When touring The South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, the Garza family encountered a rattlesnake. When attempts to kill the snake failed, the father flung the snake in the air. Now, the snake is to blame for the bite his daughter endured.

From kiii-tv:

The South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center has been around for 15 years, and since that time there have been no incidents of anyone being hurt.

But that changed this past Saturday when a 10 year old Corpus Christi girl walking with her family was bitten by a diamond back rattlesnake. That family is asking that the gardens be closed down. The Amado Garza family has hired an attorney to make their message clear they say, they know the botanical gardens are suppose to get you as close to nature as possible, but not at the cost of risking your life.

The wild apparently does not belong in nature any longer. Video from kiii-tv after the bump!

With an irrational fear of snakes being one of the biggest reasons our pets are discriminated against, a recent prank by NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr., doesn't sit too well with reptile lovers.

From SportingNews.com:

The ploy? A lifelike snake—looking something like a coiled python—in a cooler. Victims of the joke were directed to get bottled water from the cooler. Their reactions to finding the snake were recorded on a video that has garnered more than 45,000 views on YouTube.

“My property manager Sonny (Lunsford) has been doing that to everybody he can at the Charlotte Auto Fair for the last several years—putting a ‘Free Drinks’ sign on that cooler and setting it out near where he parks,” Earnhardt told Sporting News after qualifying third in Friday’s Nationwide time trials.

Not as funny as you thought it was, Dale.

To read the full article, click here. the video Earnhardt placed on YouTube can be seen after the bump.

While thousands of onlookers cheered, 50 volunteers managed to capture "Grandfather," the turtle who has lived in Lake Hoan Kiem in Hanoi, and now he will receive treatment for his wounds.

The giant softshell turtle has been a symbol of Vietnam independence and is reverently called Grandfather. It is one of four Rafetus Swinhoei turtles known in existence.
From the Citizen:

This time about 50 rescuers took about two hours --- and three nets of varying sizes -- to finally bring the turtle under control.

Some of the workers swam with the netted reptile, leading it into a cage which was escorted by two boats to an islet where its condition is to be assessed.

"This is one of the most endangered animals in the world and there's very little known about it," said Tim McCormack of the Asian Turtle Programme, a Hanoi-based conservation and research group.

Local media reported that the critically endangered soft-shell turtle, which weighs about 200 kilograms (440 pounds), had been injured by fish hooks and small red-eared turtles which have appeared in the lake in recent years.

The animal's status in Vietnam stems from its history and its home in Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Returned Sword), rather than its rarity.

"It's very important culturally here," said McCormack.

The lake is also heavily polluted, which also plays a role in the sores on Grandfathers body. He is currently being contained on an islet in a tank with clean filtered water to help aid healing.

Every kid had one. I know I did. "Little Tikes Turtle Sandbox" is having an anniversary this year and Little Tikes is giving back to the turtles.

From PRNNewswire:

Little Tikes will work with the Sea Turtle Conservancy to shine light on imminent threats to sea turtles including climate change, marine pollution, marine debris, oil spills, and artificial beach lighting. Little Tikes will sponsor a turtle in the yearly "Tour de Turtles" race and will donate a portion of the proceeds from co-branded turtle merchandise to the Sea Turtle Conservancy .
"Little Tikes makes products that are safe and durable for kids, and we believe in making this a safe planet for sea turtles as well," said Rosanne Kubitsy, Senior Director of Marketing, Little Tikes. "We want to make sure that turtles grow to their adulthood age of 33 years -- so celebrating our product's 33rd anniversary gives parents the opportunity to educate their kids about sea turtles in a fun way!"

To read the full story, click here. Video about the project is after the bump.

With fieldwork comes great reward, such as the discovery of a new species. This one comes a little late for Year Of the Frog (which was last year), but it is still very exciting!

