Chameleon Counters Reptiles

03/12/2023

12/18/2022

It's Christmas break!!
Come say hi to Totodile and see all of our cool reptiles!

12/08/2022

THE TIME HAS COME!!
Get ready for the soft opening of Reptilandia zoo.
Starting Friday the 16th, we'll officially be open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10am to 5pm! So mark your calenders, spread the word, and get ready to see some awesome reptiles🐍🦎🐢🐊

11/18/2022

Snake-necked turtles like this one from Roti Island photographed at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium can grow to be nine inches long with its neck growing to be more than half the length of its shell! These turtles spend most of their time on the bottom of bodies of water. When conditions get too dry, this species will burrow under rocks and boulders and go into a long state of dormancy until rains return.

11/04/2022

If you guessed that this is the embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko, you'd be right. This shot by Grigorii Timin, supervised by Dr. Michel Milinkovitch at the University of Geneva, won the 2022 Small World Photomicrography Competition with its masterful blend of imaging technology and artistic creativity. Timin utilized high-resolution microscopy and image-stitching to capture this species of Phelsuma grandis day gecko.

📸: Grigorii Timin/Dr. Michel Milinkovitch

10/21/2022

After 22 years in business, I am closing. Everything must go. I have baby Ball Pythons, 1 year old Red Tail Boas, baby Bearded Dragons, Leopard Geckos, Hissing Cockroaches, tanks and accessories available at discounted prices. I am open Mon - Sat 1 - 6PM, cash only; when you arrive, call for access.

10/19/2022

Why do some snakes have secret bright bellies?

The Ringneck snake has a dark, camouflaged back, but a brightly colored underbelly! Generally they work to be left alone, but if they are threatened, their belly comes in as a defense mechanism. These little snakes curl up quickly when threatened, and flash red-orange belly on their tails, giving the predator in question a quick scare, and hopefully giving them a moment to scurry away from danger. But is this the only reason they have this coloring? Only more research can tell us, but for now, this is what we know!

These beautiful snakes can be found throughout the U.S., up into southern Canada and into central Mexico. ARC works to protect h**p habitat across the U.S., including the woody habitats this species prefers. To learn more about our work, visit ARCProtects.org.

© Sara Viernum

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10/11/2022

The annual competition highlights microscopic images that bring the smallest details from science and nature to life.

10/05/2022

Meet one of the smallest crocodile species in the world - the West African dwarf crocodile. A nocturnal species, these crocs will spend the day resting in the water, coming to life at night in order to hunt prey. They have a varied diet, feeding on everything from birds and small mammals to millipedes and beetle larvae. When swimming, this species can use its tail to propel its body vertically out of the water in order to ambush prey resting on overhanging tree branches. Photo taken at Lincoln Children's Zoo

09/20/2022

09/18/2022

HAPPY HATCHDAY, Claude! Our beloved American alligator turns 27 this Thursday, so we're celebrating by dedicating the week to all things swampy & crocodilian. Watch this page, & don't miss "Swamp Party" NightSchool, streaming live 7pm 9/15! bit.ly/3d8cgOL 🥚🐊🎂🎈

09/15/2022

Leopard geckos are master escape artists. While they haven’t mastered invisibility just yet, the amazing pattern on their skin acts as excellent camouflage masking them from nearby predators. These geckos also periodically shed their skin, and in doing so, they remove any scent markers that might give them away. However, if all else fails, the leopard gecko will detach its tail if attacked or threatened – but don’t worry! It will eventually grow back. Photo taken at Sunset Zoo.

08/15/2022

Looking at the armadillo girdled lizard’s scales, it's no surprise how this species got its name. Similar to its namesake, this lizard will roll into a ball when frightened, relying on those thick scales and tail spines to protect it from attacking predators. They also serve as perfect camouflage, allowing individuals to disappear in rock cracks and crevices throughout their desert habitat. Photo taken at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.

08/10/2022

Once thought to be the same species as Lau banded iguanas, research and analysis in 2008 determined that Fiji banded iguanas like this one are actually their own species. Found only on the Fijian islands, these lizards spend most of their time in the trees where they can easily forage for leaves, flowers, and fruit. Photo taken at the San Diego Zoo.

