mobile - desktop
  |
| mobile - desktop |
|
 |
 Contact Sales! |
News & Events:
|
|
Reptile & Amphibian
News Blog Keep up with news and features of interest to the reptile and amphibian community on the kingsnake.com blog. We cover breaking stories from the mainstream and scientific media, user-submitted photos and videos, and feature articles and photos by Jeff Barringer, Richard Bartlett, and other herpetologists and herpetoculturists.
Monday, May 16 2016The Amazon hog-nosed viper, Bothrocophias hyoprora This pair of Amazonian hog-nosed vipers lay quietly at trailedge. Have you ever while herping, stopped dead in your tracks thinking that you just walked by something you should have seen but you weren’t sure just what it was? I’ve done that a couple of times with copperheads and in no case do I know what it was that alerted me. So knowing that I am fully capable of occasional oversights, whenever I have that feeling I stop and spend considerable time ascertaining what it was that caused that feeling. I was on a forest darkened Amazonian trail and I had just stopped. Something wasn’t quite right. Undergrowth was sparse but fallen leaves of primary canopy, now variously hued in browns, yellows, and russets, littered the forest floor. I studied the trail edges on both sides. Nothing. I walked back a few feet and studied anew. Nothing. I pulled out a pocket flashlight and restudied. Still nothing. I had just about decided that I had responded to a false alarm when not 12 inches from my foot a brown and russet leaf moved. No. It wasn’t a leaf. It was a snake. Wrong again. It was 2 snakes. Half hidden in leaf litter was a pair of Amazonian hog-nosed vipers! Not big, not bright, but a spectacular find. Continue reading "The Amazon hog-nosed viper, Bothrocophias hyoprora" Friday, May 13 2016Barking Treefrogs Green now, this barker may assume a spotted or brown color within minutes. The barking has started. Well, not barking really. The sound is more of an oft repeated explosive “toooonk,” the sound of barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa, at home. Now, rather than just being called the largest treefrog in Florida, when size is mentioned it requires the qualification of the word “native.” The barking treefrog is the largest NATIVE treefrog in Florida, its 2 5/8” snout-vent length now being far surpassed by the up to 5” long Cuban treefrog that is somehow steadily adapting to lower temperatures and expanding its range northward. Barkers breed in shallow, ephemeral, ponds and usually vocalize while floating. More often than not they anchor themselves at the preferred calling site by holding to a stem of water-surface vegetation with one front foot. Although in size they may now be surpassed, they cannot be surpassed in their chameleon–like color changes. Within minutes the same frog may change ground color from brown to olive to bright green and have unedged dorsal spotting, no dorsal spotting, or dorsal spotting edged with a narrow border of lighter pigment. Time to go. A nice chorus of barkers are “tooonking” again. Continue reading "Barking Treefrogs" Wednesday, May 11 2016A “Threefer” Southern toads vary from brick red to gray and are common in our yard. Every morning (without fail I hasten to add) Gabby our little “Heinz terrier” accompanies me from house to the street to fetch our newspapers. Again I state that she accompanies and I fetch. Usually the short stroll is uneventful, but occasionally Gabby is in a hunting mode. The morning following our last rainfall was one of her hunting trips. In the darkness, within a few feet of the door, she managed to scare up an eastern spadefoot, Scaphiopus holbrooki, a southern toad, Bufo terrestris, and a southern leopard frog, Rana sphenocephala. For me, 3 anuran species before 6AM is a pretty good start for the day. The fact that all 3 taxa breed in the yard did not lessen Gabby’s accomplishment in the least. At least in her eyes it didn’t. Maybe I should start taking her with me on hunts for more difficult species. She seems to do much better than I. Continue reading "A “Threefer”" Monday, May 9 2016That Other Lancehead The seemingly uncommon Brazil's pit viper is heavy bodied and rather precisely patterned. “That guy on the bank has a snake.” The speaker was Rob. The place was a tributary of the mighty Amazon. We were on a riverboat. I don’t remember how Rob got that snake. I know the boat had slowed and I guess Rob hopped overboard and swam. But get it he did. And once there the snake—a Brazil’s lancehead, Bothrops brazili-- was temporarily housed in a small duffle. I also remember Rob exclaiming that he thought he had just gotten bitten and the relief we all felt when it was learned that Rob had just pricked his finger on a sharp projection. That was the first of my 3 meetings with a Brazil’s lancehead (a patronym honoring Dr. Vital Brazil of Instituto Butantan fame and not a place reference). Of these 3, 2 were alive and one had been freshly killed by a villager that had happened upon the snake while gardening. It would seem that the preferred habitat for Brazil’s lancehead is amidst the forest-floor litter in primary rainforest. This taxon is much less common than the sympatric fer-de-lance, B. atrox. The 2 species may usually be differentiated by the presence or lack of a postocular stripe—strongly defined on B. atrox and weakly defined or absent on B. brazili. Continue reading "That Other Lancehead" Thursday, May 5 2016Reptile Fest: Pioneering educational outreach You never forget your first reptile show but sometimes it hard to recapture that moment of awe. In 1998, I walked into the gym at Northeastern Illinois University to experience