herpetofauna - Long Island Herpetological Society

Transcription

HERPETOFAUNA
Journal
Support the LIHS
JOIN
or
RENEW
NOW
Membership
$25.00
of the
Long Island Herpetological Society
January / February / March / April 2010
Volume 20, Issue 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Behind every HERPER is a GREAT MOM ( WHO else would put up with us??? )
NEXT LIHS MEETING: Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Rich Hume – Corn Snakes – “The Best Snake Ever”
2nd Annual LIHS AUCTION – June 13th, 2010
TOPIC
Presidents Message – Spring 2010
Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium Herp
Day
Constrictor Action Page
LIHS Executive Board & Contact Information
Don’t Mess with My Pet
nd
LIHS 2 Annual Auction
Crisis for the World’s Amphibians
ER to PR: Veterinary Medicine on the Run
Launch for Amphibian ‘Life Raft’
Hopping Mad about Money
“The GOOD” and “The BAD”
Venom Emergency
Venom Hunters
Eastern Indigo Devours Snake Pictorial
Boback’s Boas
New Philippines Dragon-sized Lizard
Harry to the Rescue
Retro Reptile Ad
Page
TOPIC
Page
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3
Retro Reptile Ad
German Caught Smuggling Geckos in Lederhosen
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New Zealand gets Tough on Smugglers
One Legged Snake
Sprouts make Turtles Flatulent Too
A Frog He Would A-Pooing Go
Rattlesnakes Courting Pictorial
st
21 Annual LIHS Reptile & Amphibian Show
Green Frog Climbs the Food Chain
Radiated Tortoise’s Downfall
Scientists Reveal Secret Disposal System of Frogs
White Lizards Evolve in New Mexico Dunes
Tarantula Shoots Sharp Hairs into Owner’s Eye
Rare Crocs Found Hiding in Plain Sight
Snapping Turtle Grabs Boy’s Face
Herp Web Sites / Video Clips to Check Out
The Herp Marketplace
LIHS Meeting / Event Dates & Information
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PRESIDENT MESSAGE
Spring 2010
Spring has sprung & summer is just around the corner. A lot is going on at the LIHS and we have
much to look forward to. Last June we had our very first Reptile Auction and because of its great success we will be having it again this June. So now is the time to go & select those Reptile related items
(or maybe not Reptile related) and dust them off or clean them out to get ready for the Auction. A lot
of fun is had & you just might pick up that certain something you were always looking for. Like last
year, we will have some donations Items from Zoo Med & for the first time, our good friends at Ophiological Services in Florida will be sending a few snakes up for the Auction. So please come & help support the club.
On the political front – I
was invited to Washington D.C.
on April 21 by the Assistant Chief
Counsel Office of Advocacy, U.S.
Small Business Administration. A
meeting was setup by the Small
Business Administration to find
out the impact of the recent US
Fish & Wildlife “Rule Change “to
add nine species of Pythons &
Boas to the Lacey Act. The US Fish
& Wildlife Service was
represented at this meeting by
three officers (a Biologist & 2 invasive species specialist). For the
Pictured ( Left – Right ) - LIHS President, Vin Russo, Bill
Reptile Industry there was Bill
Brandt, Peter Kahl, Adam Wysoki.
Brandt of Gourmet Rodent in Florida ( a distributor for Petco ),
Board Members of PIJAC ( Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council) Marshall Meyer & Dr. Jamie Reesser,
President of USARK Andrew Wyatt & his lobbyists, Jay Brewer of Prehistoric Pets in California, Chad
Peelings of Clyde Peelings Reptile Land ( Representing the AZA ), Gary Bagnall of Zoo Med, Representatives of “Ship Your Reptiles.com”, Pete Kahl of Peter Kahl Reptiles in Maryland, Andrew Wysoki from
NatPet and obviously myself (representing my business – Cutting Edge Herpetological, Inc. & the LIHS).
Many topics were covered in our long meeting. First & most importantly was the “Business”
end of it. The Small Business Administration is obviously concerned about the impact this Rule Change
can have on the Pet Industry. They asked for numbers from us. For example they wanted to know the
numbers of Boa constrictors that are born in Captivity in the US from private & commercial breeders.
LIHS Herpetofauna Journal ~ January/April 2010 Volume 20, Issue 1-4 ~ www.LIHS.org Page 2
Luckily Zoo Med & Petco had some numbers but they put the most emphasis on the fact that it’s not
the snake sales they count on – it’s the dry goods that go with them. Zoo Med also emphasized the fact
that most of their products are manufactured here in the US and not jobbed out to China. PIJAC had
statistics that the Reptile arm of the Pet Industry is the only part of the Pet Industry that has grown in
the past 5 years (even in a down economy) and that snakes represent a huge part of it. And “Ship Your
Reptiles.com “ gave numbers of Boxes shipped ( along with Petco & Petsmart numbers ) and expressed
a worry in that Airlines will not ship any snakes if the Rule change goes into effect in fear of Lacey Act
Violations. Lastly – I covered the ecological / Business end by showing the job potential of Captive
Breeding programs here in the U.S. (without ever having to take animals from the wild – while creating
jobs). All in all I think it went well. I just hope that US Fish & Wildlife took all that was said to heart &
will hopefully come up with an amicable solution.
See you all at the next meetings.
Vin Russo
President
LIHS
LIHS EXHIBITION
COLD SPRING HARBOR FISH HATCHERY & AQUARIUM
HERP DAY
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
12:00 – 5:00 PM
OUTDOORS – Fun for the Family
Visit the HATCHERY for FREE
( only if you are VOLUNTEERING )
We need VOLUNTEERS to man tables and exhibit their herps. If you can VOLUNTEER (
and I hope you can ), PLEASE contact me; Rich Meyer, Jr., at Gojiira@Optonline.net.
More information coming at the Monthly Meetings and e-mail
CONSTRICTOR ACTION
LEGISLATION PAGE
TAKE ACTION NOW
http://actnow4constrictors.blogspot.com/
COMMENTS DUE BY May 11, 2010 to be considered
In 2009, the Senate introduced bill S. 373. If passed, this bill would have had the same impact as the US
Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) proposed rule change (see first blog entry Proposed Rule Change:
Background Information).
In response to S. 373, two long-time large constrictor enthusiasts and businessmen - Vincent Russo and
Bob Ashley - wrote thoughtful, constructive letters that address the potential impacts of the S.
373...and they shared their letters with PIJAC.
We encourage you to read these letters in order to get a sense of the appropriate tone and content for
your comments on the USFWS proposed rule change.
The SAMPLE LETTERS can be located at:
http://ws816213.websoon.com/_documents/russo_s373_letter.pdf
http://ws816213.websoon.com/_documents/s_373_ashley_letter.pdf
Your comments on the proposed rule change MUST be submitted through the designated US Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) process in order to be considered. It is VITAL that
you make "substantive" comments. Please carefully read our entries on "how to
comment" prior to drafting your submission. Then...
Go to the following website to submit your comments:
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=090000648
0abc25c
REMEMBER - PIJAC would like a copy of the comments that you submit to the USFWS
on the proposed rule change.
Please send a COPY of your comments to:
info@pijac.org
with
"Large Constrictor Comments" in the subject line
Be sure to let us know if we can share your comments as examples.
Thank you!
Posted by PIJAC
http://actnow4constrictors.blogspot.com/2010/04/sample-letters.html
April 25, 2010
LIHS EDITOR Note: in addition to the SAMPLE LETTERS ( above ) you might
also check out the following:
 How to Comment Effectively
o http://actnow4constrictors.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-commenteffectively.html
 Where/When to Submit Comments
o
http://actnow4constrictors.blogspot.com/2010/04/wherewhen-tosubmit-comments.html
 PIJAC Review of USGS Risk Assessment
o http://actnow4constrictors.blogspot.com/2010/04/pijac-review-of-usgsrisk-assessment.html
 Proposed Rule Change: Background Info
o http://actnow4constrictors.blogspot.com/2010/04/proposed-rulebackground-info.html
FINDING YOUR NY GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES
If you go to the New York State Board of Elections website: NY State Board of Elections or
http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/ you will be able to find the following information:
New York Officials:
 David A. Paterson, Governor
 Richard Ravitch, Lt. Governor



U.S. Senators:
 Kirsten E. Gillibrand
 Charles Schumer
U.S. Congress Representative
State Senate Senator
State Assembly Member
CLICKING on the LINK of each listed party will provide the contact information (“SNAIL MAIL” address )
that will be necessary to “SNAIL MAIL” a letter to the chosen party. ”SNAIL MAIL” is much more effective ( so, if you feel the need, “SNAIL MAIL” first, then Email ).
NOT SURE what DISTRICT you are located in, there are boxes to input your home address, which will
then locate the appropriate district and parties ( when different ).
2009 / 2010 LIHS Executive Board
The following LIHS Members ran for and were appointed ( by cast ballot – November 15th, 2009 ) to
the LIHS Executive Board Offices as follows:



President: Vin Russo
 Treasurer: Rich Hume
Vice-President: John Heiser
 Sergeant-at-Arms: Mike Russo
2nd Vice-President: Kirk Peters
 Secretary: Ed Bennett
 Programs Coordinator: Rich Meyer, Jr.
LIHS Executive Board 2009 / 2010
President:
Vice-President:
2nd Vice-President:
Secretary:
Sergeant-at-Arms:
Treasurer:
Programs Coordinator:
Herpetofauna Editor:
Vin Russo
John Heiser
Kirk Peters
Ed Bennett
Mike Russo
Rich Hume
Rich Meyer, Jr.
Rich Meyer, Jr.
Contact the LIHS
Web:
www.LIHS.org
E-mail:
info@LIHS.org
Tel:
( 631 ) 884-5447
Mail:
476 North Ontario Avenue
Lindenhurst, New York 11757-3909
GUT LOADING
Hi All,
A couple of quick items… THANKS to Penn Plax Pet Products for donating the terrarium and several
other items used in the Terrarium Basics presentation back in January. Soon as I can reconstruct the
photos I will put them in a journal. THANKS to John Heiser for putting together and doing the presentation. THANKS to John for getting a speaker for the LIHS Dinner. Great presentation as usual...
Mike Russo – THANKS for saving our butts when we needed a PPT Projector ( much appreciated )..
Vin Russo, THANKS for staying on top of reptile legislation, and ditto to Ed Bennett for keeping me
informed as well. Rich H., Kirk, Harry, what more needs to be said --- Those of you who show up at
the Monthly Meetings - THANK YOU… and finally THANKS to our MOM’s – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY..
Don’t forget the LIHS Auction on June 13th, and the HERP DAY Exhibition at Cold Spring Harbor on
June 19th ( the more VOLUNTEERS, the merrier ).. It’s a nice day out… How about giving back some
time to the society ( you don’t have to stay the whole day – BUT, it is nice.. And you can check out
the hatchery.
Please join the new PIJAC Program; “Don’t Mess with MY PET” ( see next page ). It is in your best interest if you hope to own ANY pet ( other than a dog or cat – and maybe not even those ) in the future.
Rich Meyer, Jr.
LIHS Editor
JOINING the LIHS or RENEWING an LIHS Membership
You can JOIN the LIHS or RENEW an LIHS Membership in several manners. Join or Renew at a meeting or LIHS Event or MAIL your completed LIHS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION with $25.00 payment (
cash [ meetings only ], check or money order ) made to the LIHS. Not sure if your RENEWAL is due??
Email me at < Gojiira@Optonline.net >
Print out an LIHS membership application from our website at:
http://www.lihs.org/files/member.htm or “CLICK” on LIHS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION .
Fill it out and bring to a meeting or mail it to:
LIHS
476 North Ontario Avenue
Lindenhurst, New York
11757-3909
As ALL LIHS JOURNALS will now be sent ELECTRONICALLY, so, PLEASE include an
EMAIL ADDRESS with your LIHS Membership / Renewal Application.
Don’t Mess
with
My Pet™
Protect responsible pet ownership
Since 1970, the Pet Industry Joint Advisory
Council (PIJAC) has protected pets and the pet industry – promoting responsible pet ownership and animal welfare, fostering environmental stewardship, and ensuring the availability of pets. PIJAC members
include retailers, companion animal suppliers, manufacturers, wholesale distributors, manufacturers’
representatives, pet hobbyist groups, and other trade organizations. Through the combined voice of
these people, PIJAC serves the best interests of the entire pet industry. For more information, please
visit www.pijac.org.
You love your pet. You take good care of your pet. How would you feel if the government tried
to limit your ability to have pets in your life? ...Angry? ...Scared? ...Betrayed? ...Well, it’s happening.
Each year, local, state and federal governments propose thousands of laws that would restrict
your ability to own pets – to include pets as vital members of your family. While we believe that some
regulations are warranted to ensure that pets are well care for, we also believe that responsible pet
ownership should be applauded, supported, and encouraged, not limited!
Unfortunately, many government officials don’t understand how their bills might affect you,
the responsible pet owner. Furthermore, they may be basing their decisions on propaganda that, while
it seems to call for better pet care, is actually part of an agenda to end pet ownership.
Help us protect responsible pet ownership by defending you and your pets against misdirected
and poorly crafted legislation.
Support the “Don’t Mess with My Pet™” campaign by becoming a Member of the Pet Industry
Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC). Your $25 contribution you will help us guard responsible pet ownership…on behalf of you and your non-human family members. As a thank you from us, you’ll receive a
free campaign t-shirt.
Visit these links:

"Don't Mess With My Pet" Video

"Don't Mess With My Pet" Website or http://www.dontmesswithmypet.org/

PIJAC Government Affairs or http://www.pijac.org/governmentaffairs/
Come one, Come All
2nd Annual LIHS Auction
th
~ June 13 , 2010 ~
ALL are WELCOME and Encouraged to ATTEND
Bring your NEW and GENTLY USED items
( Reptile and/or Non-Reptile Related )
Time: 1:00 to 4:00 PM
Location: Farmingdale State University - Conference Center
Park in Student Lot #3 and walk to the Conference Center
The AUCTION will be held at the Conference Center (Bldg. 76)
SUNY-Farmingdale Campus Map ( Conference Center )
http://www.lihs.org/files/FSUNY_MAP.jpg
You can do either a STRAIGHT UP ITEM DONATION
( DONATE the ITEM to the LIHS, and “ALL” proceeds benefit the society )
or a
50/50
( Proceeds are split equally between the seller and society )
Make yourself a few $$$$ and Benefit the LIHS
Questions: Visit the LIHS Website: www.LIHS.org; contact Rich Meyer at:
Gojiira@Optonline.net or CALL: ( 631 ) 884-5447 ( leave a message )
Crisis for the World’s Amphibians
VIEWPOINT
Helen Meredith
It is a time of crisis for the world's amphibians, says Helen Meredith. In this week's Green Room she
says we may be facing our last chance to save this important group of animals.
A third of all species of amphibian are threatened with extinction; nearly half are in decline, and
they are the most threatened of all the vertebrate
groups.
If allowed to continue, the projected losses would
constitute the largest mass extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs.
But first things first; what are amphibians and why
should we care about their decline?
Amphibians are one of nature's less familiar
groups - an issue that presents major challenges to establishing the conservation action they so urgently require.
They have been around on the planet for about
360 million years, arising over 100 million years before the
first mammal and 200 million years before the first bird.
“They consume huge quantities of invertebrates, including humanity's most vilified pests and their crucial role in global
ecosystems helps maintain healthy functioning environments.”
Great survivors
Modern amphibians comprise frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians (limbless amphibians), and number in excess of 6,000 species to date.
More than 20% are not understood well enough to be assigned any conservation status and it is
estimated that up to 10,000 species may exist in total.
They are found on every continent except Antarctica, ranging from the Arctic Circle to the tropical deserts.
Of all the vertebrates, amphibians lead some of the strangest lives. Various species can survive
partial freezing, 10 years without food, long droughts and temperatures of up to 40° C ( 104° F ).
They are among life's great survivors, enduring mass extinction events that have wiped out the
dinosaurs and whole swathes of mammals and birds. In this light, their current extinction crisis seems
all the more troubling.
Although they may not seem to have an impact upon the daily lives of many cultures, they provide numerous essential services to mankind.
They consume huge quantities of invertebrates, including humanity's most vilified pests.
Their crucial role in global ecosystems,
both as predator and prey, helps maintain
healthy functioning environments. Frogs are
an important protein source in many subsistence cultures and are traded in their millions
as food and pets.
The skin secretions that protect amphibians against predation and infection have
been found to contain important pharmaceutical compounds that show potential in treating
a variety of illnesses from HIV to cancer.
The most famous case is that of the
phantasmal poison frog ( Epipedobates tricolor
) . Skin secretions from this frog yielded the
compound epibatidine, which is a painkiller
200 times more effective than morphine.
Amphibians are repositories of potentially life-saving chemicals and are key model
organisms in scientific research.
“The fight to save the
world's amphibians
shouts into a howling gale
of climate change, war,
overpopulation, economic
crises, and countless other global disasters.”
WHAT ARE AMPHIBIANS?

First true amphibians evolved about
250m years ago

There are three orders: frogs (including toads), salamanders (including
newts) and caecilians, which are
limbless

Adapted to many different aquatic
and terrestrial habitats

Present today on every continent except Antarctica

Many undergo metamorphosis, from
larvae to adults
Witnessing the precipitous decline of the amphibians is sobering. Why now, after hundreds of millions of years of survival, are
they bowing out?
As always, the reasons are diverse and complex. The usual
suspects of habitat destruction, climate change, invasive species,
environmental contaminants and overexploitation represent key
interrelated factors.
Additionally, a disease called chytridiomycosis or "chytrid" (
caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ) infects a wide range of amphibians globally and
is capable of driving species to extinction.
Exacerbated by the other issues impacting amphibians, chytrid has emerged as one of the major threats to their survival. This disease can kill amphibians in otherwise pristine habitats or provide
the final nail in the coffin for species already pushed to the brink of extinction.
The fight to save the world's amphibians shouts into a howling gale of climate change, war,
overpopulation, economic crises, and countless other global disasters, rendering their plight (just like
many other aspects of biodiversity) somewhat low on the agenda of global priorities; they are slipping
away almost unnoticed.
What can be done?
A recent IUCN amphibian conservation summit held at the Zoological Society of London ( ZSL )
highlighted plans to launch the Amphibian Survival Alliance, which will unite existing organisations and
projects working on amphibian conservation ( like ZSL's EDGE Amphibians Project ), creating a mutually
supportive network.
This initiative is still woefully underfunded given the urgent
need for action, but represents a major step towards consolidating
worldwide conservation activities to protect as many species as possible.
We hope this will improve and expand the movement to protect amphibians, boosting the fundraising and publicity drive necessary
to raise concern over amphibian declines and put vital conservation
strategies into practice.
To lend perspective, the original cost of the global Amphibian
Conservation Action Plan was equivalent to about one and a half Boeing
747 aeroplanes.
Photo: R A Mittermeir
The latest plans drawn up at the summit would cost just one tenth of this sum, and would at
least make progress towards saving a third of the world's amphibians.
Initially tackling the two main threats to amphibian survival, disease and habitat destruction,
the Amphibian Survival Alliance will require major political backing and financial support if it is to
achieve its objectives.
o It represents the best hope for amphibians at this most critical and desperate time.
o Amphibians are widely viewed as the "canaries in the coalmine" for environmental
change.
o Despite their glorious past, they simply cannot withstand the current onslaught.
Tellingly, the very same factors that threaten amphibians also endanger all other life on Earth,
not least humans.
If we cannot rectify the amphibian extinction crisis, then what does this mean for the future of
mankind?
Saving the world's amphibians is a crucial part of the puzzle in guaranteeing our own sustainable existence.
I hope we will act before it is too late for us all.
Helen Meredith is a conservation scientist from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News
website
Helen, Great article, please look at our blog, we're in this fight together! http://frogsaregreen.com
Susan Newman, Jersey City, NJ USA
A weekly series of thought-provoking opinion pieces on environmental topics
Story from BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8292690.stm
Published: 2009/10/06
© BBC MMIX
ER to PR: Veterinary Medicine on the Run
By Dr. Robert Monaco, DVM, DABVP
Informative and funny, ER to PR: Veterinary Medicine on the Run is like a
modern day James Herriot novel with New York wit and supercharged
with adrenaline. If you love pets, running or just enjoy a good laugh, you
will love this book. Critics give it two paws up!
Dr. Monaco, first time author, long time veterinarian and runner will take
you on a journey through the exciting world of veterinary medicine and
racing. Never before has this been done. So, lace up your sneakers, grab
your pet and start reading!
http://www.ertopr.com/
$13.95 plus NY sales tax for NY residents ( 8.625% )
Shipping and handling is $5.00 inside the US ( up to 2 books )
Avoid shipping costs and purchase a copy at Old Country Animal Clinic, 669 Old Country Road, Plainview, NY 11803, ( 516 ) 938-7218
http://oldcountryanimalclinic.com/index.html
Launch for Amphibian 'Life RAFT'
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Conservationists have launched a new initiative aimed at safeguarding the world's amphibians from
extinction.
The Amphibian Survival Alliance will bring together existing projects and organisations, improving co-ordination, scientific research and fund-raising.
About a third of amphibian species are threatened with extinctions.
A two-day summit held last week in London identified
the two main threats as destruction of habitat and the fungal
disease chytridiomycosis.
"The world's amphibians are facing an uphill battle for
survival," said James Collins, co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) coordinated by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"By far the worst threats are infectious disease and habitat
destruction, so the Alliance will focus on these issues first."
Last week's meeting, held at the Zoological Society of
London ( ZSL ), declared that research into possible treatments
for the chytrid fungus should be a top priority.
Identified only a decade ago, the fungus now infects
amphibians in the Americas, Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa.
How it originated and how it kills are matters of ongoing
research.
A World of Amphibians
“If we want to stop the amphibian extinction crisis, we
have to protect the areas
where amphibians are threatened by habitat destruction”
~ Claude Gascon, ASG
But in practical terms, finding something that can stop it in open country rather than the laboratory is the big challenge.
Researchers have found that some amphibian species carry chemicals on their skin that provide
a natural defence.
The idea is to see whether these chemicals can be turned into something that can attack the
fungus in the wild, providing a defence for species that currently have none.
The new Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) sees this line of research as an urgent priority.
More difficult to tackle will be the ongoing destruction of habitat that is a concern in most continents, but especially in parts of Asia that are seeing rapid
expansion of cities, industry and infrastructure.
"If we want to stop the amphibian extinction crisis,
we have to protect the areas where amphibians are
threatened by habitat destruction," said Claude Gascon,
the Amphibian Specialist Group's other co-chair.
"One of the reasons amphibians are in such dire
straits is because many species are only found in single
sites and are therefore much more susceptible to habitat
loss."
WHAT ARE AMPHIBIANS?

First true amphibians
evolved about 250m years
ago

There are three orders: frogs
(including toads), salamanders (including newts) and
caecilians, which are limbless

