Over the weekend kingsnake.com launched the first of several planned "Breed Specific" breeder directories, with the initial directory for Ball Python breeders that are currently listed in kingsnake.com's master Reptile & Amphibian Business Directory. Current Reptile & Amphibian Business Directory account holders are listed at no extra charge as the system is based on that directory. The first of a number of planned directories based on the master directory, it is important that Business Directory account holders update their account settings to make sure that the proper search terms, in this case Ball Python, are included in their account listings "Description" or "Key Words" fields to make sure that their listing appears in this and the other directories yet to be launched.

Another important reason for Reptile & Amphibian Business Directory account holders to update their listings is the addition of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube links in your kingsnake.com listing. Make sure you have your social network links appear next to your business listing by updating your account today at http://www.pethobbyist.com/myaccount/bus_dir.php.

If you do not have a Storefront/Business directory account for your business and would like to be in our directories, the cost is for listing is $150.00 and it can be purchased online at http://www.kingsnake.com/breeder.html under the "list a business" tab.

You may have noticed some other new things in the ball python classifieds this weekend as well. Part of the Ball Python Breeder Directory and now part of the classifieds are two new features similar to our Featured Business Listing.

The Featured Ball Python Breeder listing is an extended and enhanced mixed media text/graphics listing that appears not only in the Ball Python Breeders Directory but listings also appear one at a time in the new tabbed Ball Python classified interface. This listing, appearing as part of the Ball Python classifieds, was displayed over 55,000 times just on Saturday and with the launch of the Breeder Directory will only get busier. Listings currently costing a flat rate of $50.00 for 6 months or $100 for 12 months. To purchase a Featured Ball Python Breeder listing please go to http://www.kingsnake.com/featuredbreeder.html We already have a few early adopters so check out their listings.

Similar to our Ball Python Breeder Listing, the Featured Ball Python Products listing is an extended and enhanced mixed media text/graphics listing that allows publishers, dry good and supply manufacturers that have breed specific products to reach our ball python classified audience. The listing appears in the Ball Python Breeders Directory as well as appearing
one at a time in the new tabbed Ball Python classified interface also. Listings currently costing a flat rate of $50.00 for 6 months or $100 for 12 months. To purchase a Featured Ball Python Products listing please go to http://www.kingsnake.com/featuredproduct.html

Both of these listings, appearing as part of the tabbed Ball Python classifieds, were displayed over 55,000 times each just on Saturday and with the launch of the Breeder Directory will only get busier.

So...

Which breeder directory to do next. Carpet Pythons? Hognose Snakes? Crested Geckos? You tell us!

The NARBC auction is bringing in some sorely needed re-building dollars for the folks over at Pro Exotics. Cindy was able to upload a bit video from of tonights auction. Check it out!

Is it upgrade time again? Already?

Yes you have probably noticed that we have changed things around here a bit this week. While change can be painful, it is also good and necessary if a web site needs to grow, and once again it's time for kingsnake.com to grow. And as usual it hasn't been without it's bugs either.

As of today kingsnake.com's server farm consists of 16 servers, billions of lines of code, and millions of files. As you might imagine changing all of that out is a massive undertaking, and while the majority of the changes have been implemented it will be weeks before all of our files have been converted, upgraded, or tweaked. I would ask our members to hold off on reporting bugs in the system until Monday to give us a fair chance to find and kill them on our own.

Until then please look around and check out some of the new features. On Monday I will be posting a rundown of what's new to the site and what has changed. And a big thanks goes out to Jerry Kruse for allowing us to use his Zonata image for our new logo!

The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC), with sponsors PetSmart and PETCO have announced James Carville and Mary Matalin as the keynote speakers for the 1st Annual Pet Industry’s Top to Top Conference . The nationally-known political commentators, will kick off the conference with their keynote address on Thursday, May 3, 2012. Avid pet owners, Mr. Carville and Ms. Matalin have two long-haired miniature daschunds, a Yorkie-Poo, three cats, four parakeets, and two rats.

“We are pleased to bring two savvy political personalities to this industry event. With their fingers on the pulse of what is happening in the country, as well as their love of pets, there are no better keynotes in the country than Mr. Carville and Ms. Matalin for this ground-breaking event,” says Mike Canning, President and CEO of PIJAC. Further, Canning predicts, “Given the timing of the event--during presidential primary season--their insight will be even more interesting.”