my first Reptile Fest and I as in awe. So many reptiles I had never seen in person, but more importantly, so many people who loved reptiles, just like me! I only owned a few lizards at the time and was a few years into my own Iguana Rescue. I was as green as I could be as a herper, but I could talk freely on my iguanas. When I started exhibiting the following year, I started as one of many in the Iguana Squad and eventually took over the role of managing the Iguana display. Reptile Fest has been happening in Chicago for over 20 years. Every spring families plan their trips to "the city" around the date. The most magical thing about Reptile Fest, however, is the exhibitors. They are not doing it to make money, in fact, many people give up a lot of money to make their displays more amazing or even to get a hotel near the venue to volunteer. Sure, there is a free t-shirt and free lunch each day for exhibitors, but the reason they are there is to educate people. From a 6-year-old girl and her display on corn snakes all the way people who have been keeping reptiles for more than 40 years, these are the exhibitors. You can find a child talking to you about their pet bearded dragon right next to a display of Spilotes pullatus. There are no animal sales at all. Hosted by the Chicago Herpetological Society, the sole focus is on education and you will see more than 100 species of reptiles and amphibians. The event is also very hands on, so it is a guarantee that you will touch something if you want. Visitors to the event get to see the native reptiles and learn the difference between a cottonmouth or copperhead and the much confused Nerodia and fox snakes to learn the difference. To me, however, on my first visit, the thing that impacted me most was the love these people had for their pets. It still moves me to this day. Looking back, two animals caught me that day and have never ever let go. I pet my very first alligator that day, Bubba the Alligator owned by Jim Nesci. This was the original Bubba, all of at least 6 foot sitting calming on a table for people to touch. I was nervous. I mean it was a HUGE alligator and his mouth wasn't restrained in any way AT ALL! Those who have had the pleasure of meeting both Bubba's knows the feeling. The other was a snake, but not just any snake. These sausage-like red beasts that are known for their nasty disposition because most were wild caught were called Blood Pythons. But more importantly than that, it was meeting the owner of these snakes. The owner was an older woman. I mean she was ancient, but then I was still young enough to think 40 was ancient. But she was, a woman and that was something very odd to me and all empowering. I wonder if meeting Joan Moore that day helped inspire me looking into story women and their evolving roles in herpetology. The chills I had this year walking into Reptile Fest reminded me of a few things. It reminded me of how much I have learned and most of it could be attributed to the people in that room. But as I was finishing up my shift at the photo booth in the Alligator corner and heading over to relieve Rich Crowley at his Short-tailed python display (including a beautiful bright red Blood Python), I realized how much my first visit changed me forever. The two animals I walked away from that very first day just so happened to me the two species I worked with in 2016, but this time no hesitation or nerves. It is just what I do. Hands-on, in-person education is the key to demystifying reptiles. If you have the chance to be part of an event like the CHS Reptile Fest, get involved! Taking the fear out of reptiles and challenging the stereotypes that involve both reptiles and their owners is one of the best ways to stop legislation against ownership. It is time to unplug from the web and get out there in person! Congratulations to the Chicago Herpetological Society on yet another amazing and wonderfully successful event! Inset Photo: Cindy with one of the many people who wanted to get up close and personal with an American Alligator. Maybe one day, this little girl will be inspired to save a species! Wednesday, May 4 2016Spring is for Salamanders. And Ice Cream. I don’t know about you, but when Spring time hits I get super busy! All of my exotic pythons are laying eggs, boas are giving birth, colubrids are breeding, cages need to be cleaned, snakes are feeding heavily again, work is really busy, sales are brisk due to tax return season…and on top of all that it is finally time to get out and find some wild animals in nature! I like to travel great distances in search of some of the more difficult to find species, but on some weeks I don’t have the time. So it is nice to be able to get out and find some beautiful herps close to home. I live in Louisville, KY, which is billed as America’s 16th largest city but is really the Nation’s largest big town. Even so, it is possible to find all kinds of neat reptiles and amphibians in urban and suburban settings in my area. Sometimes I am stunned by how close neat animals can be found around the city along roads that I drive by at top speeds most every day. Such was the case with this Cave Salamander Eurycea lucifuga. A member of the Lungless Salamander family, he was found in a suburban neighborhood where you could literally see 11 houses and their backyards. It took all of 5 minutes to find this little guy was hiding under a piece of tree bark after a quick trip to the grocery and other errands. When I got home after my big “hunt” the ice cream I bought was still frozen! Fun Times!! Monday, May 2 2016A Herpers Dilemma; Flash or No Flash When taking pictures of reptiles there are two qualities that I