Adapted to many different
aquatic and terrestrial habitats

Present today on every continent except Antarctica
As a group, amphibians are considerably more threatened than birds, mammals, fish or reptiles.
Apart from habitat loss and chytrid, issues of concern
are:
 unsustainable hunting for food, medicine and
the pet trade
 chemical pollution
 climatic change
 introduced species
 other infectious diseases
The formation of the ASA was proposed in 2006 but
adequate financial and institutional backing did not materialise.
At that stage scientists were divided over how money
 Many undergo metamorand resources should be split between conservation in the wild and captive breeding.
phosis, from larvae to adults
Now there is general agreement that both strategies are necessary.
Initial backing emerged at the ZSL meeting in the form of a
$200,000 pledge that will fund the ASA coordinator's post for two
years.
Reprinted from the BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8222549.stm
Published: 2009/08/26 13:37:03 GMT
© BBC MMIX
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8222549.stm
PHOTOS below are from the previous article
ABOVE: Hundreds of
amphibian species will
become extinct unless a
global action plan is put
into practice very soon,
conservationists warn.
( Glass tree frog - R.D.
Holt )
ABOVE: More than a
third of all amphibian
species are said to be in
peril. ( Golden mantella R.A. Mittermeier )
ABOVE: Campaigners
are forming an Amphibian Survival Alliance to
carry through a rescue
strategy.
( Centrolene tayrona Fundacion Pro aves )
ABOVE: The two main
threats are habitat loss and
the fungal disease chytridiomycosis. Climate change,
hunting and pollution are
other issues of concern.
( Sphenophryne cornuta - S.
Richards )
ABOVE: The new Amphibian Survival Alliance will co-ordinate conservation efforts with a particular interest in field
treatments for the chytrid fungus.
( Dendrobates azureus - R.A. Mittermeier )
ABOVE: There are about
6,000 known amphibians,
a category that includes
frogs, toads, salamanders
and caecilians ( legless
amphibians ).
( Albericus siegfriedi - S.
Richards )
ABOVE: In particular, the
fungus Batrachochytrium
dendrobatidis, first identified
1998, is doing widespread
damage in parts of the
Americas, Australia and Europe. ( Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis - P. Naskrecki )
LEFT: "We simply cannot afford to let this current amphibian extinction crisis go unchecked," said Simon Stuart,
chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. ( Centrolene
tayrona - Fundacion Pro aves )
Hopping Mad About Money
Richard Black
For some things, half a billion dollars might be a hefty sum to pay.
But for the survival of the world's threatened amphibian species?
Cheap at the price, you might think; but almost no-one, as yet, is paying.
It was almost exactly four years ago that the Amphibian
Conservation Summit, held in a boutique hotel in Washington
DC, came up with the half-a-billion price tag (well, just over
$400m to be precise), and initiated the Amphibian Conservation
Action Plan [ 667 Kb pdf ] aimed at keeping the remaining species alive.
That was their estimate of how much it would cost to
protect the 120 most vital pieces of habitat, re-introduce 20 captive-reared species to the wild, restrain unsustainable hunting,
establish emergency response teams that could intervene quickly
when sudden extinction threatened - and everything else that
needed doing.
PHOTO: ANDREW GRAY
This week, many of the scientists and conservationists who attended that meeting convened in
a somewhat scholarly pavilion at the Zoological Society of London (with a cracking view of the wallaby
enclosure) to look at how far things have come since then, what's worked and what hasn't, and to
home in on two or three priorities for research and conservation in the years ahead.
Conserving amphibians is no academic exercise. The threat to many species' very existence is
alarmingly real, most pressingly because of the fungal disease chytridiomycosis that was identified just
a decade ago.
In a book published just before the London "mini-summit", two of the field's leading lights,
Martha Crump and James Collins, point out that diseases aren't supposed to cause extinctions. The
pathogen's path through a vulnerable population should slow and stop as new victims become scarcer
and scarcer, like a fire running out of fuel.
Chytridiomycosis doesn't appear to play by this rule. Somehow - and there is still much debate
about precisely how and why - it is removing entire species from the realm of existence, sometimes in
just one or two years, in regions as far apart as Central America and Australia.
At the London meeting, Professor Collins (from Arizona State University) unsurprisingly nailed
the chytrid fungus as one of the two causes of extinction that merited urgent attention - the other being land use change.
Everyone agreed that these should be the priorities for action and funding; but what funding?
Last year was supposed to be the Year of the Frog.
Zoos, aquaria and conservation groups ran special awareness-raising
events. Schoolchildren raised money through raffles, collecting coins and selling
ceramic frogs they had made. Luminaries such as Sir David Attenborough and
Jean-Michel Cousteau called for action; Kermit the Frog from The Muppets went
to Capitol Hill.
It may have raised awareness in some quarters; but money appears to be
another thing entirely.
GETTY IMAGES
Kevin Zippel, programme director at Amphibian Ark, the organisation that co-ordinates captive
breeding programmes in zoos and other institutions, reckoned that those zoos and other institutions
had raised at most 1% of the half a billion dollars.
Claude Gascon, who co-chairs the Amphibian Specialist Group, said that perhaps 2% of the desired sum had been gathered and disbursed for on-site conservation projects, core staffing, and so on.
This is not to say that nothing has happened in the last four years.
The number of species in captive breeding programmes has more than doubled, to 95, though
only a minority meet international best practice standards. Eleven key sites have been protected in key
countries such as Sri Lanka and Colombia.
But these are drops in the pond compared to what is needed.
And although many of the scientists involved in the various amphibian initiatives work on other
types of animal too, jealous eyes were occasionally levelled at the comparatively huge resources that
bird groups can command, such as Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which was able to
disburse £78m ($129m) in 2007 alone.
From the perspective of logic, this is crazy. Globally, birds are much less threatened than amphibians; the latest Red List assessments put one eighth of bird species in the threatened categories,
compared to one third of amphibians.
And whereas just 0.5% of amphibian species are increasing in number, 6% of bird species are
growing. If the conclusions of a 2004 report from BirdLife International still hold true, that's at least in
part due to the money and resources that have been made available to help them - money that is not
flowing to the frogs.
But of course it's not about logic, it's about emotion; and
currently, in richer nations, emotion holds that birds are more
compelling than the delicate "glass frogs" of Central and South
America, the squat purple burrowing frog ( LEFT ) of India and
the extravagantly decorated Mantella of Madagascar.
Politicians are generally showing little interest, meeting
delegates reported.
Members of the US Congress are being lobbied to develop a conservation act for amphibians,
as they have for great apes, elephants and tigers - mandating federal funds for conservation inside and
outside the country - but there's little appetite, it seems.
There would doubtless be more if constituents were interested enough to lobby.
Even with resources, though, keeping the number of amphibian extinctions down is a tall order.
Despite promising laboratory results, field treatments for chytrid exist as yet only in the imagination of scientists. The burgeoning cities, roads and industries of East Asia will not stop burgeoning
just because a few amphibians are hopping across their path.
In one of the very early pieces in our Green Room series, Tim Halliday, who then headed the
Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force, argued that the chances of stopping these extinctions
were little more than nil - and conservationists should admit it and stop trying to delude the public (
and themselves ) into thinking otherwise.
Debate at this week's London meeting focused for a while on whether setting a goal of preventing 100% of extinctions was feasible or desirable; so clearly Professor Halliday's pessimistic assessment
isn't shared across the board.
But, as we've discussed several times on these pages, setting a target isn't the same as meeting
it, which requires commitment, expertise and resources.
Two of these things the amphibian conservation community has in spades. It's the third that
worries me; and I fear that the missing half billion will be translated with increasing surety into the
number of amphibian species that now populate only the history books.
Reprinted from BBC NEWS EARTH WATCH
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2009/08/for_some_things_half_a.html
Published August 21, 2009
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE WHO GIVE THE HOBBY A REPUTATION
“THE GOOD” and “THE BAD”
Let’s start with the “BAD (Floral Park Resident Bitten by Pet Rattlesnake )”, followed
by “THE GOOD ( “Venom Emergency!” and “Venom Hunters” )” – LIHS Editor
Floral Park Resident Bitten By Pet Rattlesnake
By Melissa Argueta
A Floral Park man was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx after being bitten on the
hand by his pet diamondback rattlesnake at his Oak Street home on March 25, authorities said.
Floral Park Police and Nassau County Police arrived at the residence to find several animals living inside the basement. The pet owner, Robert Lantier, 31, housed a variety of illegal reptiles, including a 4- to 5-foot-long cobra, two baby eyelash vipers; an albino diamondback rattlesnake, a 3-footlong crocodile monitor; and a bamboo viper.
According to Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross, the Nassau County Police requested the
agency’s Special Emergency Response Team to ensure the public’s safety. The team did not act as law
enforcement officers, but were brought in to expertly remove the animals from the location. Gross told
the Floral Park Dispatch that the animals have since been transported safely to reptile sanctuary out of
the state.
Gross stressed the growing problem of individuals who want to own exotic pets, but don’t know
how to handle them. “Besides being illegal, it’s unfair to the animal and it’s a big risk to the community,” he said. The number of cases of illegal reptiles has “occurred quite often” on Long Island, he explained. “It’s a danger to the public and it’s unacceptable,” Gross said.
Floral Park Dispatch
http://www.antonnews.com/floralparkdispatch/news/7099-floral-park-resident-bitten-by-pet-rattlesnake.html
Posted: April 02, 2010
Venom Emergency!
Biologists and physicians are trying to determine why rattlesnake bites in the West have seemed more
dangerously toxic in recent years
By Michael Tennesen
IN SUMMER 2008, a 29-year-old man was clearing brush in the mountains near Fallbrook, California, when he was bitten by a southern Pacific rattlesnake. He tried to grab the snake and was bitten
again. By the time he made it to the Palomar Medical Center, says Dr. Roy Johnson, a private physician
who has treated more than 700 rattlesnake bites, “The patient was delirious, having trouble breathing
and was in a state of total body contractions with every muscle twitching. Without treatment, he was
on a fast track to dying.”
Johnson and his emergency team put the victim on a mechanical ventilator and used medication to paralyze all his muscles. The young man also received 36 vials of antivenom ( 10 to 12
is normal ). He was released after two days.
According to Johnson, severe snakebites of this sort have
become increasingly familiar to his practice. University of California-San Diego Medical Center toxicologists reported a rash of unusually powerful snakebites and extreme patient reactions in
2008.
Dr. Steven Curry, director of medical toxicology at the Banner Poison Control Center in Phoenix, Arizona, reports that prior
to 2002 his facility saw patients with neurological symptoms like
those of the Fallbrook man once every two or three years; “Now
we see several of these patients every year,” he says. Dr. Richard
Dart, director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center,
says, “Over the last two or three years, we are having a sustained
peak of neurotoxic effects.”
VENOM drips from the hollow fangs of a captive prairie rattlesnake. About
7,000 venomous snakebites, mostly by rattlesnakes, are recorded in the
United States each year;
only about 15 are fatal, but
a quarter of people bitten
by rattlers suffer some
permanent damage.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tally about 7,000 venomous snakebites annually in the United States. Venomous copperheads, cottonmouths and even relatively small coral snakes
are responsible for a portion of these, but most snakebite emergencies involve rattlesnakes. Only
about 15 fatalities result each year—about 0.2 percent of all bites—but snakebites can cause lasting
harm without killing. “Fully 25 percent of all snakebite victims incur some permanent damage from a
rattlesnake bite,” says Jude McNally, director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center.
According to Dr. Richard Clark, director of medical toxicology at the University of California–San
Diego School of Medicine, rattlesnake venom, a complex brew of toxins, “possesses three main components: cytotoxic components that kill cells, hemotoxic components that affect blood and neurotoxic
components that attack nerves.” Neurotoxic effects, like those experienced by the Fallbrook victim, are
the quickest acting and more life threatening.
Until recently, biologists believed that Mojave rattlesnakes were the only rattlesnakes to
produce neurotoxic venom, but lately neurotoxic effects have been showing up in snakebites from
eastern diamondbacks, southern Pacific rattlers and timber rattlesnakes as well. Dr. Clark thinks that all
snakes produce neurotoxins; “Mojave’s may just have more,” he says.
The use of venom is a venomous snake’s primary means for capturing prey. Snake venom immobilizes prey, gives it a distinctive odor so the snake can track it down and helps pre-digest the
snake’s meal. That digestive function kills tissue, creating the most long-term problems for people who
survive snakebites.
As a defense strategy, biting is not all that useful to a rattlesnake. It is more advantageous for the snake to scare off a potentially
dangerous creature, such as a human, than to strike—hence the renowned rattle. According to McNally, if given a chance to escape without biting, a rattlesnake usually will take it. “Snake venom is the
snake’s money. It needs that to get its next meal. If it bites us, it’s not
going to gain anything.”
Some scientists speculate that the increasing potency of some
rattlesnakes may be the product of an arms race between predator and
prey. Texas A&M University researcher John C. Perez studied 40 mammal species that are natural prey of rattlesnakes and found 16 had
chemicals in their blood that have evolved over time to block the venom effects of western diamondback rattlers. Researchers at the University of California-Davis found substances in the California ground
squirrel that did the same for the venom of northern Pacific rattlesnakes. King snakes, which prey on rattlesnakes, have developed immunity to rattlesnake poison that works so well, says Dr. Sean Bush,
professor of Emergency Medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical
Center, that “rattlesnakes don’t bite or coil when they see a king
snake.” They just try to get away.
A SOUTHERN Pacific rattlesnake extends its
tongue, allowing the
tips to get a “taste” of
its environment. This
species is among those
that some doctors believe have developed
increased venom potency in recent years.
With animals capable of evolving immunity to rattlesnake venom, is it possible that the snakes
have had to adjust their venoms upward to avoid going hungry? Bush admits he sees more neurotoxic