The Pet Industry’s Top to Top Conference will be held on May 3-4, 2012 at The Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA. T and is open to all industry leaders, visionaries, and policymakers interested in the future of the pet industry. The symposium will offer sessions that address America’s changing demographics and resulting purchasing choices, rapidly changing retail channel strategies, the status of companion animal populations, legislative issues that impact the pet industry, and several networking events, the Pet Industry’s Top to Top Conference is a networking event for manufacturers, pet product distributors, companion animal suppliers, and retailers. A golf tournament at the world-famous Torrey Pines Golf Course is also planned. For more information please see PIJAC's web site.

Reports on the internet surfaced late yesterday that legendary reptile keeper and inspiration to reptile hobbyists world wide, Bill Haast, founder of the Miami Serpentarium, has passed away. We are still trying to confirm this information as it has yet to appear in the main stream press and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

If any man deserved the sobriquet "legendary" in this community, Bill Haast led the way. I only met Bill in the later years of his life but knew of and read of his exploits in the field and in the lab for many years prior and many of his proteges at times took me under their wing, feeding me stories of their time growing up at or around the Serpentarium in the 60s and 70s.

I am far from right the person to be writing Bill's obituary so I have asked several of his friends and disciples to step up in my place and their remembrances will be posted later today and tomorrow. I am sure many of our readers have interacted with Bill over the years and I invite them to share their memories here.

* gallery photo by user Upscale

UPDATE 10:28 pm by Cindy Steinle
It is believed now that the dead man on the property was Tom's longtime friend and partner, Bruce Stephenson.

When officers arrived, they found a man grazed by a bullet. He was treated by paramedics on the scene, and later taken to a local hospital as a precaution, Zabaleta said.
A second person barricaded himself inside the home. Police were later joined by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s venom unit because the home at one point had been used for snakes, including some that were venomous, Zabaleta said.
Miami-Dade property records show that the property is owned by Bruce W. Stephenson. Stephenson is listed as a business partner on the website for Tom Crutchfield’s Reptiles, based in South Miami-Dade.
About 7 p.m., police went inside the home and found the man dead, Zabaleta said.
Miami-Dade police homicide detectives are investigating. Police did not release the names of the men Thursday night.

To read more, visit the Miami Herald. Our thoughts still remain with everyone at The Farm.

UPDATE 8:28 pm by Cindy Steinle
The stand off at Tom Crutchfield's facility has ended we have learned. From CBS Miami:

SRT members approached the home on an armored vehicle, and stayed stationed outside until just before 8 p.m. when officers moved in and discovered a dead body.
The deceased person has not been identified. Miami-Dade Police confirm to CBS4 they have now opened a homicide investigation.

Our thoughts are with Tom and Patty as the dust settles and we are thankful they escaped with only a minor injury. As we know more we will pass it along!

Nationally recognized reptile breeder and importer Tom Crutchfield was slightly wounded in a SWAT standoff today at his facility in Florida when an unnamed gunman opened fire in his shop, according to his daughter Michele. Tom and his wife Patty escaped without serious injury but Michele wants to thank everyone that has reached out to her to express their concern. The gunman currently remains holed up in the facility.

Tom is a longtime reptile importer and exporter and was a guest during kingsnake.com's chat month symposium earlier this month where he took questions from kingsnake.com's users about his years in the hobby. Pictured here with kingsnake.com's Cindy Steinle, kingsnake.com wishes Tom a speedy recovery.

More as the situation develops. For more info see http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/03/31/homestead-reptile-farm-site-of-srt-standoff/

Ohio remains under siege from animal advocates on both sides as the war against pet owners in the state continues.

As of January 6, 2011, the state has been acting under an emergency action regarding dangerous wild animals and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is enforcing the ban, making it unlawful to posses, sell, or transfer live restricted species, including many large constrictor snakes commonly kept as pets, as well as venomous species and caimans. Anyone who currently has possession of one of the listed animals may keep the animal, but must register it with the state by May 1. 2011. Owners must register the animal every year until the animal's death.

The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) has called on reptile owners in Ohio to write letters to Ohio Gov. John Kasich to permanently halt the enforcement of the ban.