struggle to strike a balance between. One is crisp focus/depth of field and the other is proper coloration. In order to get crisp focus across my entire image I use flash so that I can set my f-stops to 18-22. When I do this I get great depth of field, but the flash also puts glare on shiny scales and distorts color. When I do not use flash I get great coloration, but my depth of field suffers and I lose focus quality. This is a very frustrating situation for me that I need to learn how to overcome. In the picture of this corn snake I am very happy with color saturation and lighting but am not happy with my depth of field. Note how there is some blurriness as you move toward the top of the photo. This year I will be experimenting with solutions and hope to find a way to reduce the amount of light my flash units emit so that I can strike a balance between natural coloration and crisp focus/depth of field. Wish me luck, and if you have any secrets please share them with me!! Friday, April 29 2016Savu Pythons Savu Pythons (Liasis mackloti savuensis) breeding I discovered my Savu Pythons (Liasis mackloti savuensis) mating on 25 April 2016. The day before I noticed my female was swelling so even though the male was about to shed, I introduced the female into his cage. They were breeding the following morning. This pair has been bred before with spectacular results. Unlike many other python species, Savus tend to breed when the temperatures rise and days are longer. In fact, during the winter months my adults resume feeding, but as soon as things warm up my males go off food and switch into breeding mode. I am not sure if this breeding will result in a gravid female. Instead, I view this as an early season warm-up for the pair. The female has been properly pre-conditioned and I am hoping for babies later this Fall! Wednesday, April 27 2016Nothing Beats Spring!! Thursday, April 21 2016Green Vine Snakes A portrait of the beautiful green vine snake. Get it Carl, get it! And although Carl tried, really tried, the snake beat him across the clearing and once in the water of the coche (oxbow) it was gone forever. The snake was a green vine snake, Oxybelis fulgidus, and Carl? Well he knows who he was. But there is one thing that we watchers are still trying to figure out. While we were standing on the high ground talking to Carl he was fully clothed. Then 100 feet or so away the vine snake made its appearance. Seconds later, when in hot pursuit of the snake Carl plunged into the silted water of the Amazon coche, he was wearing only his skivvies and his outer clothing was strewn along the pursuit path. How had he accomplished this seeming feat of magic? I’m not going to show you a photo of Carl or his discarded clothing but here are a few pix of the snake species that caused the uncanny unclothing occurrence. Continue reading "Green Vine Snakes" Tuesday, April 19 2016Baja California Rat Snake Juvenile Baja California rat snakes are prominently patterned. In May of 1984, 2 miles east of Mountain Spring, Imperial County, California, a dead snake was found on Interstate 8. The snake was a Baja California rat snake, Bogertophis rosaliae. The finding of this specimen, before and since unknown to occur in the USA, then stirred much controversy. Controversy continues today with some researchers believing this locality to be genuine, but with the lack of other examples of this snake species north of the border causing other researchers to question the validity of the find. There is, however, no question that the Baja rat snake, is a common species along almost the entire length of the peninsula for which it was named. And it is still hoped that its presence in the USA will someday be confirmed. While hatchlings and juveniles of the Baja California rat snake are blotched dorsally, the adults of this bug-eyed snake, whether olive, lavender, or orange, are unicolored. The genus Bogertophis is bitypic, with the only other species in the genus being the much better known Trans-Pecos rat snake, B. subocularis. Continue reading "Baja California Rat Snake" Thursday, April 14 2016Eastern Mud Salamander Most brilliant when a young adult, eastern mud salamanders usually dull with advancing age. Florida was far behind. Jake (hoping for his lifer eastern mud salamander) and I were sloshing through soupy mud topped with shallow water. The water, itself, was capped with oily looking iron slicks. Long dead trees lay helter-skelter, most in advanced states of decomposition, the trunks of others more newly fallen, still hard and unyielding. Working separately, after an hour or so we had between us turned and replaced more than 100 logs and limbs, and had found nothing beneath but more mud. Disappointed, we decided to bring our hunt for the eastern mud salamander, Pseudotriton m. montanus, to a halt and move on to the next target. We were 25 miles north of the locale when Justin called and Jake told him of our failure. In a few sentences Justin explained that we had been searching the wrong area of the vast swamp and gave Jake some more precise directions. Jake wanted to try again so we turned and returned. Forty five minutes later we were trudging past the area of the swamp we had so recently left and continued along the trail for another half mile. More soupy mud and more logs in various stages of decomposition now lay in front of us. Having seen many eastern mud salamanders in other areas I elected to search for other caudatans along the shore. But Jake, slogging, slipping and flipping, persevered in the foot deep mud. And a half hour later his perseverance paid off. He found and we photographed his lifer eastern mud. Now it really was “next