envenomations, but he thinks the increase in serious bites has more to do with greater numbers of
people pushing into snake territory than with the snakes getting more toxic. He does not rule out the
possibility that snake venom could evolve greater toxicity in response to prey resistance, but, he says,
“This is something that has happened over the millennia, not in the last few years.”
A Painful Bite
Rattlesnake venom, injected
through hollow fangs, attacks blood cells and also
pre-digests tissue around
the bite. Even with antivenin
treatment, a bite from a rattlesnake is painful, giving a
victim the feeling that the
wound is being pounded for
hours with a red-hot sledgehammer.
Dart, however, thinks venom toxicity could evolve more
quickly. “If a snake has to switch from rabbits to squirrels, a chemical messenger originating in the cells may turn on a gene that
makes an enzyme in the venom that helps the snake digest squirrels,” he says. “The squirrel, on the other hand, defends itself by
turning on a gene, which creates antibodies to the snake’s venom.” Squirrels lucky enough to survive a snakebite are the most
likely to turn on the gene. According to Dart, long-term evolution
may have created the gene, but a changing environment may activate its function.
Johnson thinks that increasingly severe rattlesnake bites
in California may be occurring simply because there are more
southern Pacific rattlesnakes now than there were in the recent
past. The species’ competitors are the red rattlesnake and the
speckled rattlesnake, which rattle when people approach; as a result, “a lot of people will go kill them,”
he says. The southern Pacific rattles a lot less and is generally left alone. “The reason rattlesnake venom appears to be getting more toxic is that more people are getting bit by southern Pacific Rattlesnakes, and they are one of the most toxic rattlesnakes in the country. The Southern Pacific rattlesnake
may be like the coyote. It’s learned to live with us.”
Now Californians may have to learn to live with it.
NATIONAL WILDLIFE MAGAZINE
Oct/Nov 2009, vol. 47 no. 6
http://www.nwf.org/NationalWildlife/article.cfm?issueID=131&articleID=1776
© 2009 National Wildlife Federation, All rights reserved. - Read more great stories online at
www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife
Venom Hunters
Scientists probe toxins, revealing the healing powers of biochemical weapons
By Laura Sanders
W
hen the monitor lizard chomped into Bryan Fry, it did more than turn his hand into a bloody
mess. Besides ripping skin and severing tendons, the lizard delivered noxious venom into Fry's
body, injecting molecules that quickly thinned his blood and dilated his vessels.
As the tiny toxic assassins dispersed throughout his circulatory system, they hit their targets
with speed and precision, ultimately causing more blood to gush from Fry's wound. Over millions of
years, evolution has meticulously shaped these toxins into powerful weapons, and Fry was feeling the
devastating consequences firsthand.
"I've never seen arterial bleeding before, and I really don't want to ever see it again. Especially
coming out of my own arm," says Fry, a venom researcher at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
To unlock the molecular secrets of venom, Fry and other researchers have pioneered a burgeoning field called venomics. With cutting-edge methods, the scientists are teasing apart and cataloging
venom's ingredients, some of which can paralyze muscles, make blood pressure plummet or induce
seizures by scrambling brain signals. Researchers are also learning more about how these toxins work.
Discovering venom's tricks may allow scientists to rehabilitate these damaging molecules and
convert them from destroyers to healers. Venom might be teeming with wonder drugs, for instance.
After all, a perfect venom toxin works with lightning speed, remains stable for a long time and strikes
its mark with surgical exactitude--attributes that drugmakers dream about.
Already, toxins from a Brazilian viper have provided the key molecule for blood pressure-lowering drugs known as ACE inhibitors, and a medication based on cone snail venom alleviates types
of chronic pain that even morphine can't touch. George Miljanich, a researcher who helped develop
the snail-derived drug, calls venom an "amazing soup" with "great potential as a source of new medicine."
What's more, researchers are stepping back in time to understand how the toxic proteins that
make up venom evolved in different animals, revealing details on how beneficial proteins may have
been recruited to the dark side and eventually become toxic. Such studies are also finding rapidly mutating toxin genes and describing how unique environmental conditions shape venoms in different animals.
Despite the occupational hazards, "It's a great time to be doing this kind of research," Fry says.
"With the techniques we have today, it's astounding what we can learn."
What makes a venom
The "amazing soup" that is venom brims with proteins and smaller pieces of proteins called
peptides. "Snake venom is virtually all protein, thick as honey," says Christopher Shaw, a biological
chemist at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland. Figuring out the long list of ingredients in
these potent mixtures, and understanding the genetics behind the ingredients, are big challenges-ones that new research approaches are helping to address.
A multinational project called CONCO represents one effort to document venomous genes. In
collaboration with the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., CONCO scientists are now sequencing
the entire genome of the project's namesake, the venomous marine cone snail Conus consors. Its genome is about the size of the human genome.
The snake's 'meat tenderizer':
Venom from the western diamondback rattlesnake ( Crotalus atrox )
contains a toxic protein ( left ) that targets blood vessel walls and kills
tissue, earning it and similar toxins the nickname of "meat tenderizer."
By analyzing the sequences of amino acids that make up such toxins in
related species of snakes, Stephen Mackessy of the University of
Northern Colorado in Greeley and his colleagues found that the amino
acid sequence changes more rapidly in certain regions ( red ) and less
frequently in other regions ( yellow ) compared with the rest of the
protein ( white ). Highly changeable regions enable toxins to diversify
more quickly, the team proposes.
"The sequencing is moving ahead nicely," but it is no small task, says Reto Stocklin, a venom researcher at Atheris Laboratories in Geneva who leads the CONCO project.
With the decoded genome in hand, researchers will be able to quickly learn details about any
toxin in Conus consors venom. "Once you have a genome, it makes it easier to know what you're looking at," says Baldomero Olivera, a cone snail expert at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. But just
because an organism's DNA has the gene for a protein, that doesn't mean the gene is active and the
protein is produced. "As for which compounds you actually find in venom, there is much more play
than we realized," says Olivera.
To figure out which proteins and peptides are present in venom, scientists turn to several other
approaches. One method relies on identifying messenger RNA, molecules created from DNA that carry
a gene's instructions to the cell's protein-building factories. Messenger RNA analysis was used to profile the toxins made by the Komodo dragon, a lizard only recently shown to be venomous. "With the
techniques we have, we can point out what the dragon is making at the time, and say with absolute
certainty," says Fry, who led the analysis, which was published online May 18 in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences ( SN Online: 5/18/09 ). "We can almost obtain more data than we can
process."
In a study published online July 1 in BMC Genomics, researchers used a similar approach to
identify toxins in the scorpion Scorpiopsjendeki. The scorpion venom had 10 types of compounds that
scientists already knew about, but surprisingly, nine unknown classes of molecules also turned up.
These mystery molecules are unlike anything else in venom, the researchers write.
Researchers including St6cklin rely on mass spectrometry, in which small pieces of proteins are
identified by their motion through an electromagnetic field. This process results in a "chemical fingerprint," which can be used to reconstruct the compounds in venom.
Taking venoms' fingerprints has allowed researchers to make surprising finds about how venom
composition can vary, even venom that comes from the same animal. For instance, in a study published in the Journal of Proteomics, St6cklin and his colleagues showed that the composition of venom
milked from live C. consors differed greatly from that of venom taken from dissected C. consors venom
glands. The team hypothesizes that--similar to a snail ejecting venom in natural settings--the milking
allows the cone snail to control venom composition by inserting some toxins into the venom and keeping others out.
Shape-shifting toxins
Venomous creatures are found throughout the animal kingdom. Everyone knows to beware of
envenomed snakes, spiders and scorpions. But beware, too, of shrews, sea anemones and platypuses,
to name a few. Researchers estimate there to be some 100,000 venomous species, each with its own
blend of venom containing, in some cases, hundreds of different toxins. "It's pretty clear that there are
convergent features in all venoms," says Olivera. "But each group has its own peculiarities."
Researchers have found venom glands to be a rich source of information, not only for discerning differing molecular makeups of venoms (as in the cone snails), but also for anatomical comparisons.
Such analyses could shed light on the evolution of various venomous creatures. In the Komodo dragon
study, Fry and colleagues used an MRI scanner to reveal an intricate and unusual array of a dozen venom ducts, more than in other venomous lizards. The results show how the dragon's venom system
may have evolved from other, older lizard species, and help solidify the notion that Komodo dragons
kill their prey with a combination of a powerful bite and venom injection.
Such a glimpse into the predatory life of a venomous creature has opened a research floodgate.
"We've been chucking everything into the machine," says Fry. "Vampire bats, cone snails, spiders, octopuses, you name it, we're chucking it into the machine now and getting incredible images of the
glands."
Camilla Whittington of the University of Sydney focuses her studies on the platypus, one of just
a handful of venomous mammals. "Venom in mammals is very unusual, and to see how it evolved is interesting because it might lead to insights about mammalian evolution," says Whittington. Publishing
last year in Nature, she and others used data from the platypus genome to show that some platypus
toxins evolved independently from those in snake venom.
When venomous animals strike
Toxins in venom interact with a range of targets in the human circulatory and nervous systems, leading to a variety of effects.
Toxin producers
A handful of groups from the roughly
100,000 known venomous animals are
shown.
Cone snails
Bad blood: Many venoms contain toxins that can wreak
havoc on the circulatory system, leading to excessive
blood loss, weakness and a loss of consciousness in the
victim. Some toxins expand blood vessels--a process
called vasodilation--leading to a dip in overall blood
pressure. Others prevent the formation of clots or aggregation of platelet cells that would stanch blood loss,
making uncontrollable bleeding more likely.
Cephalopods
Irukandji jellyfish
Lampreys
Sea anemones
Leeches
Hookworms
Assassin bugs
Dipteran insects
Hymenopteran insects
Fleas
Scrambled signals: Toxins target several sites at the junctions, or synapses, where nerves signal muscles. On the
nerve cell, molecular pores called channels that allow
ions (calcium, sodium and potassium shown) to pass can
be blocked or improperly activated, impairing or screwing
up the messages sent from nerve to muscle. On the muscle side, messages from nerves may be muddled when
ion channels are improperly opened or closed or signalreceiving molecules called receptors are improperly stimulated or inhibited. Scrambling nerve cell signals can
cause paralysis or seizures.
Ticks
Spiders
Frogs
Caterpillars
Scorpions
Snakes
[ Toxicoferan Reptiles
( lizards and snakes )
Short-tailed shrews
Toxin targets:
Animal icons show venomous organisms that make each of the following known toxins.
Blood and blood vessels
Illustration by Nicolle Rager Fuller; Source: S, Fry Etal./Ann. Rev. of Genomics Ano Human Genetics 2009
Even though platypus venom and snake venom arose separately, the way it happened might
have been similar. Many researchers think that the genes for normal, "good" proteins may have been
duplicated by accident, leaving the second copy free to encode what turned into a havoc-wreaking venomous molecule. For instance, immune system proteins called defensins, which normally help fight
off invading pathogens, were turned into molecules with the ability to slice up "good" proteins in victims ( usually other platypuses or dogs ), Whittington and her colleagues suggest in their report.
To be king of the hill in any given environment, though, venomous animals are often forced to
invest in more than one weapon. "It's like investing money in a business. No one puts all their money in
a single option. It's best to diversify," says Juan Calvete, a venom researcher at the Institute of Biome-
dicine in Valencia, Spain. "It's the same philosophy in nature. A cocktail of toxins is better suited as an
arsenal that can be used in quite different environments."
One way proteins diversify is through mutation. Some genes that code for venom proteins mutate faster than genes that code for most other proteins. A report published online June 30 in BMC
Evolutionary Biology shows how a special mutation process in toxin genes causes some snake venom
proteins to change rapidly. Called accelerated segment switch, this process can make a venom toxin
recognize a different target, leading to greater variety and utility.
In a study published last year in the Journal of Proteome Besearch, Calvete and colleagues
found that venom from Bothrops asper pit vipers in Costa Rica differed depending on the population's
geographical location. Snakes that lived on one side of a steep mountain range had markedly different
venom profiles from those of snakes on the other side.
In the same way a particular Southern twang identifies a Texan, the composition of venom can
reveal where a snake hails from, Calvete says.
Repurposing venom
The customized toxins in venom also make up a vast collection of potential weapons against
diseases. "Venomous animals have an extraordinarily rich history in this regard," says Fry. "If you know
anybody that takes high blood pressure medication, odds are they're taking a class of compounds
called ACE inhibitors." The founding member of this class, says Fry, is a modified toxin from a pit viper"one of the biggest, meanest, most horrible snakes in South America."
Another example comes from the cone snail Conus magus. In 2004, ziconotide, a drug based on
the snail toxin omega-conopeptide MVIIa, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to
treat chronic pain. Years earlier, Olivera had given Miljanich cone snail toxins to help with experiments
on nerve cell signaling. In the experiments, conducted at the University of Southern California in Los
Angeles and later at Neurex Corp. in Menlo Park, Calif., Miljanich and his colleagues recognized that
the omega-conopeptide MVIIa toxin blocked a specific protein crucial for moving pain signals through
the spinal cord to the brain. Interfering with this protein, called the N-type calcium channel, offered a
way to stop some kinds of pain better than even morphine.
"We've taken advantage of 50 million years of evolution of those N-channel toxins," says Miljanich, now the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Airmid Inc. in Redwood City, Calif. Miljanich and his
team at Airmid are currently working with a sea anemone toxin that has potential as a therapy for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and type 1 diabetes. This toxin, he says, appears to halt rogue immune cells that are attacking the body's own tissue. The team is tweaking the
toxin by adding or removing chemical groups to make the molecule more stable and effective.
