from tortoise feet and now that I knew where to look, on warm winter days I would often see a loose coil of the snake’s body slightly below the lowest level of siding.

By mid February Blackie was out basking and feeding again. But now he was not skedaddling if I approached him slowly. By the end of that year Blackie was approaching or may have exceeded 36 inches in length by a bit and he was a jet satiny black.

I seemed to be finding a shed skin from Blackie every couple of weeks but he was less easily seen. Again I thought “oh oh—a hawk got him. But then I found him basking quietly in the greenhouse. I knew it was him because I was moving the black plastic on which he was lying before I saw him and his only response was a couple of flicks of the tongue. This morning, an 85F day, Blackie was back in the tortoise yard and then an hour later basking on the back porch. As he left to begin foraging he stretched completely across the 4 foot wide steps with a bit of tail drooping over one side. That measured out to 50”, about as big as southern black racers get. And when he left he crawled across my shoe. I guess he’s decided I’m harmless.

The black dot on both sides of each ventral scute are a surefire way to identify a Kirtland's snake.
just read a short poem by Taylor West about the little natricid known as the Kirtland’s snake, Clonophis kirtlandi.

In her poem, a mere 8 short lines, she referred to a food (slugs), habitat (burrows of mudbugs (crayfish)), crepuscular habits, and the ample supply of musk manufactured and spread by the snake when it is handled.

In other words, it was accurate wording to portray a wonderful and poorly known little (rarely more than 20” and often less than 18”) snake that calls the states of IL, IN, and OH home but that does extend its range a bit beyond the borders of those states.

I’ll take this opportunity to add a few sentences about Kirtland’s snake.

The habitat of the Kirtland’s snake is of a broader scope than just mudbug burrows. I have found them beneath discarded newspapers, paper bags, and cardboard in vacant lots in suburban neighborhoods, under debris in city parks, and under riverbank rocks. They have also been found in pastures and other grassy habitats, again most often beneath debris, and where they occur the ground is usually damp.

Besides slugs this little snake feeds readily on earthworms and one I was photographing disgorged a large leech.

The ground color of Kirtland’s snake may vary from gray to reddish brown and a lighter vertebral stripe is often present. Two alternating rows of black spots range along each side and the head is black with white lips and chin. The coral to terra cotta belly is lightest anteriorly and is bordered on each side by a row of small black spots.

This snake, once considered a water snake, is now protected throughout its range. And yes, like many (if not most) snakes, Kirtland’s snake is not at all reluctant to smear a handler with musk that is produced in glands just inside the cloaca.

Thanx for that poem, Taylor.

2 baby Brazilian horned frogs, always ready to eat and growing fast.
With good reason, Neotropical horned frogs of the genus Ceratophrys have long been hobbyist favorites. Over the years the species availability has varied. In the 1960s the Colombian horned frog, C. calcarata, was available to hobbyists. In later years the Amazonian, C. cornuta, Cranwell’s, C. cranwelli, and ornate, C. ornata, horned frogs were (and still are) readily available to hobbyists. In fact these latter three are not only available, but have been hybridized to a point where actual species identification of captive bred examples is difficult. Between these three there are at least 15 different hobbyist produced color phases now being offered! Although rare, Stolzmann’s, C. stolzmanni, and Caatinga, C. joazierensis, horned frogs have been occasionally available. And finally (at last!) the big, fabled, and coveted Brazilian horned frogs, C. aurita, are now occasionally offered (the single never-available species is the Ecuadorian C. testudo).

But rather than a generalized article about horned frogs, this is primarily about the Brazilian rainforest species, C. aurita. This species occurs in the Brazilian coastal states of Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul, and in some areas of the inland state of Minas Gerais.

At least one person has described this taxon, ostensibly the largest of the horned frogs, as “mythical.” But, although their adult size may be a bit exaggerated, a myth they are not. Adept at remaining in ambush positions while camouflaged by forest floor litter, this frog is often thought to be uncommon. But like many frogs, when gathered in breeding congresses, the Brazilian horned frog may be seen in reasonable numbers. Females are the larger, attaining a body length (and often width) of 8 to 10 inches. They are said by some to reach a length of 12 inches. Males are the smaller being 5 to 7 inches in length.

In keeping with the reputation of these frogs for being biters, the Brazilian horned frog can, will, and does bite. To this habit, as they leap forward, they add a disconcerting bark. And yes, in addition to their strong jaws they have teeth. And, yes, they invariably surprise and occasionally hurt.

Most old images depict this frog as being patterned in forest green and variable brown. A glance at the attached photos will show this to not always be the case. his species from southeastern Brazil occurs from the State of Bahia, south to the State of Rio Grande do Sul, and inland to the State of Minas Gerais.

The Brazilian horned frog, a “myth” come true.