target time.” Continue reading " Eastern Mud Salamander" Wednesday, April 13 2016Albino Carpet Python My first Albino Carpet Python clutch of 2016 hatched from 23-25 March and I was lucky enough to be able to capture several nice pictures of the process. For me, hatching snake eggs is something that keeps me involved in snakes year after year. It is the big reward. All year long I work hard to clean my snakes and keep them watered. I pay thousands of dollars to keep them warm and on rodents to feed them. My feed night is Friday each and every week, so I never get to go out for a night of fun on Fridays. Instead I am stuck at home after a long day at work with about 5 hours of extra work. But somehow all of that and the other downsides of keeping snakes vanish and disappear once eggs begin to hatch. It is a powerful moment when our eggs hatch and new life is brought forth. Where there once was nothing, there is suddenly something…and it is alive! Life can be messy, so I really liked getting this image where there is tons of bubbly egg goo all around the new living baby snake. I am often asked why I like snakes and my response is that if you have to ask that question there is no way you would ever be able to understand. Seriously, if you can’t look at a picture of a baby python taking its first look and first breath on earth and find some way to be able to appreciate that the rest of us will enjoy living in an environment where people can marvel at even the lowest forms of organisms entering our rough world for their own one shot at LIFE. Tuesday, April 12 2016Remember the Rubber Eel? This large, gravid, aquatic caecilian was netted from the grassy shoreline of an Amazonian river. It was about midnight. A half dozen of us had just returned to the river boat from a long Amazonian rainforest walk. Several frogs and a few snakes had been found and we now sat on deck discussing the herps that had been seen and what had been missed, watching occasional meteors in the star-spangled sky, and sipping coffee or cold drinks. One by one the participants all headed for the showers and a well-earned few hours of sleep. I grabbed a net and walked the gangplank to the weedy shore intending to net up a few tropical fish to photograph in the morning. Cichlids and rivulids were common and if lucky I might get a few interesting catfish as well. But I was really lucky. After a few sweeps of the net I brought up a baby swamp eel, Synbranchus marmoratus, and…I could hardly believe my eyes, a 15” long aquatic caecilian, Typhlonectes compressicauda. I had known that the latter occurred in the region but I hadn’t until then found one. A few more net-sweeps in the shallows brought up another caecilian, this one a bit smaller. Both would be photographed and released in the morning. Although I had actually kept and bred this interesting amphibian, the “rubber eel” of the aquarium industry, I was happy to make its acquaintance in the field. But it was late and the showers were beckoning. In just a few hours the titi monkeys would be vocalizing, signaling the start of another day of Amazon herping. Life was good. Continue reading "Remember the Rubber Eel?" Thursday, April 7 20164-Toes Four-toed salamanders in their sphagnum habitat. The bed of sphagnum stretched away from the small woodland stream in a semicircle of perhaps 20 yards. Beyond this, scattered smaller patches of sphagnum could be seen. All in all, the habitat looked ideal for the small salamander for which Jake and I were searching on this cool winter day, the four-toed salamander, Hemidactylium scutatum. But even amidst sphagnum habitats four-toes are not evenly distributed, preferring streamside locales where newly hatched larvae can attain, with just a little squirming, access to saturated moss and shallow water. This area was intersected by several seepages as well as the main stream but it was along the latter that we finally found the 4-toes. Several females, most with egg clutches were seen. Within the egg capsules well developed, soon to hatch, larvae were wriggling. The plethodontid genus Hemidactylium contains only this 3” long species. Usually reddish dorsally and grayish laterally, the most prominent diagnostic factors of the species are a white belly that bears well-separated black dots and a noticeable basal constriction on the tail. The tail autotomizes readily at the constriction. This salamander occurs in a great many disjunct populations that range southwestward from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia to extreme seOK and eLA. Continue reading "4-Toes" Tuesday, April 5 2016Everglades Crocs Two of the several American crocodiles near the Everglades Marina. I was standing at the edge of the marina near the docks at the general store in Flamingo. It was a quarter moon, partially cloudy, night in Everglades National Park. A slight breeze stirred a few tiny wavelets to life. Their sloshing against the pilings nullified many of the surrounding sounds. But the splash of a surfacing fish could occasionally be heard and a barred owl repeatedly asked a mournful “who cooks for you, who cooks for you-all” from a tree closer to the road. On the docks laughing gulls and black skimmers stood mewing and murmuring , the gulls ghostly pale, the skimmers inky dark. Some ripples below me caught my eye and I turned the headlight on. A fair sized American crocodile had surfaced! My night was complete. On almost every Everglades trip, day or night, I take a few minutes and stop by the marina to try and search out a basking crocodile. Occasionally one or more will be on the near bank or near the fish-cleaning house, but more often a croc can be found on the far