From ThanhNien News.com:

Vietnamese and Australian scientists found the first recorded specimens of Leptobrachium leucops, living at an altitude of between 1,558 and 1,900 meters along the border between Lam Dong and Khanh Hoa provinces.

The upper portion of the creature's irises are white, the news site reported. The animal is also distinguished from similar frogs by its small body size and dark belly.

To read the full article, click here.

After 35 dead sea turtles washed up on beaches with no sign of oil damage, the federal government is looking at shrimpers as the possible cause.

From the ClarionLedger.com:

Investigators will look at whether some shrimp boats taking part in an emergency shrimping season ahead of the Gulf oil spill removed devices from their nets that are intended to allow turtles to escape, said Sheryan Epperly, sea turtle team leader for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Wildlife officials say at least 35 endangered sea turtles have washed up on Gulf coast beaches, but it's not clear what's killing them. Necropsies have shown no signs of oil.

The Washington, D.C.-based conservation group Oceana has said officials need to determine what is killing the turtles quickly. Some experts have speculated the turtles may have eaten fish contaminated by the oil spill.

For the full article, click here.

The trapping and removal of invasive wildlife is a heated issue in Florida. Recently the USDA has begun taking over contracts from private trappers.

From The Boca Beacon:

“The taxpayers of this island are being taken advantage of,” he said. “I’m sure the board members aren’t aware of a lot of these facts, so we’re going to educate the public about something that is going on that is very sad, and is taking jobs.”

Cera is part of an organization that has been watching USDA activity throughout the United States. Many are trappers who have been put out of work by the governmental agency, which, in its Wikipedia definition, “is one of the few Federal Agencies that actively competes with private sector companies. Aided by taxpayer funding they are often able to undercut the prices charged by private companies.”

Cera, who was the original trapper for Lee County’s iguana eradication program, said he had few qualms about the agency taking over when his contract was not renewed.

“This is not a sour grapes effort on my part,” he said. “But after watching three years of the same information in their public presentations, hearing a lot of ‘I don’t knows’ from their expert and having one of their researchers admit that they based their research on my original research, I started to do a little researching of my own.”

One would think it would be better to license the existing trappers to continue their work at removing the iguanas instead of bringing in a whole new agency.

Just before leaving office, former Ohio governor Ted Strickland enacted a fast and wide-sweeping ban on exotic pets that made many reptile keepers criminals. The 90 day emergency order is expiring; what is new Governor John Kasich doing about it?

From the Middletown Journal:

Gov. John Kasich “supports the regulation of dangerous wild animals to ensure the public’s safety and animals’ humane treatment,” Jones, added. The governor “also believes any new regulations should be developed in a transparent way with input from the public and those who have interests at stake.”

The Humane Society of the United States said Monday that data collected from news reports and government documents indicate Ohio ranks fourth among the 50 states in dangerous incidents involving big cats, bears, and primates. Since 1990, at least 29 people in Ohio, including eight children, suffered injuries and one person was killed. It urged Kasich “to move quickly to issue regulations that will restrict the sale and possession of dangerous wild animals.”

Notice the danger from reptiles was never addressed, but they were added in with the other exotic pets. This leaves reptile owners hoping Kasich is not as easily swayed by animal rights lobbying groups and can stand up for pet owners.

The debate over if size matters has been solved in the amphibian world: The well-endowed Coastal Tailed Frog (Ascaphus truei) proves it's survival of the biggest.

From Treehugger.com:

arry Serpa, a Nature Conservancy biologist, turned over 1,000 rocks in the Garcia River Forest before finding two coastal specimens, a male with a tail and a tadpole, in 2009.

He was looking because The Nature Conservancy has been working to restore the forest ecosystem along with The Conservation Fund, which helped purchase the land in 2004. To date, Serpa found more than a dozen other tailed frogs and tadpoles.

The coastal tailed frog is one of only 5,000 species of frogs in the world that uses a cloaca. Other frogs fertilize eggs after they've been laid by the female, like salmon.

