Summer is always the busy season in the reptile world, with herpers headed off to the field, reptile expo season heating up, and baby reptiles and amphibians popping out left and right. We've been busy here at kingsnake.com as well, getting a whole peck of classified changes, updates and upgrades built, tested, and installed.

As you may have noticed over the last few years, we've been steadily raising the number of ads that can be posted in each category -- from three, then to six, and now to eight per category with a standard account and 12 with an enhanced account!

Other ad posting changes include an optional PayPal 'Buy It Now' button, which will allow customers to make purchases directly from the kingsnake.com classifieds if you have a PayPal account. kingsnake.com takes no extra fees for using the 'Buy It Now' feature, and it's quick and easy to include in your ad.

The Classified Vendor Profile system has been updagted as well, receiving a publicly viewable click-through counter in addition to the other cool features such as event listing and customer recommendations that were introduced at launch.

Finally, the classified index has been slightly adjusted to make it more navigable, and to add the 'New and Updated' business directory listings, as well as a new Updated Classified Profile listing system that lists the last 10 classified profiles that have been updated by vendors.

To update your classified ad vendor profile please visit http://market.kingsnake.com/account/.
To purchase a classified account please visit http://kingsnake.com/shared/services/classified.php.

Buisness directory listings are on sale for half price ($75.00 off) thru July 4. To add your web site to our business directory please go to http://www.kingsnake.com/services/businessdirectory_SALE75.html to purchase a listing on sale for half price or to update your current listing go to http://www.kingsnake.com/myaccount/bus_dir.php.

This yellow-bellied sea snake was rescued and rehabbed in New South Wales, Australia:



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Photo: Peter Street/Australian National Geographic

Does the key to human limb regeneration like in a salamander's cells?

From researcher Max Yun in The Conversation UK:

This process is rarely found in mammalian cells and this has been suggested as the basis for their poor regenerative abilities. But clearly, unraveling the mechanisms underlying this reprogramming is central to understanding why certain vertebrates can regenerate their limbs while others can’t, and how to repeat this process in humans.

If we were able to crack this puzzle, it could lead to strategies to enhance the reprogramming of cells from patients, and to better understand their disease and design appropriate cures.

We recently found a critical component of the reprogramming mechanism. In our study, published in Stem Cell Reports, we demonstrated that the sustained activation of a molecular pathway (a group of molecules in a cell that work together to control a particular function or functions) – called the ERK pathway – plays a key role during the natural reprogramming of salamander muscle cells. Only when the ERK pathway is constantly switched “on” are the cells able to re-enter the cell cycle, which is key to their regenerative potential.

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Photo: kingsnake.com user emajor

The scarlet kingsnake looks like the coral snake because there's a survival benefit to tricking predators into thinking you're too dangerous to mess with.

But once the coral snake vanishes, why do local kingsnakes not just maintain that resemblance for decades, but intensify it?

Scientists had no idea, but now they've figured it out. Once the coral snake became extinct in the North Carolina Sandhills, they say, the risks of attacking the wrong snake diminished. Predators began to take more changes, targeting those kingsnakes who least resembled corals, and removing them from the gene pool.

But what happens now? Find out here.

Photo: kingsnake.com user coolhl7

It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Tony D!



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

How did the deadly fungus chytridiomycosis get so entrenched that it may cost us every frog on earth? We weren't paying attention.

From Scientific American:

The best way to prevent a disease from turning into an epidemic is to closely monitor its development and put systems in place before it starts spreading rapidly through populations. This requires surveillance and monitoring of the disease and disease populations. This is fine for populations of livestock, or humans, but tends to be a neglected area when it comes to animals in the wild. There are plenty of examples of devastating diseases that have ranged through wild-animal populations relatively unchecked until the later stages as they were simply not caught early enough.

An example is the fungal skin infection of frogs (chytridiomycosis) which absolutely decimated amphibians, wiping out about 200 frog species world wide. Yet investigations into the disease didn’t start until 15 years after its initial appearance.