08/08/2022

Big crocs from the Mesozoic Era, also called the Age of Reptiles, the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about 252 to 66 million years ago and comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.

07/30/2022

An Australia native, the smooth knob-tailed gecko is more cold tolerant than other gecko species in the region, able to survive lower temperatures for extended periods of time. As a nocturnal hunter, this cold tolerance is advantageous, as it allows the gecko to move faster than its prey, which are species that slow considerably in the cold. However, even this gecko has its limits, and should temperatures drop significantly, it will forgo hunting in favor of taking shelter in a burrow.

07/29/2022

Watch where you step!
This little Texas horned lizard was spotted in Lubbock.

Horned lizards are a threatened species in Texas, but efforts are underway to save our official state reptile: https://bit.ly/HornedLizardMilestone

📷 Rob Marshall

07/23/2022

Lagarto únicos: Cornudo Mexicano y Diablo Espinoso Australiano.

07/20/2022

You may know this desert dwelling critter as a ‘horny toad’, but don’t be fooled, he is no toad! This is, in fact, a desert horned lizard, and their well camouflaged body hides many fascinating secrets to surviving in the harsh desert climates they call home.

They have many defenses against predators, including those spiky horns and the ability to puff up with air to look bigger. However, when those defenses don’t cut it, they really pull out the big guns - flooding their sinuses in order to shoot a stream of blood out of their eye to scare away the threat! As well as defense tactics, horned lizards also have an ingenious way of getting the most out of the little water available to them - they can soak up water from their entire body. This behavior is called rain harvesting, and it takes advantage of capillary action, taking water across their body into their mouth faster than they can drink it. Genius!

We are happy to report that this species has a relatively stable population size, and exists across several PARCA’s across its natural range in Nevada. To learn more about these PARCAs and some other h**ps that are not as fortunate as the desert horned lizard, please visit our website at ARCProtects.org.

©️Mary Claire Boucher MCBCreative

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07/19/2022

This brightly colored serpent is an ornate palm pit viper that I photographed at the San Antonio Zoo. In the wild, this species can be found in the cloud forests of Mexico and northern Guatemala. Unfortunately this snake’s habitat is used frequently for agricultural purposes - growing coffee plants and ornamental ferns, which has led to a decrease in suitable habitat. Do your part to protect this species by purchasing wildlife-friendly coffee and planting plants native to your region in your outdoor spaces.

06/17/2022

The Philippine crocodile is one of the most endangered crocodilian species in the world. One of the smaller members of the crocodile family, males measure up to just ten feet in length, with females being even smaller. Like all crocodiles, this species exhibits temperature-dependent s*x determination. This means that the temperature at which the egg incubates ultimately determines the s*x of the baby crocodile inside, so most of the time, the hatchlings in a nest are either all boys or all girls. Photo taken at Gladys Porter Zoo.

06/13/2022

Alligator snapping turtles are the largest freshwater turtles in North America, weighing up to 175 pounds! These turtles have powerful jaws, but their specially adapted tongues are what allow them to catch prey quite easily. An alligator snapping turtle has a pink (or sometimes gray), worm-like tongue that lures fish straight into its open mouth. Alligator snapping turtles spend most of their lives underwater and stay submerged for so long that they grow algae on their shells! They are exclusively found in the United States, from Florida to Texas and north to Illinois.

Habitat degradation due to chemical pollution and siltation is one of the major threats facing this species. ARC’s place-based approach to conservation aims to protect cherished amphibians and reptiles like the alligator snapping turtle and their habitats. Learn more about ARC’s work by signing up for our newsletter - head to https://arcprotects.org/ and scroll to the bottom of the page to subscribe.

© Eric Soehren
CC-BY-NC
https://tinyurl.com/ESoehren

05/30/2022

This week, a Galapagos tortoise named Nigrita welcomed the nine tiny hatchlings into the world at the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland, home to a breeding program aimed to save these endangered animals from extinction.