To read the full article, click here.

This morning I spoke with a very worn out Michele Crutchfield. While the events are still being straightened out with the occurance at the Farm, Michele asked that we pass along this message to the entire reptile community.

We want to thank everyone for their concern and kind words during this hard time for our family. What we ask now is that everyone takes a step back and allows our family the time to grieve and heal. No matter what occurred yesterday at the farm, Bruce Stephenson was a wonderful family friend and we need time to ourselves to handle this tragedy. We ask that our reptile community gives our family the chance to heal without additional stress. Within a few days we will have more, but right now, please respect our privacy.

As we said before, our thoughts here at kingsnake are with The Crutchfield and Stephenson Families.

Animals in need have a new friend in Costa Rica. Biologist Rodolfo Vargas recently opened his rehabilitation facility Refugio Herpetológico de Costa Rica in Santa Ana to the public.

From ticotimes.net:

The refuge receives no government funding, and with costs increasing daily, Vargas hopes to cover expenses by charging admission and making this family affair into a commercial venture and environmental education center.

It must be emphasized, however, that this is not a zoo, but a rehabilitation center. The main function of the refuge is to release the animals brought to it, after they have recovered from their mostly human-inflicted injuries and can again fend for themselves in the wild. Nevertheless, many of the animals you will see at the refuge sadly will remain there for the rest of their lives, no longer able to survive on their own.

[....]

“[Vargas] has been receiving injured and mistreated reptiles and amphibians since he was 12 years old,” says Lidia Coto, the knowledgeable volunteer guide who gave The Tico Times an extremely interesting and entertaining tour of the refuge.

Vargas lectures at the National University School of Veterinary Medicine in Heredia, north of San José, and does private research projects for companies and the Environment Ministry, but his herpetology studies at the refuge are his passion. He says he manages to treat and release about 60 percent of the animals brought to him.

To read the full article, click here.

People and alligators co-exist best when the gators are afraid of humans. But human behavior can remove that fear -- and tragedy often ensues.

There's a good reason for signs that say, "Do not feed or molest alligators," and that feeding them is illegal. Feeding alligators is one of the most effective ways to take their fear of humans away.

From NewsPress.com:

Posing as tourists, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers cited Graham Potter, 57, and Randal Daniels, 72, of Everglades Island Airboat Tours for feeding marshmallows to alligators and raccoons.

Florida law prohibits feeding those two species as well as sandhill cranes, foxes, bears, pelicans and crocodiles.

“Those airboat tours are notorious for feeding wildlife,” said Lindsey Hord, head of Florida’s Alligator Management Program.

Neither Potter nor Daniels, who face up to 60 days in jail and $500 in fines, could be reached for comment, and a manager at the tour company would not to speak to The News-Press.

Now a public service announcement from us at kingsnake.com. Whatever you post on the internet can and will be used against you if you are found to be breaking the law. From AZCentral.com:

A man who boasted on Facebook that he killed an 11½-foot alligator has been arrested in Central Texas.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Fred Ensinger said Thursday the gator was discovered near a creek in Bastrop County about a week ago. He calls the gator an "anomaly," nearly twice the size of gators rarely seen this far from the Texas Gulf Coast.

Ensinger says the suspect's Facebook postings about shooting the big gator helped authorities track him down. Ensinger wouldn't identify the suspect because he hasn't been charged with what is likely to be a misdemeanor.

If you are going to break the law, dis your boss, or cheat on your spouse, it would be wise to keep it off teh interwebs.

Model Obit Fox was trying to look sexy while licking a snake, but it was the last shoot the snake ever did.

After Fox attempted to lick the snake, it bit her on the breast and would not let go. From AOLNews;

Fox, who is rumored to have the largest bosom in all of Israel, was hurried to a hospital outside Jerusalem where she received a tetanus shot and was later discharged.