“We felt that PIJAC should energize its members in Ohio by asking them to personally get involved in seeking Governor Kasich’s commitment to respect the right to own these often misunderstood companion animals,” said Michael Maddox, PIJAC’s general counsel and vice-president of government affairs. “We are confident our members will communicate their objections to the Governor about enforcing this ban on pets."

In the meantime, HSUS has just awarded filmmaker Michael Webber its Genesis Award for his "documentary" film "Elephant In The Living Room". The film purports to portray the "dark side" of exotic animal ownership, and is set to open at 100 theaters nationwide.

The film appears to center around the exploits of Tim Harrison, a Dayton, Ohio, public safety officer, as he "captures a 16-foot gaboon viper" among other things. Harrison, who has made the ending of exotic animal ownership a personal crusade, claims to be a "leading expert on exotic animals" who "lost two close friends who were strangled to death by snakes," a claim that seems dubious at best, almost certainly a statistical impossibility, and one that appears to not be supported by police record, medical literature or scientific data. I would welcome Mr. Harrison's correction if otherwise, but we have been unable to substantiate it.

Filled with memorable gems such as "These dealers are horrible people" and "They sell them the animals on the Internet and at auctions, but they never come back to help them, " the film makes no bones about its positioning of non-traditional pet owners, breeders and keepers as just barely south of evil.

Ohio is turning out to be quite a battle.

It's hard to believe today marks 14 years since the birth of kingsnake.com.

In 1993, I was a hobbyist gray-banded kingsnake collector and breeder, working for a small computer networking company and learning about a new technology called "the internet." Designed initially as a way for researchers to share data sets, the internet was just becoming available, slowly, to the general public. I was looking for a way to learn more about the technology, and sociology, behind what was termed a fad by many, a whole new form of media by others.

Using Mark Miller's Philadelphia-based dial-up BBS Herp Net as inspiration, and with lots of help from gray-band friends, in 1994 I launched a web page for the small number of gray-banded kingsnake hobbyists online called "The Alterna Page" (pictured right). One of the first reptile-oriented web pages on the internet, it was designed to be a living and evolving compendium of knowledge on the gray-banded kingsnake. However it soon became the gathering spot for reptile and amphibian hobbyists of all interests, with its forums and classifieds providing the seed for what was to follow.

By the end of 1996, traffic on The Alterna Page had grown to the point that my hosting company demanded I purchase my own server and domain name. A $50 a month hosting account was no longer adequate, and my traffic was making their other clients' sites unavailable. It was at that point that hard decisions had to be made. Circumstance rather than design had turned my interesting hobby into a business, one in a new and untried medium, and given very little prospect of success by my family, co-workers, and most of my non-reptile friends.

It was after consulting with a few reptile friends like Joe Forks, John Cherry, Dave and Tracy Barker, and Ron Tremper -- as well as dozens of others -- that I borrowed some money for a server and signed the hosting contract.

On February 8, 1997 -- fourteen years ago today -- kingsnake.com was launched. The "powered by kingsnake.com" button (pictured right) is one of the original files from that web site, and it's still in use today on virtually every page on the site. (To see what kingsnake.com has looked like throughout the years, click on the link below.)

I want to thank the many users, advertisers, sponsors, volunteers, and staffers who have made kingsnake.com what it is today: the largest, most vibrant, and most popular reptile community on the internet.

Vendors at the Reptile Supershow in Pomona this weekend reported that sales, unexpectedly, were up, which could portend a thaw in the cold spell that's been chilling the reptile economy.

Show Promoter Ramy Gurguis also reported that the Saturday foot traffic set a record, despite a slow start under overcast skies. Anchored by the Zoomed and the LLL Reptile booths, the Supershow in Pomona is drawing more out of state vendors, as well as lots of local suppliers, and continues to blossom into one of the larger and better West Coast shows. Held at the Los Angeles County Fairplex (which is also home to the NHRA Museum for all you gearheads), the Supershow has plenty of room to expand into a variety of buildings as needed, some of which were built by the WPA in the 1930s.

