kingsnake.com

The best thing about reptile shows is the chance to hang with friends and family. We enjoyed a quiet little family lunch with a small group of folks. I also got to see the Venom Doc reduced to purchasing a corn snake. The photo in the corner is our lunch group including Bryan Fry, Chip Cochran, and Desiree Wong, among others.

Photo after the jump is the snake Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry purchased, albeit for his girlfriend. Off to the auction and more photos will follow soon.

Continue reading "NARBC: Friends and family"

We've been having some upload problems from the NARBC show here in Anaheim, but here are a few photos to hold you over until we get back to our real computers!

Desiree Wong and Thusara from Zoomed:



More under the bump...

Continue reading "NARBC: Day one photos"

Good morning from Anaheim, Calif., and the first day of the National Association of Reptile Breeders Conference!

I'll be keeping you posted throughout the weekend, but for now, here's a photo of Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry and me, in the blinding California sunshine.



I'll have more soon!

At the top of my "must-see" list during this trip to California: Visiting Jeff Lemm and seeing his conservation work with the San Diego Zoo and the Beckman Center for Conservation Research.

Conservation programs run by the Chicago Herpetological Society are what got me involved with the reptile community back in the day, and conservation efforts continue to be where my passions lie.

Uber-herper Jeff Lemm is one of the research coordinators in the Applied Animal Ecology department, and he's long been one of my heroes for his work with Rock Iguanas. He met me, along with my husband, Brian, and my sister-in-law, Cheri, at the Beckman Center for Conservation Research and proudly showed off his Mountain Yellow Legged frogs project, including their goals for re-introduction and on-site breeding project. The current status of these frogs is quite dismal, but it's amazing to watch a species grasp the chance to return to the wild.

Jeff then took us to his newly designed iguana facility. The attention to detail, from the heating and cooling to the humidity sources, was amazing. Juvie Blue Iguanas greeted us in the grow-up cages, and Jeff shared where they would eventually be heading to live out their lives. We also discussed the processes he went through to learn exactly what was needed to breed the more rarer , how they started with the Cuban Rocks, which are stable in captivity.

Continue reading "NARBC: San Diego Zoo conservation and Safari Park"

We're on the road again! I'm heading out to represent Kingsnake.com at the North American Reptiles Breeder's Conference in Anaheim, CA.

kingsnake.com will be covering NARBC live, just like we did Daytona last month. I'll be meeting up with Jeff Lemm from the San Diego Zoo as well as a pet author Liz Palika, who is very well known in dog land but also runs a reptile rescue from her home in California.

If you're there, look for me at set-up on Friday as well as at the show and auction over the rest of the weekend. Stop me and say hi!

Desiree Wong of the International Reptile Conservation Foundation and her sidekick, Xan, will also be helping with the online coverage.

You can follow us on the Kingsnake.com blog here.

We have a photo gallery made specifically for this show! Upload shots from the show while you're down there to share with everyone! You can find the NARBC Anaheim gallery here.

Be sure to "like" us on Facebook here -- we'll be updating there, too, as well as on Twitter, here.

Are you a regular Twitter user? We have started a hashtag for the event! Post from the show with #narbc to join in on the fun! Not familiar with how hashtags work? No problem! Check out this helpful link for more information.

Safe travels to all on their way to and from the show. If you see me, please stop and say hi! And don't be shocked if I ask for a photo with you!

Continue reading "North American Reptile Breeders Conference in Anaheim"

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.

In what can only be described as a horrendous tragedy, the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary in Belize was burned to the ground this weekend. Today, croc fans worldwide wait to see the future not only for ACES but also for Cherie and Vince Rose, who dedicated their lives to helping rehabilitate the American Crocodile.

From CNN.com:

Bit by bit, their hope turned into reality. They built a two-story octagonal-shaped house that rested on stilts and reached 30 feet into the air. They constructed two smaller cottages for researchers and students to stay in. They dug out two acres of canals for the crocodiles. They acquired two boats.

They called the place the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary.

Most of it vanished Sunday morning, when a throng of angry villagers from a settlement about 10 miles (16 km) away torched the buildings on their property. The villagers had been told by a local psychic that the Americans had fed the two missing children to the 17 crocodiles at the sanctuary, police say.

The Roses were rescuing three crocodiles on a distant island at the time, so were not home to ward off the attack -- or possibly suffer a gruesome fate.

I first learned of ACES when Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest, IL, began fundraising to bring one of their American Crocs to the facility. Cherie and Vince are in our thoughts today, and we hope for their safety as the rebuild. We will keep you posted on this as it unfolds.

Modern medicine isn't just for humans anymore. A Loggerhead Sea Turtle named J. George received a CT scan for free at Bon Secours Health Center to help learn why he couldnt dive.
From Pilot-Online:

"His caudal end is buoyant," said the stranding team's Christina Trapani, and Dr. George translated: "He floats with his rear end up like a crab pot marker."

Jersey George was found on a New Jersey beach Aug. 1, 2009. He had been hit by a boat propeller, resulting in three large cuts across his back and paralyzing his rear flippers.

The aquarium agreed to take him into rehab, and J. George has responded well over the past year. But periodically his rear end floats up, a problem for an air-breathing animal that must dive for food.

After 13 months of rehab, they are currently working to see if J.George will be able to be fixed and released. If he is unable to dive, he will need to remain in captivity.

The birth of rare crocodilians is a pretty exciting event, and St. Augustine Alligator Farm is having some nice rare events. TEarlier this week they had a Slender Snout Crocodile hatching, and then today they hatched the first of their Siamese Crocs. Great to see conservation in action at one of my favorite places to visit.

Now for TEH CUTES. The photo to the right is the baby hatchling Siamese Croc -- thanks to Kevin Torregrosa. The photo below is the baby Slender Snouted Croc. So very cute that they made Zooborns.

Continue reading "Congrats to St. Augustine on their hatchings"

The folks in Eaton, Mich., love animals and they are taking steps to show even normal people can become extraordinary heroes.

Going above and beyond their normal daily lives, they are taking steps to ensure the wildlife affected by the oil spill gets cleaned up and a second chance. From the Lansing State Journal:

Then there's the woman known as the "Turtle Rehabber," Kay Frasher. Frasher, who works as a vet tech at the Holt Veterinarian Clinic, is licensed as an animal rehabilitator and specializes in turtles native to Michigan.

"Anytime we get turtles, they go to Kay," Sagaert said. Frasher says cleaning a turtle with Dawn liquid detergent, using cotton tipped swabs for the creases in its neck and legs, can take from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on how tarry it is. It's painstaking work that often involves a few bites, especially in the attempt to grab the turtle's head in order to clean its neck.

Frasher, though, isn't complaining. "I've really been amazed to see this come together in such a short time," she said of the large rescue site in Marshall. "I'm honored to have been called and to be here." There are countless examples of loving dedication every day at the rescue site.

To read the tales of all the rescuers, click here.