As for the snake, puckering up with a supermodel proved to be the kiss of death. The creature succumbed to silicone poisoning shortly after the incident.

While silicone poisoning is listed as cause of death, there is no mention of Fox undergoing surgery to care for a ruptured implant. The video, which has been removed from YouTube, showed handlers ripping the snake off Fox.

As always there are two sides to the story; thankfully we have ScienceDaily:

However, a reptile expert said that the silicone poisoning scenario is impossible.
"Snakes can eat some really sick animals and not contract mammalian diseases. So I have not heard of a snake getting sick or dying after biting a human," Mark Kilby, owner of the Luray Zoo and Luray Reptile Center in West Luray, Va., told Life's Little Mysteries.

But mostly, snakes aren't vampires. They don't suck when they bite. "I can't see the boa constrictor that bit that model getting any of the contents of the material from the implant, being silicone or saline, in its mouth to cause any ill effect to the boa," Kilby said.

My bet is if it did die, it was due to severe spinal damage from being ripped off the bosoms.

A sharp rattle while walking outside may be a welcome sound to herpers, but for most others, it's a cause for fear.

Rattlesnakes are one of the most feared creatures in the Southwest, and warming spring weather brings them out of their burrows in search of food. From the Edwards Air Force Base newsletter:

When it comes to snakes, staying away is staying safe.

The best way to avoid getting bitten by any snake is to simply stay away from it, base biologists say. When outdoors, Team Edwards members should always watch where they put their hands and feet. If walking through dense shrubs or vegetation, heavy long pants and high boots should be worn.

From MyFOXphoenix.com, much of the same advice:

If you cross paths with a rattlesnake, the rule is to take one step away.
"One step away from the snake will put you a mile away out of trouble, a snake can only strike about one third to half of its total body length," says Marchand.
3 feet away is a safe distance -- and the Herpetological Society says it's a myth the snake will not chase after you.

This one, however, also from MyFOXphoenix, raised some hackles in among herpers, rightly so. The video below will show why.

Is there something "educational" about torturing animals? The Sweetwater Jaycees in Sweetwater, Texas, think so -- in fact, they seem to feel their event is a great public service and educational event. Those of us who have respect for native fauna and who care about animals don't agree.

The Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup is billed as a festival complete with a beauty pagent, where for a mere $10 visitor can have the chance to skin their very own snake.

From CNN.com:

"Tomorrow I get to skin snakes and chop their heads off, and I am super-excited about it," said Laney Wallace, Miss Snake Charmer 2011.

[....]

The roundup has become a huge part of the town's identity. The Jaycees say 30,000 to 50,000 people attend the roundup each year. It's become as much party as public service event.

"We have a lot of fun doing it. We enjoy it. We're all Jaycees back here in the snake pits," Willman says.

After skinning their snake, guests leave hand prints in snake blood.

Jeff Hulstein and Nathan Sheets left their wives at home in Dallas, Texas, and brought their sons to the roundup. They hired a guide to take them snake hunting and then brought their box full of snakes to the event.

"We saw this as a rite of passage to be able to bring your boys out here and let them see how you have good clean fun and learn something and appreciate nature," says Jeff Hulstein. "It's one of the ways we are going to raise these boys into men."

Using gasoline to torture the rattlesnakes from their burrows, they gather as many as possible to bring back to the event, which attracts between 30,000 and 50,000 visitors.

As a reptile owner and someone active in the animal welfare community I am left to wonder when these disgusting activities will be labeled abuse and the offenders prosecuted rather than given folk hero status.

Inset photo: not so beautiful women, contestants in Miss Snake Charmer Pageant

There are few herpers everyone in the community knows, but Mark O'Shea is one of those people.

Mark is an amazingly well traveled herper, having participated in over 40 expedition and film trips, to over 30 countries, on six continents.

Well-known to reptile and non-reptile people alike for his show, "Mark O'Shea's Big Adventures," as well as many other documentaries, Mark is now focusing on cutting edge field work.