bank. With diligent searching it is almost always possible to see 1 or more American crocodiles, Crocodylus acutus. Most are between 6 and 10 feet in length, but occasionally—I guess it would be more accurate to say “rarely--” a hatchling or yearling may be seen. From a Florida population in the low hundreds a few decades ago, the number of this very cold sensitive, endangered, croc now probably exceeds 2,000. Known nests are carefully monitored by both federal and state biologists. It has been recorded in coastline habitats from Tampa Bay on the Gulf coast, southward through the Keys, then northward to Jupiter Beach on the east coast. As expected, and as always in the USA, it is most common in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Continue reading "Everglades Crocs" Thursday, March 31 2016Carrot-tailed Viper Gecko Small, stock, and with a distinctive tail and scalation, meet the carrot-tailed viper gecko. Once quite commonly seen in the pet trade, for twofold reasons the little carrot-tailed viper gecko, Hemidactylus imbricatus (formerly Teratolepis fasciatus) is now harder to acquire. Firstly, there are almost no shipments coming to the USA from the Pakistan homeland of this gecko and secondly, for reasons not yet understood some breeders have found the hatchlings delicate. Hatchlings are said to often succumb within the first few weeks of their life. This gecko of the rocky deserts attains an adult length of about 3 inches and is of stocky build. Despite its small size, once past the rather delicate hatchling stage, this is a hardy gecko that can live for many years in captivity on a diet of vitamin-calcium dusted baby crickets and tiny roaches. The polygonal body scales are relatively small and only weakly imbricate. However the scales on the carrot-shaped tail are large and strongly imbricate. My first examples came from a Pakistani friend in the early 60s. All arrived alive, bred readily, and within a year I had added several hatchlings to the growing colony. Be these Hemidactylus or Teratolepis, they are an alert, primarily terrestrial, easily kept gecko, that is well worthy of consideration. Additional reading: Bauer, Aaron M.; Varad B. Giri, Eli Greenbaum, Todd R. Jackman, Mahesh S. Dharne and Yogesh S. 2008. On the Systematics of the Gekkonid Genus Teratolepis Günther, 1869: Another One Bites the Dust. Hamadryad 32 (2): 90-104 Continue reading " Carrot-tailed Viper Gecko" Tuesday, March 29 2016Spider Gecko The name of spider gecko is derived from the long, spindly legs. When after opening the bag I got my first look at this slender, big eyed, long legged, skinny tailed, creature I realized that I had never even imagined such a creature existed. I noticed too that they were devoid of toepads, and that when adult they are easily sexed, the males having pronounced hemipenial bulges as 5 of my 6 did. I also was quick to learn that the adult males were incompatible. The 6th individual, then a not sexable subadult, was a male. Querying the shipper, I learned that this semidesert gecko was a saxicolous species, a terrarium type that was/is easily duplicated. In such terraria I found these geckos undemanding and very hardy. And for this experience I say many thanks, Jerry. Continue reading " Spider Gecko" Friday, March 25 2016The Tiniest Salamander The dwarf salamander ranges from Texas to North Carolina and southern Florida. It wasn’t crossing the road. It was lying quietly parallel with the yellow line and it was only 1 ¼ “ in length with a diameter hardly greater than a broom straw. It was a newly metamorphosed dwarf salamander, Eurycea quadridigitata. It was probably the smallest salamander that Jake or I had ever road hunted, and yes, I still wonder how either of us, never mind both of us, ever saw this creature that looked upon closer inspection like nothing more than a fine crack in the pavement? Having an average adult length of 2 ¾ to 3 ¼ inches (and a record length just a hair over 3 ½ inches), at its largest the dwarf salamander is aptly named. As currently described this is probably a species complex. It is a salamander of southeastern swamplands and is small enough to hide beneath even tiny pieces of vegetative debris. In keeping with its swampland habitat, this is a dark colored salamander. The dorsum is lighter than the sides, often bears a vague herringbone pattern and is divided by a narrow, dark, vertebral stripe that may be continuous or broken, and usually shades to a yellowish or sometimes orange color with no stripe on the tail. A dark dorsolateral stripe is present on each side. The sides and venter are grayish. There are only 4 toes on each foot. I assure you that it was for the possibility of seeing other herp species that we had travelled to Florida’s Panhandle, but the finding of this little dwarf among dwarves was certainly noteworthy. Continue reading "The Tiniest Salamander" Tuesday, March 22 2016Gophers—Frogs That Is An adult male Florida gopher frog. Living in a region where a goodly number of anurans exist has its herpetological ups and downs. The ups are that on almost any rainy night throughout the year we can see or hear some species of frog, toad, or treefrog. The downs are that to find some species we have to brave the chilly nights and cooler waters (remember, we are Floridian wimps!) of seasons other than midsummer. But, when we do tailor our searches a bit and search out cool weather species, we may find the gopher frog, Rana capito aesopus, a localized and secretive taxon that awaits heavy rains and flooding conditions to begin its breeding sequence. And so it was on this night. It had rained, poured, rained, then misted all day and Jake decided this