A growing number of researchers are exploring the wealth of molecular resources venoms offer. "We don't want to leave any potential source [ of medicines ] off our radar," Miljanich says.
Beyond treating medical conditions, venom toxins may offer clues to deeper mysteries about
the body and brain. "Venom has turned out to be very useful in telling us what's important about how
the nervous system works," says Andres Villu Maricq, a neurobiologist and geneticist at the University
of Utah.
From defense to attack molecules: Some proteins in venomous creatures evolved into toxins
when certain genes were duplicated. A family of molecules called beta-defensins--immune system heroes that help fight off disease-causing invaders by chopping up proteins--were repurposed as toxins in lizards and snakes and, independently, in platypuses. Nontoxic beta-defensins
are common in chickens and mammals, including the platypus. This tree traces the various lineages of defensin molecules that led to the platypus toxin (dark red) as well as the lizard and
snake defensin-derived toxins (blue) that probably share a common ancestor.
While screening dozens of toxins from the fish-hunting cone snail Conus striatus, Stori Densen,
a student in Maricq's laboratory, hit upon one that inhibited a brain process called desensitization,
which alters brain cell activity by dampening nerve cell cross talk. The toxin, the researchers found,
clamps open a pore that is usually shut in the desensitized brain, making the cell respond to certain
signals from other ceils it normally would ignore.
Understanding how brain cells communicate and having a precise way to interrupt some of
those messages may offer new ways to look at neurological conditions like Alzheimer's disease in the
laboratory, says Maricq. "There were really no fresh approaches."
In the wild, C. striatus venom causes fish to spin around, as if chasing their tails, although Maricq says he doesn't yet know exactly why. The team, which included Olivera, named this new toxin
con-ikot-ikot, which means "spinning" in Filipino, and published the results June 9 in Current Biology.
Olivera and other toxin hunters aim to identify more such molecules and figure out how they
work. This is the next great challenge for his research, he says. "What we would like to do is be able to
explore the whole biodiversity of venomous snails," says Olivera. "This opens up the possibility of a
huge group of compounds that could be interesting. In my case, we've suddenly realized that looking at
cone snails, what we've been looking at is only scratching the surface."
Explore more
 Read about the cone snail venomics CONCO project at www.conco.eu/
SCIENCE NEWS
August 15th, 2009
Downloaded from The FREE LIBRARY by Farlex
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Venom+hunters:+scientists+probe+toxins,+revealing+the+healing+powers...a0206173887
Accessed October 23, 2009
Illustrations from SCIENCE NEWS
Eastern Indigo Devours Snake
LIHS member, Mike Villalta ( sp?? ) forwarded these pictures to me ( Thanks Mike – now, if we can get
you to more meetings ). They were sent to him by a friend that resides in Central Florida. Appears to be
an eastern indigo snake ( Drymarchon corais couperi ) eating a rattlesnake.
Some Background On The Eastern Indigo:
FAST FACTS
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DESCRIPTION: Large, mediumbodied snake that is black as an
adult, with a cream or reddish
throat patch
SIZE: Adults 150-180 cm (5-6 ft)
WEIGHT: No data
DIET: Variety of warm-blooded vertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, and
birds
INCUBATION: 3 months
SEXUAL MATURITY: 3-4 years
LIFE SPAN: Can exceed 15 years,
even longer in captivity; record is
25 years
RANGE: Southeastern United
States including Florida, Georgia,
Florida Keys, extreme southern
portions of South Carolina, and Alabama
HABITAT: Dry upland scrub areas
POPULATION: GLOBAL No data
STATUS: IUCN No data
CITES Not listed
USFWS Threatened
FUN FACTS on the EASTERN INDIGO
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The eastern indigo is the largest indigenous
snake to North America, reaching lengths of up
to 8 feet.
The eastern indigo is diurnal, living a communal
existence with the gopher tortoise. It stays in
the burrow to prevent dehydration.
The eastern indigo snake is in severe decline. Its
habitat is prime land for development because it
is usually the best draining soil. Because of declining populations, the indigo is one of the most
protected snakes in the US. The laws are very
strict concerning touching, catching, killing, or in
any way harassing the animal.
At one time the indigo was a popular snake in
the pet trade. It had all of the characteristics
that make an animal popular; it is large, calm,
and has a distinct color.
The eastern indigo has one of the most varied
diets of any snake in the world. It is capable of
eating mammals, amphibians, birds, and even
venomous snakes. But most surprising is that it
is one of the only snakes known to eat young
turtles. It does all of this without venom or constriction. It relies on its surprisingly strong jaws
and by holding the animal down with its body.
ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: Unfortunately, because of the increasing
human population in the range of the
eastern indigo, its population will probably never be anywhere near previous levels. The indigo is an
integral part of the scrub ecosystem, helping to control the populations of many of the species found
there. Because of the relationship between the gopher tortoise and the snake, it is equally important
that the tortoise is protected for the snake to thrive.
Reprinted from Animals – Explore – Discover - Connect
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/animalbytes/animalia/eumetazoa/coelomates/deuterostomes/chordata/craniata/reptilia/squamata/easternindigo-snake.htm
Boback’s Boas
by Michelle Simmons
Scott Boback, assistant professor of biology and snake wrangler, knows
his boa constrictor, having kept them as research subjects for nearly a decade.
“I tell my students, snakes can and will bite at any time,” he says. “These are
not pets; they’re research animals.”
No one would ever call a snake cute or cuddly, especially a boa constrictor that can reach 12 feet in length. But the dwarf island boas in Scott Boback’s research colony in the basement of Dana Hall come close. Ranging from
only one-foot to six-feet long, they can charm even the most snake phobic. As a result, boas from the
Snake Cayes off the coast of Belize are threatened with extinction—victims of a lucrative exotic-pet
trade.
“The individual populations are so small, that *they+ can be made up of 50 to 100 animals—
even less on some of these islands that have really been devastated by the pet trade,” says Boback.
The assistant professor of biology notes that estimates are as low as 10 on some islands.
“Snakes are a valuable part of the environment,” he says. On the Belizean mainland, the boas
consume lizards, birds and, most important, rodents that might harbor disease. On the islands, they
subsist solely on migratory birds, keeping the avian population from exploding and using up scarce resources. Any change in habitat significantly hampers the boas’ chances for survival.
Boback is studying this evolutionary divergence, and his research reveals significant differences
not only between mainland and island boas but among the island boas themselves—from color to
head shape and eye size.
“I find it fascinating that your size dictates all of these other features of your being,” he explains. “Animals that are bigger can make more babies *and+ make them larger, faster. The rate at
which you mature, the total number of offspring you can have, your survivorship—all of these things
are related to size.”
Working with about 56 boas from the mainland and the islands—wild caught and their
offspring—Boback is trying to answer the classic nature vs. nurture question, one that continues to
confound evolutionary scientists and has important implications beyond Belize. His research tries to
determine just how much and how quickly an organism is able to adapt to a changing environment.
For delicate ecosystems such as Snake Cayes, that answer is especially urgent, as the boas are
threatened not only by the pet trade but also by the overdevelopment of vacation homes and resorts.
Boback first grew interested in boas when he encountered an article about them in a pet-trade
magazine. In the 1990s, he and his wife, also a biologist, bred and owned pet snakes. “I started getting
into snakes as a hobby,” he says. “Then, through my master’s program, we had snakes of all different
varieties. I probably had 20-odd different species. I was crazy.”
The boas of Belize offered the ideal research topic for his Ph.D. dissertation, and the islands
proved a natural laboratory. So in 2002, accompanied by a crew from the National Geographic Channel, he spent seven weeks slogging through forests and marshes on the mainland and paddling from
island to island.
Boback returned to the United States with 16 females ( in 2003, he brought back six males ) and
was featured in “The Boas of Belize,” an episode of National Geographic’s Snake Wranglers. “It’s sort of
documenting my plight to get these snakes and do my project,” he says. “They shot phenomenal footage of snakes and me climbing up trees and going through the dumps of Belize trying to find snakes.”
The show—which included a shot of one of his boas regurgitating an iguana—has made Boback something of a celebrity among fellow herpetologists.
In 2004, Boback worked with a conservation group to measure boa populations on islands off
the Honduras coast. His team estimated that in the 1980s and ’90s, anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000
were captured and exported. “There were scientific papers from people who had been to the islands
and done surveys and didn’t find a single snake,” he says.
His team was relieved to find boas there and see that the population was slowly rebounding.
“They seemed to be somewhat OK, but they had been affected. At what stage [they were] in the recovery we weren’t sure.” He continues to work with officials there, with an emphasis on educating island residents about conservation.
Since coming to Dickinson in 2007 with snakes in tow, Boback has focused on his colony. “We’re
investigating *their+ physiology performance,” he explains. “We’ve established these differences in
body size; there’s a lot of morphology that’s different. One of the next steps is what this means in
terms of their performance. In other words, how does an island boa make it out there?”
Last fall, with the help of biology students Katelyn McCann ’11, Amanda Hayes ’10 and Allison
Hall ’10, Boback began measuring individual boa constriction strength and response. Biology majors
Kevin Wood ’11 and Patrick McNeal ’11 help care for the snakes, hoping to earn access to research.
They’re also prepping the snakes for another breeding cycle this spring to generate offspring for new
projects.
“These are now my pets, although they’re not treated as pets,” says Boback, noting that he is
bitten regularly. “I have a very strong emotional connection to my snakes, but it’s different. I was given
the opportunity to take some of these animals out of the wild, and I have a responsibility to maintain
them in the best possible way.”
Reprinted from the Dickinson Magazine, Spring 2010
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA 17013
http://www.dickinson.edu/news-and-events/publications/dickinson-magazine/2010-spring/Boback’s-Boas/
April 1, 2010
Philippines Dragon-Sized Lizard is a New Species
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A dragon-sized, fruit-eating
lizard that lives in the trees on the northern Philippines island of Luzon has been confirmed as a new
species, scientists reported on Tuesday.
Hunted for its tasty flesh, the brightly colored
forest monitor lizard can grow to more than six feet in
length but weighs only about 22 pounds ( 10 kg ), said
Rafe Brown of the University of Kansas, whose team
confirmed the find.
"It lives up in trees, so it can't get as massive as
the Komodo dragon, a huge thing that eats large
amounts of fresh meat," Brown said by telephone.
"This thing is a fruit-eater and it's only the third fruiteating lizard in the world."
A Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard, a dragon-sized, fruit-eating
lizard that lives in the trees on the
northern Philippines island of Luzon, is
shown in this photograph taken in April
2005 and released to Reuters on April
6, 2010.
~ REUTERS/Arvin Diesmos/National
Museum of the Philippines/Handout
Discovering such a large vertebrate species is
extremely rare, Brown said. The lizard, a new species of
the genus Varanus, is skittish and able to hide from
humans, its primary predators, which could explain why it has gone undetected by scientists for so
long.
Biologists first saw photographs of the big, skinny lizard in 2001, when those surveying the area
passed hunters carrying the lizards' colorful carcasses, but the species at that point had never been
given a scientific identification. In the next few years, Brown said, ethnobiologists kept hearing stories
"about these two kinds of lizard that everyone liked to eat because their flesh tasted better than the
ones that lived on the ground; this thing was described as bigger and more brightly colored."
The two kinds of lizard described by the local people were two names for the same animal,
Brown said.
CLAW SCRATCHES ON TREES
In 2009, graduate students at the end of a two-month expedition kept seeing signs of the big lizard. There were claw-scratches on trees and clumps of pandanus trees, whose fruit the lizard prefers.
The clumps indicated that the lizards had eaten pandanus fruit and then excreted the seeds in
clusters.
"It was literally in the last couple days of the expedition, we were running out of money and
food and this was the payoff: they finally got this gigantic animal," Brown said.
Hunters who had heard of the team's interest brought a barely-alive adult male lizard to their
camp. The team euthanized the animal and did genetic tests that confirmed it as a unique species,
Brown said.
DNA analysis showed there was a deep genetic divergence between the new lizard and its closest relative, Gray's monitor lizard, which is also a fruit-eater but lives on the southern end of Luzon, rather than the northern end where the forest monitor lizard lives.
"They are extremely secretive," Brown said of the new species. "I think that centuries of humans hunting them have made the existing populations ... very skittish and wary and we never see
them. They see and hear us before we have a chance to see them, they scamper up trees before we
have a chance to come around."
These findings were published in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters, with additional work
by scientists in the Philippines and the Netherlands.
Reprinted from Yahoo! Inc.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100406/sc_nm/us_science_lizard
Published April 6, 2010, Accessed April 6, 2010
Contributed by LIHS Member Chris McCallister
Harry to the Rescue or Turtle’s Gone Wild
Recently, Harry Faustmann went on a turtle rescue. Harry found, a
huge, female common snapping turtle that was apparently looking
for a nesting site, and had tried going through the sliding glass
doors on the patio. Discouraged from doing that, it descended the
wooden deck and settled in the garden for the night. He guided it
back down to the huge, two acre sized freshwater pond in the
backyard ( where it apparently came from ). He advised the owners
to fix the flattened down fence with more stakes to keep it upright.
You can see where the turtle had flattened it when it came ashore
( middle below ). This was in a millionaire section of Lawrence near
Reynolds Channel just North of Long Beach. This just goes to show
you that primitive creatures live next door to millionaire mansions!
ABOVE:
Harry’s Turtle Groupies
RETRO REPTILE AD
REPTILE SUPPLY
TOP half of 1980 Advertisement from Pet Age Magazine ( May 1980 )
RETRO REPTILE AD
REPTILE SUPPLY
BOTTOM half of 1980 Advertisement from Pet Age Magazine ( May 1980 )
German Caught Smuggling Geckos in Underpants
A German visitor was caught trying to board a flight at
Christchurch Airport on Sunday with 44 endangered geckos
and skinks hidden in his underwear. Customs staff says it was
the look on his face that gave him away as he tried to board
the plane.