Mark concentrated his attentions on his herpetological and snakebite interests in PNG, working with toxinologist and fellow herpetologist David Williams, but now under the auspices of a Fellowship from the Australian Venom Research Unit, at the University of Melbourne, who had continued the work started by Oxford.

He also began working in Timor-Leste, conducting an herpetological survey of the young country with Hinrich Kaiser and his team from Victor Valley College, California.

Mark will share some of his experiences from Timor-Leste this evening as well as answer questions about his full life. Having kept snakes since the age of 8, he has a ton of experiences to share with us all.

This year, like last, we'll be bringing you our guests in live streaming audio, with a text-based chat room running simultaneously so you can ask questions and discuss the interview with other listeners.

New this year, we'll be streaming over the Animal Wise Network, a popular, successful 24/7 channel featuring original content and interviews about animals and animal issues.

To listen and participate, just log into the kingsnake.com chat room, then click "Listen now" in the upper left-hand corner.

Learn more about how listening to streaming interviews here.

On Saturday, March 19, at 8 pm Eastern, we'll be welcoming Dr. Patrick Aust of the Madras Croc Bank as a guest at our Thirteenth Annual Chat Month.

Gharials are some of the most revered animals in the reptile world. Many in the reptile community have never seen one up close and personal, but that doesn't make the desire to help them in the wild any less great.

The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology is one of the largest reptile zoos in the world and one of the oldest non-government environmental organizations in Asia.

It was founded by Rommulus Whitaker in 1976 with the specific goal of securing breeding populations of the three species of Indian crocodile: the mugger (Crocodylus palustris), the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and the rarest of all, the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus). Today, Croc Bank is home to 14 species of crocodilians, two of which are listed by the IUCN as critically endangered with a further three listed as threatened.

As the need for the conservation of reptiles grew, the Croc Bank increased its repertoire to include turtles, lizards and snakes, and it came to be known as the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Center for Herpetology in 2003.

Dr. Patrick Aust, a self taught herper and Ph.D biologist, is the director of the Croc Bank. He will join us on Saturday, March 19, at 8 pm Eastern, and we will discuss some of the history, projects and conservation efforts currently going on.

This year, like last, we'll be bringing you our guests in live streaming audio, with a text-based chat room running simultaneously so you can ask questions and discuss the interview with other listeners.

New this year, we'll be streaming over the Animal Wise Network, a popular, successful 24/7 channel featuring original content and interviews about animals and animal issues.

To listen and participate, just log into the kingsnake.com chat room, then click "Listen now" in the upper left-hand corner.

Learn more about how listening to streaming interviews here.

A student volunteer in the laboratory of UCLA evolutionary biologist Michael Alfaro is lead author in a study showing that there is an evolutionary link between habitat and body size in turtles and tortoises.

From Science Daily:

Combining statistical computer modeling with genetic data and the fossil record, Alfaro, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and his colleagues demonstrated that different environments have specific optimal body sizes for their chelonian inhabitants.

These researchers act as "evolutionary detectives," piecing together how the tremendous diversity in living chelonians today evolved from a common ancestor that lived millions of years ago. DNA sequences from modern chelonians provide important clues for determining the evolutionary path followed by their progenitors, said co-author Graham Slater, a National Science Foundation-funded UCLA postdoctoral scholar in ecology and evolutionary biology.

The results show a surprisingly strong statistical correlation between habitat change and significant adjustments in body size. Chelonians living in marine or island habitats have an optimal body size several times larger than their cousins on the mainland, said first author Alexander Jaffe, a high school student at Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, Calif. Marine turtles have the largest optimal shell length (about 4.5 feet), followed by island tortoises (approximately 2.5 feet), while freshwater and mainland chelonians are several times smaller (roughly 1 foot).

To read the full article, click here.