Cool things on display at the show included a sharp new line of terrariums, as well as a trick little piece of low tech/high tech egg incubation that fits inside a deli cup and allows air to circulate around the eggs. Also on display were Zoomed's new incubator, which appears to be a pretty solid piece of hardware for hobbyists. Probably not the right incubator if you have, say, a thousand python eggs you need to hatch, but for the small scale hobbyist who has a few clutches of crested geckos or corn snakes, it's the right tool for the job.

To check out all the pics from this weekend's Supershow, go to kingsnake.com's events gallery, or post your own!

If you missed last night's chat with Kerry King of Slayer and can't stop by his booth at this weekend's Reptile Super Show in Pomona to check out his carpet pythons, you can still hear what he had to say!

Click on the UStream applet to listen to a full hour of python and Slayer questions asked by our site users and recorded live with kingsnake host Cindy Steinle. Audio chats are something we have been experimenting with for a while, but site users can look forward to seeing them on kingsnake.com a little more often in the future.

Now that the holidays are over, we're all burning off those Christmas calories as well as the midnight oil here at kingsnake.com and have rolled out some changes to our classified system that you requested.

So fa,r we have increased the number and refined the classified ad categories quite a bit, and then moved thousands of ads (we hope to the appropriate categories!), we have also modified the classified searches to now be category-specific in all but the absolute header of the site. We are also looking at ways to make removing or relisting ads easier. You will see a lot of changes over the next couple weeks, but you will see even more later this spring.

We are still going through your comments, and we are watching how the changes we have already made are impacting the site flow, looking for errors and issues. We should have most of the ads moved to the new categories today, if we haven't already. Please make sure to double-check the category name you are posting or re-listing an ad to, as it might have changed.

One of the bigger requests was for a feedback system for advertisers. Our classified advertising system is what is known as an "open loop" system, similar to Craig's List, meaning once an ad is placed we have no idea if any response was generated to the advertiser, much less whether a sale has actually taken place, and it would difficult to verify whether a user would be entitled to leave feedback. Systems that do offer feedback, such as EBay, are usually closed loop systems where all contacts and sales take place through the system and verification that some transaction has occurred is easier to track and monitor. A system of this nature would be much more complex from all sides, more expensive for us to maintain, and more expensive to our advertisers. It would likely result in a pay-per-ad, one item-per-ad structure as well. We will continue to search for some type of feedback mechanism appropriate for our site, and we'll keep reading those suggestions.

Finally, it's not often that you hear about someone lowering the cost of a service, but today kingsnake.com has reduce its classified sponsorship rates from $200 to $100 per category per year on all categories except ball python and boa constrictors, so if you like your new category, now you can sponsor it for less!

To sponsor your favorite classified section click here!

Kerry King, python breeder and guitarist for the legendary thrash metal band Slayer, will be in our chat room this Thursday at 9:00pm ET/8:00pm CT to talk with kingsnake.com users about keeping and breeding carpet pythons and other things reptilian. If we're lucky he might even chat about last summer's European tour with Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, and let us in on Slayer's plans for 2011.

Kerry is a longtime snake breeder and kingsnake.com user since the early days, and has participated in a number of special events on the site over the years. Kerry usually posts to our classifieds under his Psychotic Exotics brand when he has stock available, and even has a few posted right now. If you can't catch him at the chat, make sure to stop by his booth at this weekend's Reptile Supershow in Pomona and check out his snakes.

Get your questions ready for Thursday and check out these chat transcripts and interviews from our archives:

• Chat Transcript: Kerry King, Guitarist from Slayer/Carpet Pythons March 1, 2008
  
• Chat Transcript: Kerry King, guitarist for Slayer Keeping Boas and Retics Sunday, February 27, 2005
  
• MP3 Audio Podcast: Slayer Guitarist Talks Snakes, January 8, 2009

Other than dry goods, everything for sale on kingsnake.com is illegal somewhere. Reptile and amphibian laws, codes, and ordinances exist at international, federal,state, and local levels. Heck, some neighborhood associations even ban them in their covenants. But it hasn't always been this way. And snakes didn't always come in deli cups.

Jennie Erin Smith's "Stolen World: A Tale Of Reptile, Smugglers, and Skulduggery" is a fascinating read that I found both hard to put down, and hard to pick back up again when I did. I can't put it down because it reads like a Ludlum novel, but I am afraid to pick it back up again because many of the stories she relates make me cringe.

