Rattlers, Peepers & Snappers.

Rattlers, Peepers & Snappers is for anyone interested in the biology, natural history, or the 52 fascinating amphibians & reptiles in New England.

Vince Franke teamed up with Jim Andrews, of the VT Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, to create individual segments on all the species that breed in New England as well as reptile and amphibian field adventures hosted by a variety of New England experts. The DVD was designed and laid out for a variety of audiences and ages. We’ve received great feedback from professionals, teachers, naturalists and their kids!

PLAY excerpt from field adventure

• 3 hours of programs
• Frog calls of every species
• Quizzes, facts sheets, resource pages and much more

The two educational programs incorporate a series of field trips with local experts from across New England as well as highlighting current research projects with University graduate students from the University of Maine, the University of Massachusetts, Berkshire Community College, and the University of Connecticut. Topics include the identification, natural history, and conservation of all the snakes, turtles, lizards, frogs, and salamanders of New England.

From Peregrine Productions

First herptile find for the season!

 

I found my first ones of this season yeasterday.

When I go to work, I pass a little place where I have been thinking: “There might be an Adder there”. So, yesterday I walked there, it´s just 750 meters from work, to have a look.. Didn´t think that I was going to find anything, just wanted to check the place out..

After just a few minutes, I saw 2 V. berus basking, immediatley threwed myself on the ground with the camera.. Took a few pictures, and walked a little more. Only after 25 meters or so, I found another one.

A good day, in deed!

A couple of the pictures I took..

Basking V. berus, Common adder.

 

Basking V. berus, Common adder.

 

Link to a thread in my forum, regarding spring-findings.

Pictures on how snakeskin is collected for the trade. WARNING! GRAPHIC PICTURES!

 WARNING! GRAPHIC PICTURES!

The following message is made of an well known herpetologist, I am in this post just quoting it. / Miqe

“I was sent the images by a concerned Sri Lankan herpetologist but I would imagine the images originate from Indonesia (Sumatra and/or Kalimantan, Borneo), possibly Malaysia, (Peninsula or Sarawak, Borneo, but less likely)
I have not examined them closely, and have no wish to do so, but an IUCN report for 1989 shows that Indonesia exported 556,000 retic python skins, and 71,000 blood and short-tail python skins.
Most of these snakes pass through specialised snake slaughter houses in Sumatra and Borneo. See O’Shea 2007 Pythons and Boas of the World New Holland pp.30-31.

The snakes are killed primarily for skins but also harvested for meat and gall bladders to supply the ethnic Chinese populations.
Despite possible claims, these are not captive bred for the market, who could economically raise a python to adult size and then slaughter it for its skin, meat and bile, and expect to improve on their investment.

Pythons are often skinned alive, the same for crocodiles, apparently the skin is easier to remove.

Also of interest would be:
Erdelen, W. 1998 Conservation, Trade and Sustainable Use of Lizards and Snakes in Indonesia. Mertensiella (supplement 9) : xxiii+144pp.
Groombridge, B. & R.Luxmoore 1991 Pythons in South-East Asia: A review of distribution, status and trade in three selected species. CITES, Cambridge, UK. 127pp.”

This slaughter is just for us humans to get this:

STOP THIS NOW!!

Mating frogs get waterside hotel

Mating frogs are vulnerable to predators such as foxes and herons

What is claimed to be Britain’s first “frog hotel” is to be created on the banks of the Water of Leith.

The two-tier structure, made from wood and recycled materials, will be placed alongside a pond in Redhall Walled Garden in Edinburgh.

It is designed to protect mating frogs, which are vulnerable to predators such as foxes and herons.

The project aims to encourage breeding amphibians and highlight the work volunteers do for the environment.

Robert Henderson, Scottish co-ordinator for the CSV Action Earth campaign, said the hotel would be a beehive structure.

“At ground level is what’s called the Compost Cafe”, he said.

“Then there’s a ramp up to a more protected area where frogs can hibernate in the winter.”

From BBC

Lizard she-males survive longer

Augrabies Flat Lizard ‘she-males’ can

The Augrabies Flat Lizard (Platysaurus broadleyi), a star of Sir David Attenborough’s recent series Life in Cold Blood, adds another twist to its tale. A team of South African and Australian researchers have discovered that some males of this dramatically coloured lizard mimic females during early maturity and thereby avoid the costs of broadcasting their masculinity.

As juveniles, all males look like females before gradually developing extravagant adult male coloration at the onset of sexual maturity. These young males are most vulnerable to aggressive adult male rivals when these first tell-tale signs of masculinity begin to develop and adults are quick to capitalise on a soft target by chasing and sometimes biting these young males.

Assoc. Prof. Whiting pointed out that “by delaying the onset of colour to a more convenient period, these males (termed she-males) are making the best of a bad situation”. An immediate advantage is freedom of movement in the normally treacherous zones which make up the territories of highly aggressive males that already have extensive fighting experience. At the same time, these female mimics are able to court the myriad of females that share the territorial male’s residence.

The authors of this study (Assoc. Prof. Martin Whiting of the University of the Witwatersrand; Dr. Jonathan Webb of the University of Sydney; and Assoc. Prof. Scott Keogh of the Australian National University) also tested whether she-males are able to mimic the chemical ‘signature’ of females.

In a clever experiment performed in the wild, they removed all pheromones and skin lipids that might signal gender and relabelled a group of females and she-males with either male or female scent, before presenting them to typical adult males. Males use their tongues to sample chemical scent and responded by courting she-males labeled as females, but not she-males labeled as males. “Males are fooled by looks, but not by scent” said Dr. Webb.

She-males are able to maintain this deception by staying one step ahead of a prying male, and thereby avoiding a nosey tongue that might give the game away.  Assoc. Prof. Keogh said that “young transvestite males appear to have a dual advantage: the avoidance of potentially dangerous bouts with dominant males and access to normally inaccessible females”.

From Science Alert