Southern Arizona Reptile Rescue & Education

12/12/2025

https://www.iflscience.com/new-species-of-tiny-pumpkin-toadlet-is-the-size-of-a-pencil-tip-and-we-cannot-cope-81853

SO SMOL.

12/09/2025

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/1-million-turtle-nests-counted-along-indias-coast-crazy-high-number-10x-higher-than-decades-ago/

Once it's time for the little ones to emerge, they find themselves escorted by the Velas Festival team, until they feel the salt on their scales.

12/08/2025

🔥 This is BROOKS’ BURROWING FROG — The “Living Potato” of the Forest Floor! 🥔🐸

Brooks’ Burrowing Frog (Cyclorana brevipes) is a squat, round amphibian perfectly built for life underground.

Instead of hopping around like most frogs, it spends much of its life buried beneath the soil, emerging mostly after heavy rains to feed and breed.

Its rough, textured skin blends seamlessly with leaf litter, giving it incredible camouflage on the forest floor.

✨ Fun fact: This frog can absorb water through its skin and store it in its body, allowing it to survive months of dry conditions hidden underground!

📸: Unknown

12/08/2025

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251204024228.htm

Experiments reveal that pond frogs can eat highly venomous hornets without suffering noticeable damage, even after repeated stings. Most frogs successfully consumed hornets, including the notorious Asian giant hornet. This unusual resilience suggests that frogs may have evolved mechanisms to block t...

12/08/2025

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRKuNRkEhoq/?igsh=dzQwYjFybGN1bXhj

12/07/2025

This cannot be repeated too many times. Sulcatas in Arizona are at epidemic levels. Every single reptile rescue in Arizona is overwhelmed with them. They soak up an extensive amount of our resources….Food, space, care. And, we are finding it more and more difficult every single day to get the ones that we have rehomed to new qualified owners.
We are at the point where we have to work with other rescues located outside of Arizona just to attempt to accommodate new incoming tortoises .
I would like to see them no longer sold in pet stores but even that would be a Band-Aid considering how severe this problem really is.
So this is not something caused by the tortoises caused by humans…many (not all) of them seeking to make a quick dollar by selling babies unfortunately, there are more babies than Adopters or qualified owners available.
It is ironic that they are becoming endangered in their own native habitat

While they are readily available, many people underestimate African spurred tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata), frequently referred to as “sulcatas.” These tortoises are native to Africa, south of the Sahara desert, in the transitional grassland savannah area known as the Sahel. They are the largest extant species of tortoise from a mainland area anywhere in the world; the only larger tortoises alive today are from insular (island) habitats.

How large are we talking? This is important, because they breed easily under human care, and as babies they are little, and mighty cute. Adults can easily reach over 200 lbs. Over the first several years of their lives, they grow rapidly. That tiny baby tortoise doesn’t stay that way for long at all. Additionally, this species can easily live for more than 70 years. These reptiles are no short term commitment.

While there are many reptile species that do quite well in an apartment, sulcatas are not one of them. An unfortunate surprise for many, sulcatas are in fact adept burrowers. They may view drywall as their unmissable opportunity to role play as the iconic Kool-Aid Man. They may view that porcelain toilet in your bathroom as a temporarily annoying speed bump. They have been known to burrow under a fence far faster than you might imagine. They are also stunningly intelligent.

Sulcatas are herbivores, and their best diet should include lots of high fiber, low protein greens and grasses. That said, some of the trouble these tortoises can get into includes eating “anything.” Spaces for housing these tortoises need to be very carefully checked over to prevent them being able to escape, harm themselves, or your home. Sulcatas also require UVB lighting to properly support their health.

If you think you have what it takes to provide a good, safe home for one of these intelligent and needy tortoises, please be sure to talk with people who work with this species often, learn what they really need, and keep an eye out for tortoises near you which may have grown past being cute babies and need a new home. Definitely do a lot of research on this species before bringing home that wee baby sulcata!
__________
The photograph used in this post shows a larger African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata). The photo was taken by Eric Kilby and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license. The image was not altered for use in this post.
View license information here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

12/07/2025

We are feeling festive here today!
Moose says Happy Holidays and Christmas cheer to all!

12/06/2025

12/05/2025

The Real Life Wolverine: Meet the Frog That Breaks Its Own Bones to Fight

In the misty jungles of Central Africa, beneath the canopy where rivers rush and shadows dance, lives a creature straight out of a comic book except this one is very real.

They call it the Hairy Frog. Or if you're into superhero lore, the Wolverine Frog. Its scientific name is Trichobatrachus robustus, but that hardly captures the brutal elegance of what it can do when it’s in danger.

Imagine this: you’re a predator reaching for a meal, and the soft looking amphibian in front of you suddenly snaps its own bones, forcing jagged, spear like claws through its skin just to fight you off.

Yes, you read that right. This frog weaponizes its own skeleton.

First discovered to have claws in the early 1900s, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that scientists realized these weren’t claws in the traditional sense. They weren’t made of keratin like a cat’s or a bird’s. These were bones modified toe bones that, under threat, the frog breaks free from internal nodules and drives through its skin to create weapons.

Locals in Cameroon and surrounding countries have known about these frogs for generations. Hunters are wary of them, using spears or machetes when catching them because these frogs don’t go down without a fight. Their claws are so sharp, so sudden, they can inflict wounds deep enough to expose bone.

But what’s most fascinating isn’t just the claws it’s how the frog survives this brutal defense. Scientists believe that, thanks to the amphibian’s regenerative abilities, the claws retract passively once the danger has passed. The tissue heals. The cycle resets. It's nature’s own version of Marvel’s Wolverine, complete with self healing.

And that hair? Male Hairy Frogs grow hair like skin filaments on their legs and sides, rich in blood vessels. These aren’t for show they help the frogs absorb more oxygen, especially while guarding eggs in fast flowing streams.

So next time you think frogs are fragile creatures, remember the one that breaks its own bones to survive. In the heart of Africa, the Wolverine Frog isn’t just a legend it’s a living, breathing marvel of evolution.

12/04/2025

For those out there that need a reminder…don’t eat frogs (raw or otherwise)

In an unusual case, a woman developed a parasitic infection in her lungs, when more typically, the parasite stays just under the skin.

12/04/2025

https://www.thedodo.com/daily-dodo/reptile-wranglers-mind-blown-by-snakes-remarkable-survival-trick

“They never cease to surprise and amaze ..."