was the night when gopher frogs would be active. The problem was, he hadn’t cleared this with the gopher frogs. But Jake swore that that if I would just get him to where the frogs were he WOULD NOT come back to the car without a picture. So we headed westward to visit a known gopher frog locale. When we arrived it was almost dark, it WAS windy, and it was cool. We could hear no gophers from the road so we, in shorts and flipflops, clawed and shoved our way through 100 feet of brambles and thorny shrubs to pond edge. By this time it was cold, windy and moonlit. But guess what? Gophers WERE singing. We got to the water and I said something to the effect of "they're here, they're singing, go get 'em Jake." His response was "ummmmmm--I forgot my camera." By now the frogs were calling loudly so I suggested that Jake go and at least find one so he could add it to his life list. He went. I stood and shivered. Jake got 1/4 way across the pond and the frogs stopped singing. Jake stood. One frog called. Jake, sounding like a dyspeptic porcupine, produced an answering snore. Lo, the frog called again. Jake stalked s-l-o-w-l-y towards it. It was now a contest of whether the pond would evaporate or the frog would die from old age before he got to the calling site. OK, so you've got the idea by now. The trip was a washout. Frogs 10. Jake and me, zero. But we had fun, and later that year, on a warmer and even rainier night, we were more successful. Jake got his photos. Continue reading "Gophers—Frogs That Is" Thursday, March 17 2016A Horned Frog Predicament All brown, brown and green, or green are all common color variation of the Caatinga horned frog. When the death of a pet occurs it is disturbing. When the death of a healthy pet occurs it is infinitely more disturbing. And this latter occurred a while ago when my male Caatinga horned frog, Ceratophrys joazierensis, was killed by my female during a breeding attempt. There is always a chance of such things happening when cannibalistic frog meets cannibalistic frog, but this surprised for vocalizations had led to amplexus and I was reasonably sure that all was well in the rain chamber. But this time I was wrong. For some reason amplexus was discontinued, and the female turned, grasped the male by one hind leg and faster than I could intercede swallowed the male to midbody. By then I had them in hand, pried her jaws open, released the male (who at that time seemed none the worse for that harrowing experience) and separated the pair. But despite there being no outward sign of the aggression something detrimental had happened to the male because from that day, until his death 2 weeks later, he simply sat in one spot (not unusual for a horned frog) and he never again ate (very unusual for a horned frog). Since that time I have been looking for a replacement male. I know this taxon has been bred in captivity so there are some out there somewhere. But until now I have neither seen nor heard of any being available. But I’ll keep looking… Continue reading "A Horned Frog Predicament" Wednesday, March 16 2016Kenya Sand Boa Manopause?! I will never forget my first Kenya Sand Boa experience. I was around 14 years old when I saw my first babies at the local pet store and I had to buy a pair. It took me over a month to pay for them and I took feeding them and making them breeder sized very seriously. By the time I hit 17 I was working at the shop where I bought them and when my female gave birth I called my boss at around midnight to tell him. I was excited, and he was exhausted!(LOL) But when I got to work the next day he had a big banner up across the isles of the store congratulating me. It was the first time I ever bred a Boa. As I inched towards 40 I had bred many species of snakes and learned that they all took up space, so that got me thinking about Sand Boas again. There are no fortunes to be made here, but the fact is that I find the process to be fun. Not sure if this is manopause or not, but here I am breeding these little worms again. Pictured is my holdback female from 2015. Call it what you will, I am guilty as charged! Tuesday, March 15 2016Emerald Tree Boa—Finally! A beautiful adult Basin emerald. It seems it always happens this way. For about 20 years, on innumerable trips to Amazonian Peru, I and those who have travelled with me, have searched long and hard for what is considered by many the gem of the Amazonian rainforests, the Basin emerald tree boa, Corallus batesii. Stated as succinctly as possible, despite the thousands of search-hours spent, we failed. We found 150 other species of herps, but when it came to the emerald, pure and simple, we failed. Years passed and this year (2015) I elected to retire. A few weeks after having done so, friend, Kenny (a biologist and geneticist) decided that he’d like to research the wildlife of what had become our major preserve, Santa Cruz Forest Preserve on the Rio Mazan in Amazonian Peru. He and his family moved to the preserve for a year long stint. Four months into it Kenny texted me “You retired too soon” and attached a pic of the coveted emerald tree boa. It seems that Kenny, accompanied by his wife, Maria, and a village youngster, Cain, by name, were taking an evening stroll along the main trail when, only a few meters from the compound, Cain noticed the snake. It was hanging head downward, nose only a few inches from the leaf litter of the forest floor, in a small tree only a foot or so from trail edge. Kenny’s correct. I retired a few months too soon. Continue reading "Emerald Tree Boa—Finally!" Monday, March 14 2016It's all in the details Last week a friend bought a sexed pair of Spotted Pythons from me. It took