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Photo: Scientific American

There has to be an easier way to make a living than putting a venomous snake in your mouth.



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Scientists have discovered fossilized tracks on ancient sea beds, allowing them to figure out how now-extinct sea reptiles swam.



From the International Business Times:

The scientists said in a new study, published in the journal Nature Communications on Wednesday, that during the Mesozoic era, about 252 to 66 million years ago, the seas were full of reptiles like the nothosaur. While scientists knew that these creatures were predators with long bodies and paddle-like limbs, exactly how they used their limbs to propel themselves through water was unknown. Now, recently discovered trackways on an ancient seabed in Yunnan province in southwestern China, have helped scientists find an answer.

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It's our herp photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user davemangham!



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

Should the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, be the official amphibian of New York State? Nine-year-old Lili Winkelman thinks so, and Sen. John DeFrancisco wants to make it law.

From the Democrat & Chronicle:

Like several of the state's recognized symbols, the beginnings of the wood frog push came in an elementary school classroom. Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, first introduced the bill last year after 9-year-old Lili Winkelman, a Skaneateles fourth-grader, wrote to him with the idea.

"You probably don't know this, but the wood frog is already the unofficial amphibian of the state," DeFrancisco said on the Senate floor. "A young girl in that class, Lili Winkelman, thought, why is that? She loves frogs. Why should it be unofficial?"

Winkelman followed up the letter with a 4 -1/2-minute YouTube video in January, in which she spoke about the unique qualities of the amphibian as photos of the frog float above her right shoulder — not unlike a television news anchor. Each of her classmates at Skaneateles' State Street Intermediate School followed up with a letter, DeFrancisco said.

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Can the native species of the ecological treasure that is the Galapagos really be protected from invasive species?

Laura Santoso of the California Institute of Technology takes a thoughtful, in-depth look at the issues and conflicting interests in Wired Science:

Even with unlimited cash, it seems impossible to eradicate certain intruders without also harming native species. Small but pervasive species, like rats, are extremely difficult to target without catching resident wildlife in the crossfire. In 2012, 22 tons of rat bait were dropped by helicopter on Pinzon island, blanketing 7 square miles with little blue poisonous cubes. Several organizations, including the Galapagos National Park and CDF, supported the move because the rats had been devouring the eggs of native giant tortoises and lava lizards. But the “raticide” sparked significant controversy, imperiling neighboring native species like the Galapagos hawks. While pesticides are often the best available option (biological interventions are technically challenging to develop), they cannot suppress invasive species without causing side effects.

The final piece of the puzzle, after thwarting new invasive species and removing existing ones, is actively helping endemic species recover. Some local fauna, like the tortoise and the mangrove finch, have been so decimated that they may be destined for extinction without significant help. On the other hand, Giant Tortoise rehabilitation is one example of seemingly productive human intervention. When tortoise populations had dwindled from thousands to dozens on some islands in the 1960s, they were taken in by humans and bred in captivity. Repatriation projects on Santa Cruz, Isabela, and Espanola have increased total tortoise populations to 26,000, but the current dependence on human assistance sparks questions about whether the intervention itself is unnatural, or unsustainable. Although the repatriated tortoises have begun to mate by themselves in the wild, it is unclear if they can maintain their numbers once captive breeding stops.

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Photo: kingsnake.com user Ivory Tortoise

Of course, everyone on kingsnake.com would love this, and the locals say it's a sign that the marriage is blessed. But Jason and Kate Crowe were probably pretty shocked when a leatherback sea turtle crashed their Saint Croix wedding.



Read the story and see more photos here.

Photo: Jason and Kate Crowe

Check out this video "Iguana eating grapes," submitted by kingsnake.com user Minuet.
Submit your own reptile & amphibian videos at http://www.kingsnake.com/video/ and you could see them featured here or check out all the videos submitted by other users!