Back in the days before the internet, before captive breeding, before the word "herpetoculture" existed, and before most of the laws and regulations about reptiles and amphibians were even proposals, there were the snake men. Reptile cowboys who strapped on the boots, jumped in the swamp and wrestled the python into a bag, or a cobra, or a krait, or a mamba.

Those men would fly around the world, collect the animals, box them up, put them on a plane, and the animals they acquired would show up at the world's biggest zoos, or in the hands of the few private collectors of the time. It was a loose group of people who maintained their own "internet" based on phone calls, letters, and the occasional mailed price list. There were no reptile expos, no magazines, no clubs, and few organizations open to non-academics.

In 2011 kingsnake.com will be giving our entire classified system an overhaul and we want you to help!

• What features do you want?
  
• What would you like to be able to do that you can't do now?
  
• What would you like to see changed?

Whether you're a classified account holder or a power shopper, we want to hear from you!
Give us your input about the rules, the software, how your ads look, or anything else to do with the classifieds -- we want to hear what you have to say.

Post your ideas here, or send us an email and let us know what you'd like to see in the new classifieds.

Happy New Year, and happy new classifieds from kingsnake.com!

------------
UPDATE: - We are getting some great suggestions!

Please make sure to mention suggestions others have already made so we can get an idea how many people would like to see those features.

While some of these would be difficult to implement without causing problems (i.e. unlimited ads would allow retailers to post page after page of ads every day, making hobbyist ads run off the front page in minutes rather than hours or days), others are relatively easy to implement into our current systems as they are based on technology or policy issues that are no longer relevant today as opposed to 1997 when some of these policies and systems were implemented.

Expect to see some of your suggestions implemented in January, with a full overhaul sometime in March. Keep those suggestions coming!

Kerry King, python breeder and guitarist for the legendary thrash metal band Slayer, will stop by our chat room over the holidays while he is on a tour break and talk with kingsnake.com users about keeping and breeding carpet pythons. After a summer touring Europe with Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, Kerry is finally back home and has time to work with and talk about his snakes.

An old-school reptile keeper who learned his craft from masters like Lloyd Lemke and the west coast reptile mafia of the 70s and 80s, Kerry has been a longtime kingsnake.com user and has participated in a number of special events on the site over the years. Kerry usually posts to our classifieds under his Psychotic Exotics brand when he has stock available, and even has a few posted right now.

Kerry is checking his schedule to try to squeeze in a chat with our users (hopefully before Christmas), so get your questions ready. Watch this space for firm details on a time and date, but if you can't wait that long to get your Slayer on, check out these chat transcripts and interviews from our archives:

• Chat Transcript: Kerry King, Guitarist from Slayer/Carpet Pythons March 1, 2008
  
• Chat Transcript: Kerry King, guitarist for Slayer Keeping Boas and Retics Sunday, February 27, 2005
  
• MP3 Audio Podcast: Slayer Guitarist Talks Snakes, January 8, 2009

Internationally known zoologist and former "Wild Kingdom" host Jim Fowler, appearing at a wildlife expo in Florida this weekend, blamed media hype and Senator Bill Nelson for the Burmese python problem in Florida. From an interview with a Florida based newspaper group:

"The media is creating a fear of animals," Fowler said, "and animals are really not dangerous to humans...."

Fowler called the issue of Burmese pythons in the Everglades an example of overreaction, with the probable numbers of snakes and their danger greatly exaggerated. Fowler said Sen. Bill Nelson went so far as to introduce federal legislation that would prohibit importation of any "exotic" wildlife.

Fowler said more people are killed by machines than animals. "We haven't been around on Earth long enough to be horrified about being killed by machines."

Jim Fowler began as co-host of Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom" with legendary zoologist Marlon Perkins before becoming the main host in 1984, winning four Emmys in the process. Now 80, Fowler is still active and is at the expo to introduce animal exhibits and also offer "a new message for the 21st century." To read more about what Jim is saying and doing now, check out the article in The Walton Sun.

Known to herpetoculturists as the Paradise Tree Snake,Chrysopelea paradisi is one of five related species of tree-dwelling snakes from Southeast and South Asia. And this snake is revealing to scientists the secrets to its unique ability to "fly," or more accurately, to glide, from great heights and over great distances.