At age 80, Nigrita is easily one of the oldest new mothers on the planet. She conceived the babies with her strapping young mate, Jumbo. He's 54.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna572626

05/28/2022

Happy Rattlesnake Friday!

A great blog from Rattlesnake Solutions explored the idea of rattlesnake “aggression.” Often a reliable source of friction on the internet, there are many reasons why people will insist that they have seen rattlesnakes and other venomous snakes native to North America “chase people,” or behave “aggressively.” The reality of course is that snakes are defensive, not aggressive. The blog briefly examines some of the reasons these stories persist with such tenacity before explaining what is known of snake behavior. Embedded in the blog is a video that shows 50 different encounters with wild rattlesnakes, plus some cottonmouths added in for the sake of discussion, all neatly shown in under 20 minutes. The video and the blog together beautifully illustrate just how much these animals seek to avoid confrontation.

Continue reading below, or at the link: https://rattlesnakesolutions.com/snakeblog/rattlesnake-safety/approaching-50-wild-rattlesnakes-to-see-if-they-attack/

Approaching 50 Wild Rattlesnakes to See If They Attack
by Bryan Hughes for Rattlesnake Solutions, LLC

Do rattlesnakes chase people? Which is the most “aggressive”? Did a rattlesnake really attack my uncle?

These questions and comments, often the cause of online arguments, are a perfect example of just how far off the mark common perception is from rattlesnake reality. Why are h**petologists and professionals never chased by rattlesnakes, but others claim to be chased at every encounter? Why is there an apparent correlation between how much a person experiences wild rattlesnakes, and apparently calm demeanor.

There are a lot of reasons why someone may believe a rattlesnake chased them – misunderstanding behavior or context, fear response and perception, and many others. As I have found rattlesnakes and observed the variety of ways they attempt to evade the predator (me), there are certainly behavior that I could reasonably assume to be aggression if I didn’t know better, didn’t understand the intent, and certainly so if some adrenal fear response were added to the mix. Our perception and memories can be molded by our expectation and personal bias, as a lifetime of misinformation and context float to the surface the instant the rattle sounds off.

There are of course other reasons why rattlesnake chases are common stories, and they have nothing to do with snakes. Rattlesnakes hold a special place in our culture as a symbol of the West, and rattlesnake experiences (and how they are handled) can be easy tools to tell other people about ourselves. Rattlesnake encounters are a way of telling about our adventurous nature, our courage, or and other traits that have to do with our perceived identity than rattlesnake behavior. They’re also something people often love to hate, and are proud to fear.

Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/XCVl1ll2VrE

Why do we, as a culture, hate rattlesnakes so much?

Yuck. Ick. Yikes. Scary. Huge! Kill it. Run. Shovel. It chased me to my house. It attacked my bike tire. It stalked me for hours. I had a showdown in a canyon and was trapped. On, and on, and on. These may be the real perception of many people, but what is really happening?

I’m not a psychologist, but I do work with rattlesnakes, so let’s just leave the human behavior aspect behind and see what happens with real rattlesnakes in wild situations. I recorded the approach, and sometimes contact, with 50 wild rattlesnakes to see if any of them will aggressively chase me. Watch to see what happened.

Do rattlesnakes chase people?

No, sorry.

There may be a snake that is confused by what a human is and attempts to hide under the nearest cover, which may be us or our car.

There may be a snake confused by a flashlight and attempts to flee into it instead of away, unaware of where the “predator” is.

There may be a snake that is being interacted with and disturbed by someone actively looking for snakes that advances takes active and advancing defensive movement. Of course, if you’re messing with a rattlesnake and it continues to defend itself beyond your expectation or what you would prefer, that’s not aggression. If I’m asleep in my bed and a guy shows up and pokes me with a stick, my es**rt of that person out the front door is not an attack or a chase. For those of us that are h**pers, don’t forget the context of the conversation here. Do rattlesnakes attack people hiking past them, or see someone and chase them into the house? Of course not.
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The photograph used with this post shows a beautiful northern blacktailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus molossus) © Bryan Hughes of Rattlesnake Solutions.