I have resisted the temptation to get into Rhacodactylus geckos due to space issues – until now. I’ve coveted the huge Rhacodactylus leachianus for a long time. At the Herp World Expo in Pasadena, I held an adult at Philippe De Vosjoli’s table and was hooked! I came home with a book so I could learn more about these geckos and give the idea of getting one some serious thought.

At the Reptile Super Show in January, I was ready and planned to bring home a leachie! I had an extremely hard time choosing, but finally settled on this little guy (we don’t really know if it is male or female yet). Unfortunately, his label was lost at some point, so Philippe could not tell me about his background, but I really liked the pattern with the pink bars on this guy.

He’s small now, but someday he’ll be a giant!

No more new species for a while now – really!

Chameleon’s have always been on my “someday” list. At the Reptile Super Show in Pomona last month, my daughter and I picked up a little female veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus, at the auction to benefit USARK. We absolutely love her! Anna has named her Leafy.

I have been remiss in introducing her anywhere because I have had a very hard time getting pictures of her. I did get a couple of pictures a week or so after we brought her home. Whenever I try to take pictures, she is either hiding, shedding, or she runs away as soon as she sees the camera. She was up front yesterday, so I took a couple pictures even though she’s currently shedding. As I was formatting the pictures from yesterday, I went back to the ones from Jan 20. Wow! She sure has grown over the last month!

Here she is on January 20. Look at how tiny she was!


February 22 – all fired up because she hates the camera! Look how big she’s gotten!

And Yesterday, just finishing up that shed.

This is her typical response to the camera – run, run away!!

When we first moved here, I was obsessed with gardening. Every time my husband would go out of town for any length of time, I’d add a new garden. Back then, I had plenty of time to devote to the garden. But with the addition of family, teaching, and reptiles, I found myself with much less time. The gardens got much less attention than I would like. Lately, I’ve been reading some wonderful gardening blogs and have become motivated to get my gardens back in shape.

We’ve been having beautiful spring weather here – both the sunny kind that is great for gardening (these days seem to fall on the days that I have to teach) and rainy days that keep everything green. I am not a fan of California’s brown-dead season, so I do love the rainy days! This year’s heavy rains did beat up my daffodils, though. I thought I’d share a few pictures of some of the things that are blooming here now.

Daffodils! A few of them are somewhat ragged after the rains, but still pretty!




Fruit Trees! The apricot (pale pink) almost always flowers too early and frost ends up ruining our chances at fruit. The apricot did start flowering early this year, but only a few flowers opened. The rest of the flowers opened at the same time as the nectarine (bright pink). Perhaps this year we will be lucky?


Finally, one of our lemon trees!

We’re expecting lots more rain this weekend, but with any luck I’ll have a chance to work in the garden!

S373 is a bill that, if passed, would ban interstate transport of 9 species of large constrictors. Ostensibly, the purpose of this bill is to protect the Everglades in southern Florida, a wonderful, unique ecosystem. I was lucky enough to visit the Everglades for the first time last spring (pics here). It is home to many amazing, native animals and plants. Unfortunately, the balance of this ecosystem is threatened by many species of non-native plants and animals. Burmese pythons, Python molurus bivittatus, have somehow become the focus of the media & politicians. Many plant species, such as Melaleuca, have done considerable damage already, but news stories featuring giant snakes get higher ratings, so that’s all the nation hears about. Humans have done incredible, irreparable harm to the Everglades, much of it has been filled and paved and is now occupied by people. The Everglades will never be what it once was, but we can protect what is left. Senator Nelson’s desire to do something in that regard is laudable, but this bill will do nothing to help the Everglades. S373 does not address any of the 900+ species of plants, 1000+ species of insects, 35+ freshwater fishes, about 20 species each of birds and mammals and only 1 of the 35 non-native reptiles & amphibians. It does cover 8 species that are not found in the Everglades, though.