Scientists have tracked them gliding more than 79 feet in distance in the Asian jungle canopy. In fact, according to study author Jake Socha, a biologist at Virginia Tech, they're not shy about displaying their skills on camera.

"They glide; that's what they do," "So they're like, 'I'm outta here, I'm gonna go down there."

Socha and the team at Virginia Tech discovered that it's not only the snakes ability to flatten themselves out into an airfoil that gives them the ability to glide for extreme distances, but their undulating body movements also play a great part in extending and directing their flight.

To check out the article on Live Science about this amazing flying snake, click here, or check out some of the videos at http://homepage.mac.com/j.socha/video/video.html.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced its annual Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals considered candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

A number of reptiles and amphibians remain candidates, including the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, but none were added or removed this year. Being listed as a candidate species is the first step towards an "endangered" listing, but many plants and animals have languished on the list for years in a form of bureaucratic limbo (many already enjoy protection under state laws and regulations). As of yesterday's announcement, there are now 249 species recognized by the USFWS as candidates for ESA protection.

The two different spins on this are interesting.

This is how the government put it:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released its Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals that are considered candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Four species have been removed from candidate status, five have been added, and eight have a change in priority from the last review in December 2008. There are now 249 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection.

And this is how it is being portrayed by the Center for Biological Diversity:

The Obama administration today denied Endangered Species Act protection to 251 plants and animals that government scientists have said need these protections to avoid extinction. Instead, the administration has placed them indefinitely on a list of “candidate” species, where many have already languished for years without help.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has proposed a rule change requiring retailers selling live reptiles and amphibians to post new signs and make handouts available regarding the transmission and prevention of reptile and amphibian salmonellosis. These changes would reflect the current recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and clarify existing language.

Salmonellosis has long been a concern of herpetoculturists, and this effort represents an attempt to present a single consistent message in line with the CDC recommendations. Texans have until November 21 to submit comments on the proposed rule change, which was published in the October 22 Texas Register. The proposed changes appear on the Texas Register web site; an overview of the changes appears below the jump.

Comments should be sent to Tom Sidwa, DVM, Department of State Health Services, Community Preparedness Section, Zoonosis Control Branch, Mail Code 1956, P.O. Box 149347, Austin, TX 78714-9347 or via email to Tom.Sidwa@dshs.state.tx.us.

There's a whole new way to search for reptile-related businesses on kingsnake.com -- don't miss your chance to be part of it!

As part of our ongoing upgrades, kingsnake.com has launched a brand new business search feature. This allows our users to search reptile and amphibian businesses in our directory by keywords in a "live" format similar, to Google's new live search.

While kingsnake.com has long maintained a reptile and amphibian business directory, this is the first time we have offered a keyword search that allows you to search our listings by products and services rather than just business name.

The search block will appear in numerous locations around kingsnake.com, including the main index page, as well as the classified and forum indexes.

Businesses that have a kingsnake.com storefront or hosting account that is listed in the business directory may update their keywords by updating the information in their user profile.

If you would like to list your reptile or amphibian oriented business in the directory and have it appear in the new "live" search results, you'll need to purchase a storefront account online. Regularly $162.38 per year, right now we have a trial offer that will allow new storefronts to register for only $108.25 per year. To take advantage of the trial offer click here!.

In a fight that has lasted longer than the war in Afghanistan and Iraq combined, the U.S. Navy is now attempting to bomb Guam's invasive Brown Tree Snake out of existence. They're doing it not with explosives or GPS and laser guided smart weapons, but with dead mice equipped with wings and packed with Tylenol, according to a news story in today's "Stars and Stripes."

By airdropping 200 mice equipped with wings, a tail streamer, and a tracking device, the Navy is studying effectiveness before considering a broader implementation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, started researching ways to poison the tree snakes with commonly available commercial products. They provide a regulatory advantage because they’ve already undergone extensive testing, said Dan Vice, assistant state director of USDA Wildlife Services in Hawaii, Guam and the Pacific Islands.

After years of research, they discovered the household pain reliever acetaminophen was a deadly poison to snakes in small doses, and the EPA approved its use in Guam, Vice said.