This may not be everyone's idea of a great vacation spot, but seriously, how fun does it sound to be dunked into a pond of salties in a croc cage? To me, that is just another reason to travel to Oz.

In a recent travel article at The Daily Mail, writer Amy Watkins recounts her fun:

The cheerily-named Cage of Death, which lowers tourists into the water to swim alongside crocodiles, is meant to be the highlight of a visit to the cove.

The bite-marked cage is dangled from a monorail. After my encounter with Burt I was hoisted up and along to the next pool and, swinging like a chicken nugget in the wind, was lowered in to meet Houdini.

Named for his ability to break out of enclosures, I eyed the box’s metal roof nervously as I was lowered into the cold water of the pool. His dinky wife Bess came over for a look so I dived down to the bottom of the cage to say g’day, but 15ft-long Houdini stayed basking in the sun, his eyes closed and his front legs tensed ready to pounce.

He was enjoying his siesta, so I was hoisted out and dunked in with Choppa, who lost two legs fighting and was thrown out of a crocodile farm for being a brute. Luckily he was also enjoying a post-lunch snooze so I could get close without worrying about losing any of my limbs.

By the time I got to prehistoric-looking Denzel, an anti-social bully according to his rap sheet, I was beginning to enjoy my dunking, but was still relieved when my 15 minutes were up.
Until that swim I’d been doing my best to avoid man-eating reptiles at the waterholes and wetlands of the Top End, as they call this part of Oz. But this is croc country, where Mother Nature rules and salties are kings of the food chain.

To finish reading her Croc Adventures, click here.

Chris Koeppel from Headhunter Reptiles and Terry Phillip from Black Hills Pythons and Reptile Gardens will be joining us to talk about Morelia snakes.

Terry is also the curator of reptiles at Reptile Gardens in South Dakota, and was responsible for the first captive breeding of Morelia carinata outside of Australia.

This year, like last, we'll be bringing you our guests in live streaming audio, with a text-based chat room running simultaneously so you can ask questions and discuss the interview with other listeners.

New this year, we'll be streaming over the Animal Wise Network, a popular, successful 24/7 channel featuring original content and interviews about animals and animal issues.

To listen and participate, just log into the kingsnake.com chat room, then click "Listen now" in the upper left-hand corner.

Learn more about how listening to streaming interviews here.

When you think of snake venom, the last thing most people think of is its healing properties. But from pain to cancer, venom of a variety of creatures is offering new options in health care.

NOVA has the story on their new interactive blog:

For hundreds of millions of years, evolution has been perfecting its own brand of biological warfare: venom. The toxic compounds in venom are finely honed weapons capable of launching precision attacks against cells in the nervous system, bloodstream, and organs. Now, medical researchers are tapping these potent chemical cocktails to develop new therapies for cancer, heart disease, and chronic pain. Nature’s swords, it turns out, can make powerful medical ploughshares.

To see the six species highlighted, click here.

There are few things of more concern to conservationists than the plight of the turtle population. From habitat destruction to the food markets, turtle populations are being wiped out at an insane rate.

Thanks to Doug Hotle from the Albuquerque Biological Park for the heads up on this project. From Year of the Turtle page at the Turtle Survival Alliance:

Why turtles, and why now? Turtles are disappearing from the planet faster than birds, mammals, and even amphibians. Today, over 40% of turtle species are identified as threatened with extinction; the primary threats are human-caused. However, it's not too late for our turtle heritage to be salvaged. The United States has more endemic turtle species than anywhere on Earth; a turtle biodiversity hotspot. Our careful stewardship can preserve the rare species and keep 'common species common.'

From PARC, the list of the top 25 species facing extinction as well as 40 additional species that are in levels of concern can be found here.
The line up of conservation organizations is huge for this effort. We will make an extra effort to bring you information related to this project as well as ways to get involved through the year. Below, there's a video from Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC). We will also make a hash tag for twitter of all related posts of #yott2011. Join us in getting this information out!