him 4 weeks to save up the funds, and during that time he asked me all the right questions and got everything ready. Within two hours after arriving home and getting the snake put away he discovered that one had escaped…the female of course! I hate the fact that people have to go through things like this, but most of the time it takes a loss and a bad mistake in order to learn. When it comes to keeping snakes it is a fact that there are forces working against us all at every turn. Even when it is legal and you go out of your way to do everything right, all it takes in one tiny detail to ruin everything and foul up all the fun. In my experience I have found that my work is never done and that it is best to always be on the lookout for how I can make things better. In this case the snakes were put in a baby rack made for snakes, but they still got out even though the snake was over 7 months old and no longer a baby. When I put baby snakes in a rack I fold up newspaper and put it under the box so that it is raised up and made even tighter with the top of the rack. Of course, that restricts air flow so I have to drill more holes to make sure my snake can breathe! It seems that every adjustment requires an additional adjustment! The work never ends, and if you think your work is done I bet something will go wrong while you are sitting back relaxing thinking that all is well! Be careful out there fellow snake keeper! It is all in the details!! Friday, March 11 2016Miraculous Mouse Mamas! I recently took my daughters to their first reptile show. Once inside they were drawn to a booth with dozens of mounted rats and mice along with rat bone necklaces and mouse skull jewelry. I allowed each of my girls to select a specimen, and as I discussed the terms of the price with the two mouse women a long line formed behind me. I watched as everyone in the line attempted successfully to sell their dead rodents. The herp show had gone green and was recycling dead feeders! I learned that there was a demand for dead snakes too! My favorite item was a jumbo rat mounted on remote controlled wheels. I could sure have some fun with that! Thursday, March 10 2016Black-breasted Leaf Turtle Still with well defined facial markings, this black-breasted leaf turtle is about a quarter grown. Have you ever wanted to kick yourself in the butt for getting rid of a particular herp or for passing by the opportunity to purchase a given species. On several occasions I have done both and regretted it for a long time after. For example, I regret not acquiring a photo of the Javan tubercled or dragon snakes when they were being offered. It is true that they have proven difficult (read that impossible) to keep as captives but there has to be a key to that problem somewhere. Of the herps that I am most upset at allowing myself to be talked out of was and still is my 2 pairs of black-breasted leaf turtles, Geomyda spengleri spengleri. There are several Asiatic turtle species of which I am fond, several members of the genus Cuora among them, but IMO none compare with this little leaf turtle. This is not because of color. This leaf turtle is a variable but often dingey brown above with very pronounced posterior carapacial serrations. The yellow(ish) rimmed plastron is mostly black. The skin is also brown with the only noticeable highlight being the stark white irides of the protuberant eyes. So, if it’s not color what is it about these four inch long Asian turtles that is so enchanting? One word—personality. Once acclimated this turtle, naturally alert, quickly becomes tame-- actually outgoing—and seems contemplative. It reminds me in more ways than one of our little bog turtle but outdoes the boggy in each aspect… Time to close. I’ve almost talked myself into another purchase. Continue reading "Black-breasted Leaf Turtle" Wednesday, March 9 2016An Isolated Corn Snake Population In Kentucky In high school I got my hands on Barbours book about Snakes in Kentucky and will never forget gazing at the picture of the Corn Snake and learning that a small and isolated population of these snakes occurred in Kentucky. Little did I know that the names of the other students who checked out that book would be my future bosses and co-workers at The Louisville Zoo, or that my friend Phil Peak and I would one day focus in on this serpent and spend countless hours in the counties that seemed so far away and foreign to me at the time. It took some effort to locate my first specimen by the time that I was in my 20’s, but once I began to figure them out I was able to locate well over 100 of them in a very confined area. Phil and I were able to establish a small group of these snakes in captivity and we donated babies to educational facilities across Kentucky. We also gave them to people in our local Herp Society so that they could be used in presentations, and also so that our local people would not feel the need to go down and remove additional specimens from the wild. Phil and I had a lot of questions about this isolated population of snakes so we began to record as much information about each specimen as we could. In addition to blotch and scale row counts we were also able to determine when they emerged, when they bred, when they laid eggs, when the babies hatched, and when the adults went back underground to spend the winter. After compiling all of our data we began the process of publishing our work in a scientific format. This process was long and complicated for us, and we were fortunate to meet Danna Baxley who came onboard with our efforts as a co-author and helped us organize the work in a way that was presentable and acceptable to the newly formed Journal of