Sadly, acetaminophen is a deadly poison to many other species as well, and this method of targeting is liable to be found to be too broad for application on a wide scale. Who knows what else will eat the mice and die or how far up the food chain it will go? Hopefully this study will provide that data. To read more check out the article in Stars and Stripes.

The long-awaited results of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) study are finally in, and none of the animals in the study survived the winter. While that is not much of surprise to someone who has kept Burmese pythons, the real question remains. Will the results of this independent scientific study finally end the debate that has taken so much time, energy, money and jobs from our community and industry?

Not likely.

This has never been about science. It's been about the money and it's been about the media and it's been about getting re-elected -- but mostly it's been about the money. Pythons and our community just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Regardless of the fact that the SREL study was an unbiased scientific study by an unbiased organization, since its conclusions have come down on "our" side of the fence it's now "our science." We can expect the opposition to either ignore it completely or find ways to discredit either it or the people involved. Millions of dollars in federal funding for the removal and remediation of these species, needed or not, are on the line, and you can expect that the individuals and organizations set to get a piece will all line up to take shots at the study.

To read the abstract of the SREL python study click here.

There is much to be said about the high cost of California real estate, but you won't hear much complaining from the Galapagos tortoises in San Diego who just moved into new $1 million digs at the zoo.

To show off their new enclosure, the tortoises and the San Diego Zoo are hosting four days of REPTILEMANIA, a hands on experience with the cold and slithery, starting today and ending Sunday.

The Los Angeles Times has a great write up on the Zoo's tortoises on their web site today, with a lot of cool background material on the individual tortoises, their backgrounds, history, and personality traits.

Abbot (No. 25) is known for a stubborn streak, sometimes refusing to move even for a carrot or other leafy vegetable. The same is true with Madeline (No. 5), although she will sometimes fall in line when she sees other females being cooperative.

Chips (No. 9) seems the most playful and Emerson (No. 30) the most aggressive. Winston (No. 2B) sometimes blocks the door to the tortoise "bedroom" until he gets fed.

As for connubial activity, Gramma (No. 4), thought to be between 120 and 130 years old, is the most accommodating of the females. Augustus (No. 7) is considered the most lusty of the males, but given the right mood and setting, all the males will seek out a female or two.<

It would be fair to say that these tortoises have welcomed millions of visitors to the zoo over the years. I've met the zoo's tortoises three times myself, but would love to get the opportunity to check them out again.

Welcome to the "new" kingsnake.com! 

In 1997 when I started kingsnake.com (pictured right) , I never imagined that 13 years later we would still be here and that the site would have grown so huge. And technologies that were just dreams then, like web video, web-connected cell phones and iPads, are not only reality but commonplace today.

In 1997 we were happy to have pictures and colors, having just stepped up from HTML 1.0 which didn't allow for either.

Forums, classifieds, photo galleries, chat, video; we have added a lot to site over the years, so much in fact that the site was getting tough to navigate. Today we have relaunched kingsnake.com with an easier-to-navigate user interface.

But this is more than just a facelift, because we're also launching two huge new features.

Community Blog - You are reading this on kingsnake.com's brand new community blog. It allows any of our registered site users to start their own reptile or amphibian-oriented blog. Share your experiences, your pets, your politics and more!

Connect - kingsnake.com's Connect is a beta project being developed to let the herp community stay in touch with their friends and fellow hobbyists, keep each other up to date on legislative issues as they develop, and to build and strengthen the herp community network. Registered users of kingsnake.com can use it to share photos, links, information, alerts, updates and more.

Please bear in mind that Connect is a beta project and may need to be taken offline for updates from time to time. We have created a Connect forum to post questions, get answers, report bugs, and request features. 

Our staff has worked hard over the last few months to bring these projects forward and we hope you enjoy the fruit of their efforts.

Check out some more pages from kingsnake.com's history after the jump.

The Fish and Wildlife Service today issued a proposal to add the native hellbender and its subspecies to Appendix III of CITES in an effort to monitor the trade in the species. Found in the heartland of the Eastern United States, these giant salamanders are the third largest salamander species in the world.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to include the hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), a large aquatic salamander, including its two subspecies, the eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) and the Ozark hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi), in Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES or Convention), including live and dead whole specimens, and all readily recognizable parts, products, and derivatives. Listing hellbenders in Appendix III of CITES is necessary to allow us to adequately monitor international trade in the taxon; to determine whether exports are occurring legally, with respect to State law; and to determine whether further measures under CITES or other laws are required to conserve this species...