This bill is based on a poorly executed study done by Rodda et al. (2009). The authors noted that the breeding population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades might be able to expand their range if the climate changes due to global warming. They created a model using only mean temperature and precipitation to predict what portions of the U.S. might provide suitable habitat. This model also lacks true presence records – they got their climate data from weather stations in the general vicinity of the natural range of the snakes. They concluded that in 100 years, given the currently predicted global warming scenario, Burmese pythons could expand their range over much of the continental U.S.

Ecological niche modeling can be a valuable tool used to identify areas that might be suitable for invasive species to become established. However, the model presented by Rodda et al. (2009) is severely flawed. Pyron et al. (2008) published a paper that illustrates the problems with the USGS report. Essentially, Rodda et al.’s (2009) model is too simplistic (only mean temperature and precipitation were used) and it generated results that are extremely unlikely. Pyron et al. (2008) generated their own model that incorporates multiple (19) climatic variables. Pyron et al.’s (2008) model for the current distribution of the Burmese python closely matches what we actually find in the native habitat and in the US. Importantly, Rodda et al’s 2009 model does NOT. This should have been a red flag to the authors that they had done something wrong. Pyron et al.’s (2008) model showing potential habitat in 100 years (using the same global warming scenario used by Rodda et al., 2009)suggests that the area that would provide suitable habitat actually SHRINKS rather than growing to expand over much of the U.S.

The niche of a species incorporates all of the various abiotic (physical) and biotic (biological) factors that are important to the survival and reproduction of a species. The total area where an organism can live is called the fundamental niche. Often, due to biotic factors such as competition or predation, an organism only occupies part of its fundamental niche. This is called the realized niche. The Everglades contains a subtropical marshland ecosystem that may be similar to what the pythons find in their native environment, but this habitat is not found anywhere else in the U.S. Predictions of what climate will be like in 100 years call for an increase in mean temperature and precipitation over much of the U.S. But, Pyron et al. (2008) point out that mean temperature and precipitation are not the only important factors. If they were, the continental U.S would already be occupied by Boa constrictor. Boa constrictor occurs only 145 km (90 miles) south of the Texas border. If mean temperature and precipitation were all that mattered, Boa constrictor would have naturally expanded its range into the U.S. over the last few thousand years. However, they are not here because there are other aspects to their niche that are missing. This begs the question of why Boa constrictor was added to the bill in the first place.

This bill would hurt the reptile industry. Tens of thousands of people would be economically impacted by this bill. For this reason, the Department of Commerce has opposed S373. I would hate to see so many friends & acquaintances hurt by this bill. I would hate to not be able to ship baby Pearl Island boas out of state (assuming I am someday successful in breeding them). I would especially hate the door that this bill would open for further banning. But, to me, the biggest factor making this bill a candidate for the shredder is that it does not provide any solution for the problem of invasive species in the Everglades. It doesn’t even offer a solution to the problem of the Burmese python in the Everglades. Instead of wasting time and money on such a flawed series of bills (S373, HR2811, HR669), it should instead be spent on research so that we can understand the various invasive species and work to eradicate them.

Please oppose S373!
http://www.kill-s373.com/
http://www.natpet.org/index.php/legislation/federal-legislation/154-python-ban-fact-sheet
http://saveoursnakes.org/
http://www.pijac.org/governmentaffairs/s373forum.asp

Pyron RA, Burbrink FT, Guiher TJ (2008) Claims of Potential Expansion throughout the U.S. by Invasive Python Species Are Contradicted by Ecological Niche Models. PLoS ONE 3(8): e2931. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002931

Rodda GH, Jarnevich CS, Reed RN (2009) What parts of the US mainland are climatically suitable for invasive alien pythons spreading from Everglades National Park? Biol Inv. 11(2): 241-252.

Simberloff D, Schmitz DC, Brown TC (editors) (1997) Strangers in Paradise: Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida. Island Press. Washington DC.

For those of you wondering how Pyron et al.’s 2008 paper is a response to Rodda et al.’s 2009 paper: Rodda’s paper apparently existed as a USGS report for quite some time before finally being published. In Pyron’s list of references it is listed as “in press” meaning that it had been submitted to the journal, but had not yet been published.

Happy New Year!