North American Herpetology where it was published in 2015. To anyone interested in the scientific paper, here is a link to the PDF file that can be found on the Center For North American Herpetology website: http://www.cnah.org/pdf/88314.pdf It is difficult to fully describe everything that was involved in this whole process in the short format here, so I will close it out by saying that the journey from my high school library all the way to being published in a scientific journal was a long and interesting experience that has left me grateful to the local people of rural Kentucky and to my friends Phil Peak and Danna Baxley whose knowledge and patience made possible what I could not have done on my own. Tuesday, March 8 2016McGregor’s Pit Vipers Many McGregor's pit vipers are strongly patterned. This is another of today’s choose your name species. This beautiful and variable pit viper from the Philippine islands of Batan and Sabtang (perhaps introduced to other locales) has gone from its 1913 described name of Trimeresurus mcgregori (named for the collector of the first specimen who just happened to receive and survive a bite) to Trimeresrus flavomaculatus mcgregori, then to Parias mcgregori, and now back to the starting name, T. mcgregori. This is one of the more variably colored pit vipers, ranging from solid brown to a pure silvery white and having many shades of yellow and a few differing patterns between those 2 extremes. It is adult at about 3 feet in length. It is an oviparous species. Protected in its Philippine homeland and the relatively few captives having proven problematic to breed, this beautiful pit viper is not a frequently seen species in collections. As would be expected, when on the rare occasions this taxon does become available, the prices asked are often out of range for all but the most dedicated of venomous keepers. Continue reading "McGregor’s Pit Vipers" Friday, March 4 2016Wagler's Vipers The old standby, Wagler's viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri, Thailand. A decade or so ago, the Wagler’s viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri, once thought to be just a very variable snake species, was determined to actually be a species complex. Researchers have now elevated several of what were long considered simply geographic or color variants of the Wagler’s viper to full species status. This has, of course, rendered the Wagler’s viper, itself, much less variable, but definitely no less interesting. Besides T. wagleri of Thailand and West Malaysia the genus now contains: Hutton’s pit viper, T. huttoni (a poorly known species from southern India) Mindanao pit viper, T. philippinensis (a genetically separable Wagler’s viper lookalike from Mindanao) Keeled green pit viper. T. subannulatus of the Philippines and Borneo (as described, possibly a species complex) Broad-banded temple pit viper, T. laticinctus, of Sulawesi. The alternate name of temple viper (applied to at least 2 of the species) seems to have originated due to the abundance of T. wagleri near the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Malaya. If you search old literature or Google the species, you will undoubtedly see photos of people, old and young alike, often near the Temple of the Azure Cloud, holding Wagler’s vipers barehandedly. In my opinion this is unwise in the extreme. Admittedly this snake, nocturnal by nature, is relatively placid and reluctant to bite in the daylight hours. They are far less apt to allow indiscriminate handling after dark. It is to the best interests of all herpers (and especially yourself) that you not become an expensive and controversial snakebite statistic. Continue reading "Wagler's Vipers" Tuesday, March 1 2016Colombian Boas and a Mention of Miami The supraocular areas of this northern Colombian boa baby are barely darkened. For many decades Colombian boas, Boa constrictor imperator, were a major component in the American pet trade. In fact, they were the dominant and least expensive subspecies available. I purchased my first baby Colombian boa back in the early 1950s from Quivira Specialties Company in Topeka, Kansas. It cost me $4.65 plus postage. Yep—that was 4 dollars and 65 cents. You could buy a “red-tailed” boa for a couple of bucks more but they were less readily available and why would one need a boa with a redder tail that that borne by the Colombian (actually imperator is found from northern Mexico to northwestern South America) subspecies anyway? What is a B. c. imperator? The call is pretty much made by the shape of the dark head marking. On this subspecies the longitudinal central marking ostensibly had a lateral projection to each eye. In reality the lateral projections could vary from well-defined to nearly absent. They were often represented by the supraocular scales being darkened but not connected to the longitudinal central mark. These projections are lacking on the more southerly forms. The red of the tail of imperator may vary from blackish-red in northern Mexico to dusty red in northern Colombia. Boas, escaped or deliberately released, were known to have been established in South Florida since the 1960s. They were and are largely restricted to a small area of Miami. Of variable appearance. Some have the head markings and pale red tails that define the northern Colombian boas while others lack even vestiges of the horizontal head projections and have rich red tails suggesting a more southerly origin. And since I recently lost all pix of Miami boas when a hard drive crashed, I guess it’s time to try my luck once more. Continue reading "Colombian Boas and a Mention of Miami" |
Our Sponsors CategoriesSubscribe |
|
|
|
|