Hellbenders have been classified an endangered species in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri and Ohio, and "rare" or "of special concern" in Georgia, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee.

The species has been in decline due to a number of factors, including an increase in the number of dams, reduced water quality, collection for the pet trade, and persecution by fishermen who view them as a threat. Hellbenders like, many of the worlds amphibians, are also susceptible to Chytridiomycosis

The proposal was published in today's Federal Register (Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 173 / Wednesday, September 8, 2010), and those who wish to submit comments need to do so by or before November 8, 2010.

Comments may be submitted to www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS–R9–IA–2009–0033.

Once you have kept reptiles long enough you will usually have at least one funny escape story and one sad escape story, but as reptile keepers cage security is an every day issue not to be taken lightly.

No matter how good a keeper you are, pet owner, hobbyist or professional, everyone can have a bad day. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution the Atlanta Zoo is having one of those days.

Zoo spokeswoman Keisha N. Hines said workers are "aggressively looking" for an adult female tiger rattlesnake that escaped quarantine Friday. Zoo officials have been working around the clock to capture the venomous creature, she said.

No one wants to make the news for an escape, whether it's a burmese python, an alligator, or a tiger rattlesnake. Do yourself a favor and check your collection before the news crews do it for you. If your in the Grant Park area and spot the snake, do not attempt to capture it, but please call Zoo Atlanta at 404-624-5670.

After a successful year with the band with a new CD, a tour of Europe with thrash's big four (that's Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax), Slayer's Kerry King also had a great year with his snake breeding and is going to take time out of his tour break to sell some of his snakes at the upcoming North American Reptile Breeders Conference in Anaheim. Along with his usual carpet pythons, Kerry says he will be signing autographs and selling some of his personal stash of merch so anyone wanting a chance to meet him, maybe buy a snake or a TShirt, he will be at the Anaheim Convention Center Sept 11 and 12th.

I won't see Kerry again until Dallas where the second leg of the American Carnage tour picks up again and hope to post a whole bunch of stuff from the road. If you take a picture with Kerry in Anaheim make sure to upload it to our herp events photo gallery!

Chelonian lovers unite in Daytona for the annual turtle talks at the National Reptile Breeders Expo, and for good reason. With some of world's best minds on turtles and tortoises, like Peter Pritchard, Jerry Fife, and more, this year's turtle talks promise tasty fare with talks about breeding Asian species, the turtle farms of Asia, and an update on "Lonesome George" and the Pinta Tortoises.

The Turtle Talks are an annual event put on by the National Reptile Breeders Expo and the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group. Sponsored by ZooMed, the talks start promptly at 7 pm Friday night at the Daytona Hilton, in Daytona Beach Florida.

For more information on the talks and other events at this years Daytona expo, check out the NRBE web site at reptilebreedersexpo.com. For more of kingsnake.com's coverage at this year's NRBE check out our web site at kingsnake.com/daytona2010.html.

Louisiana's turtle farmers are pushing the FDA to reverse it's 35 year ban on the sale of baby turtles due to Salmonellosis. Citing improved breeding technology, a thriving, open black market, lax enforcement and other pet related vectors such as snakes, lizards and other pets, the farmers feel that continuing the ban is singling them out.

Red Eared Sliders and other turtles that fall under the FDA Salmonellosis regulations are sold openly in not only in many pet stores nationwide, but also many gift shops, flea markets and other stores. Many are sold under the the aegis of the act's "educational" clause which provides ample "grey" area, but many are not.

Keeping any pet poses a variety of health risks regardless of whether that pet is a dog, cat, bird, or reptile. While occurring in far fewer instances than dog bites, or other pet related injuries and illness, reptile associated Salmonellosis does pose a risk to anyone that keeps or handles reptiles and amphibians.

Many organizations would have you believe that reptile associated Salmonellosis is such a risk that possession of reptiles by the general public should be banned or significantly restricted. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does NOT make that statement. By following the CDC recommendations below (click on the CONTINUED link) you should dramatically decrease the risk of infection to yourself and your family.

With all the factors cited by the turtle farmers, should the FDA reverse it's ban?