Hans Kurt Kubus, a 58-year-old from Bad Munstereifel,
Limbach, Germany, pleaded guilty in Christchurch District
Court on Monday to five charges of trading in exploited species, and two of hunting absolutely protected wildlife.
The court was told the geckos alone would have been worth $50,000 on the black-market in Europe. The value of the skinks is unknown. Department of Conservation prosecutor Mike Bodie says all
New Zealand geckos are absolutely protected under the Trade in Endangered Species Act.
He says Kubus is a German citizen who entered New Zealand at Christchurch Airport on November 15. On Sunday he checked his luggage in at the airport and got a boarding pass to leave New
Zealand. But aviation security officers were alerted to Kubus' nervousness upon departure.
"When searched by New Zealand Customs Service staff a small package was located concealed
inside the defendant's underwear," says Bodie. "The package contained eight separate compartments,
separating various gecko and skink species. The defendant had hand-sewn the eight compartments together to form a single compact concealed package. The defendant's luggage also contained a single
gecko in a rolled up sock."
A DOC herpetologist identified 24 geckos from five species, and 20 skinks of two species. All the
animals had been taken from the wild, contrary to the Wildlife Act. It was also determined that 14 out
of 15 adult female geckos and 12 out of 14 female skinks in the defendant's possession were pregnant.
Each pregnant animal is likely to give birth to multiple live young in the coming weeks.
When interviewed, the defendant admitted trading geckos and taking geckos and skinks from
the wild without any permit or authority and was subsequently arrested. There is a black-market trade
in geckos, particularly in Europe, Bodie says. The conservative "street" value of the geckos traded by
the defendant is at least 1,000 euros per animal, or about $50,000 for 24 geckos. The value of the
skinks is unknown because this is the first time trading in skinks has been identified.
Judge Raoul Neave remanded Kubus on bail for sentencing on January 25 and asked for a presentence report. Kubus could face six months in prison and a fine over $100,000.
Check out the video: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/german-caught-smuggling-geckos-inunderpants-3238790/video?vid=3241694
Reprinted from TVNZ ( Television New Zealand Limited )
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/german-caught-smuggling-geckos-in-underpants-3238790
December 08, 2009
Contributed by LIHS Member John Heiser
2 Foreigners Sent to NZ Prison for Hunting Lizards
Swiss, Mexican sent to New Zealand prison for hunting, possessing protected lizards
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Two men, from Switzerland and Mexico, were sentenced to prison
in New Zealand on Monday for hunting and possessing protected native lizards in a case the judge said
was akin to ivory smuggling. The men were sentenced to six months in jail, but District Court Judge
Raoul Neave reduced their terms to 18 weeks because they pleaded guilty to charges under New Zealand's Wildlife Act. In his sentencing remarks, Neave said wildlife was endangered around the world and
the men's actions were no different from the crimes of ivory hunters.
Thomas Benjamin Price, 31, a stockbroker from Gallen, Switzerland, and Gustavo Eduardo Toledo-Albarran, 28, a chef from Carranza, Mexico, arrived in New Zealand in early February and traveled
to Otago Peninsula on South Island. Toledo-Albarran spent five days searching for the lizards, the court
heard. Price admitted possessing the lizards and Toledo-Albarran admitted illegally hunting them. They
passed the reptiles to Manfred Walter Bachmann so he could smuggle them out of the country. Bachmann, an engineer from Uganda who is originally from Germany, was caught with 13 adult lizards and
three young reptiles in the southern city of Christchurch on Feb. 16. He was sentenced to 15 weeks in
prison and deportation on release.
In a separate case, another German national,
Hans Kurt Kubus, was caught at Christchurch International Airport late last year with 44 small lizards stuffed
into his underwear as he tried to board a flight. Kubus
was sentenced in January to 14 weeks behind bars and
ordered to pay a 5,000 New Zealand dollar ( $3,540 )
fine. He will be deported to Germany at the end of his
prison term. New Zealand officials have warned that
black market demand is driving bids to smuggle wildlife
like the small native lizards, which can fetch up to 2,800
euros ( $3,760 ) each. The country recently ordered a
review of laws covering protected wildlife and is considering longer prison terms and higher fines.
Reprinted from Yahoo.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-foreigners-sent-to-NZapf-1667914524.html?x=0&.v=1
Posted: March 29, 2010
One-Legged Snake
A WOMAN has made history after discovering a ONE-LEGGED snake in her bedroom
Terrified Duan Qiongxiu jumped out of her skin when she came across the mutant reptile.
Scientists are now studying the slithering creature to see how it managed to grow a foot —
complete with four clawed toes on its stomach.
Duan, 66, of Suining, southwest China, said: "I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I
turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw."
She was so scared
she grabbed a shoe and beat
the beast to death before
preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.
The creature —
which is 16 inches long and
the thickness of a little finger — is now being studied
at the Life Sciences Department at China's West Normal University in Nanchong.
Snake expert Long
Shuai said: "It is truly shocking but we won't know the cause until we've conducted an autopsy."
LIHS Editor - ( UHMMM, you be the Judge on this one… Weigh in on this
one. Is this real or fake? Let me know what you think.. And why???
– Rich ( gojiira@optonline.net )
DONATIONS for the LIHS AUCTION
WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED
REMEMBER, “THEY” need not be REPTILE RELATED
Sprouts Make Turtles Flatulent Too
A Norfolk aquarium has taken action to
prevent flatulence from a Brussels sprout-eating
turtle from triggering overflow alarms.
The Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre has
lowered the water level in George the green turtle's tank, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Staff at the centre give George a seasonal
treat of Brussel sprouts at Christmas to provide a
healthy dose of vitamins, minerals and fibre.
But turtles, like humans, are prone to heavy bouts of flatulence after eating the vegetables.
Last year, a turtle triggered overflow alarms in the middle of the night after the splashes from
gassy bubbles hit overflow sensors.
Now thousands of litres of water have been removed from the 12ft deep turtle tank to reduce
the water level by six inches to keep it clear of the sensitive alarms.
Displays supervisor Christine Pitcher said: "Last time an aquarist had to dash to the centre in
the middle of the night, so we're not going to take any chances.
"Sprouts are really healthy for green turtles. 'The high levels of calcium in them are great for
their shells, the fibre is good for their digestion and they also contain lots of beneficial Vitamin C, sulphur and potassium."
Senior marine biologist Darren Gook added: "We
like to treat him to different foods and seeing as it's
Christmas we thought brussel sprouts would be good.
"I haven't noticed too many bubbles coming from
George yet but hopefully now the water levels have been
adjusted flatulence won't cause problems."
Reprinted from Ananova
http://www.ananova.com/News/story/sm_3602314.html
December 17, 2009
Contributed by LIHS Member Debbie Hoppe
A Frog He Would A-Pooing Go
Jill Rowbotham
ALTHOUGH Chris Tracy and his team set out to monitor temperature changes in frogs, tracked via implanted radio transmitters, the phenomenon they stumbled on fascinated them even more: the amphibians were excreting the implants through their bladders.
Tracy, a physiological ecologist at Charles Darwin
University's school of environmental and life sciences, had
surgically implanted the transmitters into the body cavities
of scores of green tree frogs, Dahl's aquatic frogs and giant
burrowing frogs, all of whom are close relatives.
"We had a study on temperature in frogs," he says.
"We tracked the transmitters, assuming they would be in
the frogs, but in some cases they were outside the frogs;
that was a bit confusing." This was the case in 75 per cent of
the frogs.
It is not unheard of for a transmitter to be found on
its own, but usually it would be in the frog carcass or feces
from a predator.
Chris Tracy with one of the frogs
that can excrete transmitters.
Source: Supplied
"But in this case the transmitter was just lying on the ground, with no sign of the frog or of a
predator."
It was only when Tracy and his team began retrieving transmitters from within other frogs in
the study, finding they had somehow travelled to the bladders, that they began to work out what
might have been happening. "We thought the reason we were seeing transmitters in bladders in the
green tree frogs is they were too big to be excreted in some cases."
Clearly, many other frogs were big enough to pass transmitters through the cloaca, the common opening shared by frog bladders and intestines.
These observations triggered a new study in which they replicated the process by implanting
beads in caged frogs. It took up to two weeks for the frogs to excrete the beads.
Then they documented the process in cane toads implanted with beads. "Every couple of days
we dissected one of the toads to see where the bead was relative to the bladder, so we could watch
the whole process." Within two days the beads were coated with a thin film of tissue, then attached to
the bladder. "In the next four weeks the bladder tissue continued to grow and fully envelop it and the
bead ended up in the bladder."
Tracy has concluded it is probable all frogs and toads can do this. A subsequent survey of other
research revealed fish can also excrete foreign bodies, including fishhooks, and so can some snakes.
Reprinted from The Australian
Copyright 2010 News Limited
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/a-frog-he-would-a-pooing-go/story-e6frgcjx1225841552679?from=public_rss
Published: March 17, 2010
RATTLESNAKES COURTIN’
The following photos appear to be rattlesnakes ( possibly Western Diamondbacks?? ) courting in the
wild. Note: the photos may not be in correct order…
Contributed by LIHS Member Ed Bennett
Long Island Herpetological Society, Inc.
A NYS Registered
Non-Profit Organization
Profits benefit L.I.H.S. Supported Programs including
Educational Programs & Environmental Causes
st
21 Annual LIHS
Equipment
Captive Bred Reptiles
only
On Sale
EDUCATIONAL
EXHIBITS
Reptile & Amphibian Expo
October 09th, 2010 ( Saturday )
Roosevelt Hall ~ Farmingdale State College
Farmingdale, New York
( Located on ROUTE 110, Melville Road ENTRANCE )
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Live Reptiles, Equipment, Books, Caging on Sale
LIHS Judged Reptile/Amphibian Show - Trophies, Ribbons
For additional information regarding:
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VENDOR TABLES
Entering the Reptile/Amphibian
SHOW
The LIHS
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TEL: ( 631 ) 884-5447
Web: www.LIHS.org
Email: Gojiira@Optonline.net
Email: info@LIHS.org
ADMISSION
Adults.................................
$6.00
Children & Seniors.............
$4.00
LIHS Members...................
$3.00 *
Children under 5................. FREE
FSC Students…………………. $3.00 *
FSC Faculty…………………….. $3.00 *
* Must be a “Current” LIHS Member
* Must have “Current” Student I.D.
* Must have “Current” Faculty I.D.
Green Frog Climbs the Food Chain ***
Clare Chapman
I
N a bizarre upset of the food chain a green frog devoured a brown tree snake for dinner on Sunday
night.
For North Mackay ( Australia ) resident
Ian Hamilton, who is accustomed to seeing
snakes swallow frogs, the sight of the predator
being turned into prey near his home was almost unbelievable.
“We have seen snakes eating frogs here
but not the other way around,” Mr. Hamilton
said.
“We have actually saved frogs a couple of
times because they make quite a noise when the
snakes are getting them.
A Mackay man was surprised to find this green
frog devouring what appeared to be a brown
tree snake in his backyard. ---- Ian Hamilton
“But don’t ask me how on earth that frog
swallowed that snake.”
Mr. Hamilton said the hungry frog took
at least 15 minutes to swallow the snake in its
entirety. Meanwhile, other frogs sat watching
their adventurous friend gobble up his scaly
dinner.
Rowan Pert, of Pert, Perry and Evans Veterinary Surgeons, said the snake appeared to
be a brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis.
“They are usually found in suburbia and are also known as night tigers,” Mr. Pert said.
“That type of snake usually eats birds.
“But in the food chain anything can happen as long as you are bigger than the bloke you are
eating,” he said. “It is just a measure of what can happen out there in the wild.”
Northern Beaches veterinary surgeon David Lemmon said he had heard of frogs eating snakes
before but it was a very unusual occurrence.
“I have heard of this happening before but frogs are more insect eaters,” Mr. Lemmon said.
He said brown tree snakes would generally attack rodents or birds but would normally steer
clear of frogs.
The rear-fanged snakes are relatively harmless.
Daily Mercury
http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2009/12/31/green-frog-climbs-up-the-food-chain-after-having-a/
December 31, 2009
*** LIHS Editor - Many of us know the
Australian Green Tree Frog, ( Green Tree
Frog in Australia ) as, White's Tree Frog,
or the Dumpy Tree Frog ( Litoria caerulea ). Here ( LEFT ) is another photo I
found of a “Green Tree Frog eating some
pretty strange prey” – though, this one
may have been “doctored” – you be the
judge.
Tortoise's Beauty Contributing to Its Downfall
By Jennifer Viegas
One of the world's most beautiful tortoises,
Madagascar's radiated tortoise, is on the brink of extinction because illegal pet traders covet the eyecatching reptile, which is also hunted for its meat, according to a report today issued by the Turtle Survival
Alliance and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Biologists who recently returned from field surveys in southern Madagascar's spiny forest, where the
once-abundant tortoises live, predict that unless drastic conservation measures take place, the species will be
Julie Larsen Maher / Wildlife Conservation
Society
driven to extinction within the next 20 years.
Entire regions were found to be devoid of the tortoises. Locals informed the scientists that
armed bands of poachers had taken away truckloads of tortoises to supply open meat markets in
towns such as Beloha and Tsihombe. Remains of the poached tortoises were also found at processing
sites where authorities recently seized the meat.
“Areas where scores of radiated tortoises could be seen just a few years ago have been
poached clean,” said James Deutsch, director of the WCS's Africa Program. “Back then, one could hardly fathom that this beautiful tortoise could ever become endangered, but such is the world we live in,
and things can – and do – change rapidly.”
“The rate of hunting of radiated tortoises is similar to the hunting pressure on American bison
during the early 19th century, where they were nearly hunted to extinction when they once numbered
in the tens of millions,” said Brian D. Horne, turtle conservation coordinator for the WCS's Species Program.
He and his colleagues noticed that poachers are moving ever closer to areas where the tortoises are protected, but locals are not well equipped to properly enforce the existing laws against hunting
the species.
“Radiated tortoises are truly under siege now as never before, and if we can’t draw a line in the
sand around protected areas, then we will lose this species,” said Rick Hudson, president of the TSA. “I
can’t think of a tortoise species that has undergone a more rapid rate of decline in modern times, or a
more drastic contraction in range, than the radiated tortoise. This is a crisis situation of the highest
magnitude.”
The radiated tortoise's population used to number in the millions. Now, the IUCN Red List ranks
this species as being Critically Endangered.
According to the WCS, the situation is exacerbated by several factors:

Years of extreme drought have led to diminished agricultural production and increased poverty,
which leads people to tortoise hunting for survival.

Enforcement action is often days away so that local officials do not have the capacity to stop
poachers.

Severe habitat degradation has made the spiny forest the most endangered forest type in Madagascar. After burning and clearing for agriculture, invasive plant species take over. Today,
thick stands of opuntia ( prickly pear ) and sisal ( agave ) dominate the landscape.

Current political instability has resulted in an increased open access to natural resources and illegal pet trade.
Community mobilization linked to sustainable habitat protection is needed to save this unique
critically endangered species, according to the researchers. While protecting the tortoises in the wild is
at the forefront of conservation efforts, breeding programs are already underway here in the U.S., at
places like the Bronx Zoo's Behler Chelonian Conservation Center.
YouTube “Radiated Tortoise at the BRONX ZOO” link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpePZKXR3ag&feature=player_embedded
Reprinted from Discovery News
http://news.discovery.com/animals/tortoises-beauty-contributing-to-its-downfall.html
Posted: April 5, 2010
Scientists Reveal Secret Disposal System of Frogs
London: Scientists have discovered that frogs can absorb foreign objects from their body cavities into
their bladders and excrete them through urination, thus revealing the secret disposal system of these
amphibians.
"It strikes me as being a pretty incredible mechanism for getting stuff out from the body cavity," lead researcher Christopher Tracy of Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia, told Nature
News.
In 2003, Tracy and his colleagues began a project to find out how frogs regulate their body
temperature.
They surgically implanted temperature-sensitive radio transmitters in the abdominal cavities of
tree frogs of three species living around the city of Darwin.
After several months, the authors set out to recapture their frogs to log the data and replace
the transmitters' batteries.
But out in the field, they found three of the transmitters lying on the ground.
"In telemetry studies of small animals, it's not uncommon to find they've been eaten by something," Tracy said.
"But there's usually some evidence that happened: scratches on the ground or a pile of predator feces," he added.
In this case, the transmitters were pristine.
The strangest discovery was that when the researchers opened up dozens of animals, in many
cases, they pulled transmitters not from the body cavity, but from the urinary bladder.
"That's when we started thinking about trying to pin down exactly what was going on," Tracy
said.
In 2008, Tracy and his colleagues decided to look into the phenomenon. They kept tree frogs
and cane toads in the lab and surgically implanted beads in their body cavities. Within 2-3 weeks, the
beads appeared on the floor of the frog cage. Only one cane toad out of five excreted a bead, but Tracy opened some other toads after the surgery and caught them in the act of enveloping the beads into
their bladders. In just two days, the bead was surrounded by a transparent tissue devoid of blood vessels, which subsequently became vascularized and muscular.
The finding will be of interest to field researchers, who often implant tiny radio transmitters into frogs to track them. It also helps to explain how these little creatures survive a life leaping around in
thorny forests and consuming spiny insects whole. "It makes sense for an animal to get an object out of
the body cavity," said Rick Shine, a herpetologist at the University of Sydney, Australia. "The remarkable thing is that they are able to do it," he added.
Reprinted from Thaindian News
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/scientists-reveal-secret-disposal-system-offrogs_100299773.html
January 6, 2010
Mother Goose and Grimm ~ Mike Peters
White Lizards Evolve in New Mexico Dunes
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
The White Sands of New Mexico are a good place
to study evolution in progress. One reason is that the terrain, gypsum dunes white as a sheet of paper, is so different from the surrounding area. Another is that the
dunes formed only about 6,000 years ago.
“From an evolutionary perspective, that’s really
the blink of an eye,” said Erica Bree Rosenblum, a professor at the University of Idaho who has been studying
evolution at White Sands for much of the past decade.
Her focus has been on three lizard species that elsewhere are dark skinned but in White Sands have each
evolved a white-skinned variety that makes them hard to
find. “It’s really obvious what’s happened,” Dr. Rosenblum said. “Everybody got white so that they could better escape from their predators.” It’s a great example of
convergent evolution, of species independently acquiring
the same traits.
Several lizard species that are dark
have developed white skin in the
White Sands of New Mexico.
Erica Bree Rosenblum/University of
Idaho
One question about convergent evolution is the
mechanism by which it happens. Sure, these three lizards
all developed white skin, but did they do it in the same way? Dr. Rosenblum and her colleagues have
provided answers to this question in a paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“At first blush it seems like the answer is yes,” she said. In at least two of the lizard species, the
researchers found that mutations on the same gene, linked to the production of the skin pigment melanin, were responsible.
The second part of the story is more interesting, Dr. Rosenblum said. In the two species, the
mutations are different, and the molecular mechanism by which less melanin is produced is different,
too.
And, she said, the different mechanisms have had an effect on how the white-skinned trait has
spread through the populations. In one, the mutation has made the white-skinned trait dominant; in
the other, the mutation has made it recessive. So, according to basic Mendelian genetics, the trait
spreads more quickly in the first lizard species than the second.
Reprinted from the NY TIMES – Observatory Section
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/science/05oblizard.html?ref=science
January 5, 2010
Submitted by LIHS Member Ed Bennett
Tarantula Shoots Sharp Hairs Into Owner’s Eye
Doctors now advise wearing eye protection when handling pet spiders
A creepy case of a man who got tarantula hairs stuck in his eye has doctors advising
people to wear eye protection when handling
the eight-legged pets.
In February 2009, a 29-year-old man visited the St. James's University Hospital in
Leeds, England, after enduring three weeks of a
red, watery and light-sensitive eye. A dose of
antibiotics for what was presumed to be conjunctivitis didn't clear the symptoms.
Doctors at the hospital examined the
eye under high-magnification lenses and spotted hair-like projections sticking into the cornea
of the right eye.
This pet tarantula, a Chilean Rose tarantula, releases urticating hairs from its abdomen to defend
against potential predators ... or an unsuspecting
owner. - The Lancet via LiveScience.com
"When we looked at this guy's cornea,
the clear window covering the eye, we saw
these little whitish spots and a little black hairy-like thing at the center of each," St. James's Zia Carrim
told LiveScience. There were about a dozen hairs protruding from the cornea, a couple of which had
gone all the way through the eye's thin covering.
The doctors let the patient know of the hairy findings.
Ah-ha — the patient immediately recalled an incident right before he started having eye
troubles in which he was cleaning the glass tank of his pet, a Chilean Rose tarantula ( Grammostola rosea ). While focused on cleaning a stubborn stain, he sensed movement in the terrarium and so turned
his head. That's when the tarantula flicked a "mist of hairs" that hit him in the eyes and face.
Perhaps his pet got scared. To ward off potential predators, this arachnid will rub its hind legs
against the abdomen to dislodge hairs into the air. Called urticating hairs, the structures have multiple
barbs that help them puncture through ocular and other tissues.
Once in the patient's cornea, the hairs caused an inflammatory reaction called ophthalmia nodosa — a broad diagnosis covering the response of the eye to insect or vegetable material.
The doctors said the hairs were too small to be removed even with tiny forceps. Instead, they
treated the eye with topical steroids, which largely cleared up the symptoms. As of August, the patient
reported mild discomfort and intermittent floaters, the researchers announced Dec. 31.
The hairs are still stuck in his cornea, and the doctors aren't sure whether they'll ever go away.
"This case highlights the importance of a collaborative approach between doctor and patient in
providing good clinical care," Carrim and his colleagues wrote in this week's edition of the journal The
Lancet. "The condition described is rare and the correct diagnosis was made only after we discussed
the clinical findings with the patient."
The take-home message for owners of pet tarantulas, which the researchers say are becoming
increasingly popular: "Avoid handling the tarantulas at close range. If they do handle them at close
range, they should wear some type of eye protection," Carrim said.
And if a pet owner happens to get spider hairs in the eye, seek medical attention sooner rather
than later, he added.
MSNBC.com / LiveScience.com ( All rights reserved ).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34647048/ns/health-more_health_news/
Jan. 1, 2010
Submitted by LIHS member Deb Hoppe
Rare Crocs Found Hiding in Plain Sight in Cambodia
Michael Casey, AP Environmental Writer
BANGKOK — Conservationists searching for one of the world's most endangered crocodile species say
they have found dozens of the reptiles lounging in plain sight — at a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia.
DNA taken from 69 crocodiles housed in the moats of the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center
showed nearly 50 percent were Siamese crocodiles, which until recently were believed to have become
extinct in the wild, researchers said Wednesday.
"For the first time in Cambodia, we have a captive population of animals that we know 100 percent are purebred Siamese crocodiles," said Adam Starr, who manages the Cambodian Crocodile Conservation Program, a joint effort between the government and Fauna & Flora International. The Washington, D.C.-based conservation group Wildlife Alliance also took part.
Once common throughout Southeast Asia, the Siamese crocodile or Crocodylus siamensis is
locally extinct in 99 percent of the areas it once roamed and is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Much of the wild population was wiped out by habitat
loss and poaching.
Those left in the wild — thought to
be less than 250, with nearly all in Cambodia and the rest in Indonesia and Vietnam — face the new threat of hydropower dams being built in two of their three
known habitats in the country.
Starr said the discovery of the captive population would give conservationists new options for breeding and reintroducing the crocodiles into the wild, most
likely in places not affected by the dams.
He said up to 60 crocodiles a year could
be released into areas where they once
thrived.
DNA analysis, which was done at
Thailand's Kasetsart University, is necessary because it is virtually impossible to tell
the difference between Siamese crocodiles
and the hybrid crocodile species that are
also housed at the center.
Nhek Ratanapech, Director of the
wildlife center, said he was surprised to
learn that so many of the crocodiles turned
out to be pure Siamese.
ABOVE: In this photo taken Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009, a
Siamese crocodile is seen at Phnom Tamao Wildlife
Rescue Center in Phnom Tamao village, Takoe province, about 45 kilometers ( 28 miles ) south of Phnom
Penh, Cambodia. Conservationists searching for one of
the world's most endangered crocodiles have found
dozens in an unlikely place, a wildlife rescue center in
Cambodia. Retrieving DNA from 69 crocodiles housed
at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center, researchers
said Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009, that they found nearly
50 percent were Siamese crocodiles which until recently were believed to have gone extinct in the wild. ( AP
Photo/Heng Sinith )
RIGHT: In this photo taken Tuesday, Nov. 17,
2009, Siamese crocodiles are seen at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in Phnom Tamao village, Takoe province, about 45 kilometers (28
miles) south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Conservationists searching for one of the world's most
endangered crocodiles have found dozens in an
unlikely place, a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
"Before we conducted the DNA testing, we thought perhaps only three or four of them in the
zoo were Siamese crocodiles," he said.
Siamese crocs are said to be a bit smaller at just under 10 feet ( 3.5 meters ) than hybrids, and their
snouts are shorter and wider.
LEFT: In this photo taken Tuesday, Nov. 17,
2009, a Siamese crocodile peers out from the
water at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in Phnom Tamao village, Takoe province,
about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Conservationists
searching for one of the world's most endangered crocodiles have found dozens in an unlikely place, a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
2009, a Siamese crocodile is seen at Phnom
Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in Phnom Tamao
village, Takoe province, about 45 kilometers (
28 miles ) south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Conservationists searching for one of the
world's most endangered crocodiles have
found dozens in an unlikely place, a wildlife
rescue center in Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
2009, a mixed breed of a Siamese and salt water crocodile is seen at Phnom Tamao Wildlife
Rescue Center in Phnom Tamao village, Takoe
province, about 45 kilometers ( 28 miles )
south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Conservationists searching for one of the world's most
endangered crocodiles have found dozens in an
unlikely place, a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia. ( AP Photo/Heng Sinith )
Reprinted from Newsvine.com
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/18/3514529-rare-crocs-found-hiding-in-plain-sight-in-cambodia
Nov 18, 2009
The Associated Press
Snapping Turtle Grabs Boy's Face
WARREN, OH
A 16-year-old city boy found out they are called snapping turtles for a reason.
The boy was observing a snapping turtle in the Mahoning River near Norwood Avenue Northwest around 8:30 a.m. Saturday when he got his face too close, and the turtle bit him on the face and
wouldn’t let go, said Warren police Sgt. Dick McAllise.
The boy carried the 20-pound turtle from the river bank to Tod Avenue Northwest, where a
man driving by in a car noticed the boy and called 911.
At Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital, doctors gave the turtle a shot of medication to
force it to release its grip on the boy’s face, McAllise said, adding that he believes stitches were needed
to close the wound on the boy’s face.
( LIHS Editor: Okay, you can’t make this stuff up. I loved the comments that followed…
See below )
Comments:
1. Rubbing alcohol poured down the snappers throat would have made it release its grip . I think
that the snapper liked the boy and would have made a great pet. Yep, it was attached to him! :)
2. Someone should tell him now not to put his tongue on a metal pole in the winter. And where
are the pics?!?!?
3. Yes pictures please. This turtle understands natural selection.
4. Was the snapping turtle alright? I hope the turtle wasn't infected with the stupidity virus or
something similar.
5. The 16 year old CHILD should just be released back into his wildlife habitat after he is RFID
chipped so he AND his stupidity may be tracked and studied.
6. What a dummy. This person can legally drive and will be able to vote in two years. Scary.
The Vindicator ( Youngstown, Ohio )
http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/may/02/snapping-turtle-grabs-boys-face/
Published: May 2, 2010
Submitted by LIHS Member Debbie Hoppe
Herp Web Sites / Videos to Check Out
Check this Out 18 Snakes in 8 Eggs!
You Tube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1STOyZNNtPo&feature=player_embedded
Submitted by LIHS Member Mike Russo
Giant Salamanders Helped to Spawn
December 31, 2009—A new program in Japan is helping giant salamanders get past dams built to control flooding so the rare amphibians can lay their eggs upstream.
National Geographic Society:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091231-salamander-videowcvin.html
Video by Public Television's Wild Chronicles, from National Geographic Mission Programs
December 31, 2009
Mike Russo on Reptile Radio - Gray Banded King Snakes
Thanks to Mike Russo who gave a shout out for the LIHS when he was a guest on Reptile Radio and was
talking about Gray Banded King snakes. To hear Mike, go to the following link:
Gray Banded Kingsnake husbandry and localities with Mike Russo 11/8/2009 - Larry &
BT on Blog Talk Radio
Mother of All Turtles Video
You Tube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8oMS3IODQ
River Monsters: Mother of all Turtles
Reptology Habitat Enclosures for Reptiles
and Amphibians. Penn-Plax Inc., announces
three new lines of Reptology Habitat Enclosures for
Reptiles and Amphibians. Classic Glass Habitats are
the company’s traditional terrarium line; Natural
Wood Habitats are similar in design but with beautiful wood frames; and Decorator Habitats are designed to look like pieces of furniture, according to
the manufacturer. The company adds that the habitats are made with quality materials and designed
with numerous features that encourage healthy and natural living environments.
www.pennplax.com
ReptiSun Terrarium Hood . Zoo Med Laboratories
presents the ReptiSun Terrarium Hood. The product includes a low profile hood that holds a NatureSun or T8
ReptiSun linear fluorescent lamp, and the hood has an
electronic ballast for maximum light output and increased
energy efficiency, the company reports. The ReptiSun Terrarium Hoods are low profile hoods designed to hold one
T8 size linear fluorescent lamp. The ReptiSun Terrarium
Hoods feature a built-in reflector which allows for deeper
penetration of visible light and UVB .Convenient on/off
switch. The LF-62 fits terrariums that are 30 in. wide and up ( 20 gallons long or larger ) and fits a 24in. T8 lamp, while the LF-60 fits terrariums that are 20 in. wide and up ( 10 gallons or larger ) and
holds an 18-in. T8.
www.zoomed.com
The Exo Terra Mayan Rainforest Habitat Kit, is an all-in-one
reptile terrarium package with a background design inspired by art
found in Mayan temples. Measuring 18x18x24 in. and made of black
polystyrene, each kit includes an Exo Terra Glass Terrarium and
Compact Top, along with a hygrometer, thermometer and water
dish. Among the Central-America-simulating items in the kit are
Plantation Soil made of compressed coconut husk fiber, as well as
plant accessories, such as the Large Jungle Fern and Jungle Vines, according to the manufacturer.
Rolf C. Hagen (USA) Corp
www.exo-terra.com
Diamondback Trading Cards - Diamondback Trading Cards manufactures unique trading
cards for the natural history enthusiast of all
ages.
Watch their video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8wVCrNsnoI
More information, click around to browse current stock and upcoming releases.



'Reptiles Series 1', ‘SS – Alterna’, 'Frogs and Toads'
'Reptiles Series 2'
'Arthropods'
http://www.diamondbacktradingcards.com/Home
Reptology Large Turtle Pier. Penn-Plax is proud to introduce the Reptology Large Turtle Pier.
This turtle basking platform automatically adjusts to your water level and is
designed for medium-large aquatic turtles as well as frogs, newts and salamanders. The platform is 16” x 11” and
with the eight extension pylons included, you can adjust the height up to
16” tall! Designed to look like an “authentic pier”, The Reptology Large Turtle Pier will provide an ideal platform
for your turtles to bask. For more information and product videos, please
visit www.pennplax.com.
www.pennplax.com
Natural Cricket Care with added vitamins and minerals is formulated to
provide a nutrient-filled gut-load for the optimum health of crickets and the herps
that eat them. The product comes in 1 3/4 - and 10-oz. sizes, and its particles come
finely ground for all sizes of crickets, according to the company.
www.zoomed.com
The NATURE ZONE Humidi-Mat helps raise the humidity level in your
enclosure by controlled evaporation of water. They are made from a tough
simulated leather fabric combined with a special osmotic fabric which allows
the release of fine water vapor. Soak in water 12-24 hours to activate, then
place in terrarium. The nontoxic gel inside pouch slowly releases water vapor without saturating the terrarium ( or drowning insects ). Remove and
reactivate when dry. An easy and hassle-free way to create a humid microclimate for your reptile. Convenient mat provides essential moisture to your
reptile's terrarium. A great way to offer moisture to insects without drowning them.
The mats have heat fused seams making them extremely durable and allow
them to be used over and over again.
 Easily activated by simply soaking in water.
 ideal for tropical animals such as Rainbow Boas, Ball Pythons, Dart Frogs, Chameleons, Skinks,
Salamanders or any other humidity loving reptile or animal.
 Two sizes: Small: 7.25" x 3" and Medium: 12” x 3.5”
www.NatureZonePet.com
REPTOLOGY Shale Step Ledge & Cave Hide-Out – Small; REP 181, and Medium; REP 182
Penn Plax Pet Products
Exo Terra Turtle Heater maintains an ideal water temperature ( 78°F ) for aquatic turtles and most other aquatic reptiles and amphibians. The high-impact plastic casing and
the stainless steel power cord protector keeps aquatic reptiles and amphibians safe. Included is a mounting bracket with two oversized suction cups for easy mounting in any
aquatic habitat setup. Can heat up to 30 gallons.



Preset submersible heater
Rugged construction for safety
Two sizes: 25W ( PT3700 ) and 50W ( PT3702 )
www.exo-terra.com
FLUKERS Cricket Quencher ( no calcium ) or FLUKERS Cricket
Quencher Calcium: Provides crickets and other feeder insects with a
safe, clean water source - as well as offering a good source of calcium for
"gut-loading" insects prior to feeding them to your reptile. 16 ounces.
FLUKERS Orange Cubes: Formulated to be easily digested by all feeder insects.
Use of orange cube will drastically reduce the number of drowned, dehydrated and
nutrient deficient crickets. Made from nutritious items such as kelp, spirulina, and
brewer's yeast. Also packed with Vitamins E, B-12, A, D3, and calcium carbonate. 6
ounces and 12 ounces
FLUKERS High Calcium Cricket Diet: Designed for "gut-loading" crickets to increase their vitamin/mineral content prior to offering them as prey, Fluker's Cricket
Feed allows insect-eating pets to benefit from the nutritional value of the insect itself, and from the insect's nutrient-rich gut contents as well. 13 ounces.
www.flukerfarms.com/
REPTOLOGY Terrarium Hide-Outs - Fossil Cave™ Hide-A-Way
Home - For Small Animals & Reptiles; REP 180
Penn Plax Pet Products
San Francisco Bay Brands “Healthy Herp” INSTANT MEALS. From the company that for
years has brought aquarist live brine shrimp and numerous frozen foods comes the “Herp Healthy”
line of FREEZE-DRIED Instant Meals. Healthy Herp™ INSTANT MEALS are All Natural, contains no preservatives and are healthy and nutritious. The meals have been formulated and specifically mixed for
Herbivorous, Omnivorous, or Carnivorous reptiles. The formula mix when rehydrated returns to its
natural state making it irresistible to reptiles.



Natural colors
Natural aroma
Pre cut ( where applicable )



A healthy meal
No preservatives
No refrigeration
Feeding Instructions: Remove lid ( for bulk fill cup with food ), fill cup halfway with warm water, and
wait 5-8 minutes. Drain excess water and place in Stepping Stone Feeding Dish™ or dump into food
dish. Remove any uneaten food after 24 hours and discard. This product has been lightly dusted with
calcium, because different reptiles have different needs, please be familiar with your animal’s requirements and supplement accordingly. This product can be used as a daily diet, in addition to the
daily diet or as a treat. Available in several varieties, and sizes (SM Cup; LG Cup; Bulk Jar; LG Bulk
Jar ). OPTIONAL Stepping Stone Feeding Dish available ( SM and LG size available ). Additional information at http://www.sfbb.com/pdf-intro/hh_intro.pdf or http://www.sfbb.com/whatsnew.asp



Veggie Mix Instant Meal
Fruit Mix Instant Meal
Meat Mix Instant Meal



Box Turtle Food Instant Meal
Tortoise Food Instant Meal
Dragon Food Instant Meal Adult
Optional Stepping Stone
Feeding Dish
San Francisco Bay Brands “Healthy Herp” Frozen Rodents. Four sizes
available; Pinky ( 3 ), Fuzzy ( 3 ), Hopper ( 2 ), Adult (2 ) and ( 50 ) packs. Healthy
Herp Frozen Rodents are safe and easy to feed. Each fuzzy is individually wrapped
to lock in freshness. They are accepted by snakes, turtles, tortoises, lizards and
frogs. Just thaw and feed.
http://www.sfbb.com/whatsnew.asp#
San Francisco Bay Brand, “Healthy Herp” FROZEN Natural Formulated Reptile Diets.
Healthy Herp™ Formulas are formulated with whole fresh ingredients, which provide an excellent
mix of animal and plant proteins ( where applicable ), vitamins and calcium.
•
•
•
•
•
Natural ingredients
Frozen fresh
Scent and color attracts reptiles
A healthy meal
No mess easy pop out cubes
Simply thaw and feed. Available in Aquatic Turtle Diet Adult Formula; Aquatic Turtle Diet Juvenile
Formula; Carnivore Carnage™; Dragon Delight™, Adult Formula; Dragon Delight™, Juvenile Formula;
Fantastic Fruit™; Garden Gumbo™; and Tortoise T’weeds™. Additional information is available at
http://www.sfbb.com/frozen.asp#
www.sfbb.com/home.asp
MEETING DATES & INFORMATION
LIHS
Meeting / Exhibition Dates




Speaker / Topic
May 16, 2010
Corn Snakes the Best Pet Snake EVER – Rich Hume
June 13, 2010
2nd Annual LIHS Auction
June 19th, 2010
October 9th, 2010
Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium Herp Day
LIHS Annual Reptile & Amphibian Show/Expo
ALL Meetings ( unless otherwise noted ):



Are OPEN and FREE to the PUBLIC ( UNLESS NOTED )… Bring your friends and family.
Will start at 1:00 PM. They may end earlier than the 4:00 end time, so please be on time.
Will be held at the Farmingdale State College Conference Center on the SUNY Farmingdale
College Campus.
DIRECTIONS to SUNY Farmingdale: http://www.lihs.org/files/meetingplace.htm
 SUNY Farmingdale College Campus Map: http://www.lihs.org/files/FSUNY_MAP.jpg
Speakers will be updated as they are
scheduled. You will receive meeting
updates via email, the Herpetofauna
Journal, REMINDER POSTCARDS, or
for the most Current Information,
please check the LIHS Website:
www.LIHS.org

herpetofauna - Long Island Herpetological Society

Transcription

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