2010 is off to a great start with the arrival of a long-anticipated litter of Kenyan sand boas! This female’s first litter arrived on 29 October 2008. In 2009, I paired her up earlier, witnessed a lock earlier, and saw her begin to grow earlier than in 2008. So, I expected the babies to arrive earlier than they did in 2008. Apparently, she had other ideas and held on to the babies for a good long time! Finally, when I opened her tub yesterday, she was no longer alone – there were 12 fat little worms in there with her! Look at that big pile of babies, no wonder she looked ready to explode!

We’ve added an adorable little albino western hognose snake to our collection. My daughter convinced me to bring home the little hognose from the Anaheim show. It took her a while to get settled in to her new home. After a solid month of continually rejecting her meals, she finally decided that eating was a good thing and has eaten very well for us every week since. So, now it is finally time for her formal introduction! We absolutley love having her here!

Time for another field trip to Moss Landing State Beach! I headed out with the zoology class to look at birds, otters, seals, & sea lions yesterday. We had a sunny day this time, so I think the pictures turned out a little better than the ones I posted last spring.

Godwit and Willet

Willett

Curlew

Curlew

Great Blue Heron

Marbled Godwit

Egret

Sea Otter

Otters

The 2010 breeding season is off to an exciting start! I’ve spent the last couple of years raising up my first few ball pythons and a couple of the females are ready to breed this season! Last week, I noticed my pied girl, Delilah, partially wrapped around her bowl and thought I would see what would happen if I introduced a male into her bin. A little while later, they looked like this! Woot!

Delilah & Lono

Her true intended is an albino that is possibly het for pied, but he is still very small and less than a year old. Our other male, Lono, is a pinstripe het for hypo. So hopefully, I’ll end up with some pins het for pied & possibly het for hypo. I’m so excited about this first step!!

African Fat Tail geckos, Hemitheconyx caudicinctus, have been available in the pet trade for many years, but they are currently undergoing a big surge in popularity. This is due in large part to the recent availability of new morphs. JMG Reptiles and The Urban Reptile have been responsible for introducing these new morphs into the market. Pictures of many of the new morphs can be found on their websites. Another reason for the popularity of AFTs is their calm disposition. They are interesting and beautiful geckos that certainly deserve attention.

I have had a pair of amelanistic fat tails for a few years now, and this year I decided to expand my AFT collection to include some of the wonderful new morphs now available! I am incredibly excited for next year’s breeding season!

This morning, I received a much anticipated box from The Urban Reptile:
First up is a Caramel Albino female. She has such pretty coloring, I’m very excited about the possibilities with this new strain of albino! Caramel Albino is a recessive trait that is not compatible with the original amelanistic.

Next is a het Caramel male.

Third is a pretty female that is het for Patternless. Patternless is another recessive trait. I love the look of the Striped Patternless.

Earlier this year, I received a shipment from JMG Reptiles:
First is a het patternless male. He has some awesome color!

Two years ago in Daytona, I saw the Whiteouts on JMG’s table and immediately added myself to the waiting list. This past spring, the Whiteouts were released and I was able to choose this special girl. Whiteout is a co-dominant trait (although the super seems to be lethal). This girl is one of my favorite geckos. JMG has produced some Patternless Whiteouts that are absolutely amazing – I can’t wait to see one of those hatching out!
Whiteout on arrival:

And today – I love her more every time I see her!:

There are several other new morphs available as well – AFTs are getting really exciting and I’m happy to be getting in on the fun!

Our very first clutch of corn snakes pipped last weekend! We were very excited as these are our first snake eggs to hatch. The father of this clutch is our very first corn snake, Stripey, that belongs to my son. He is amelanistic and possibly het for lavender & motley. The mother, Hyacinth, is a lavender motley that is het for amelanistic. So, we were hoping to prove out Stripey for one or both of the possible traits.

Here are some pics of the pippies!

By Saturday morning two were already out, quickly followed by a third.

We ended up with a total of 9 hatchlings. Number 10, another normal, pipped, but died in the egg shortly afterward. I’d been fighting mold on that egg during the whole incubation. We have six normals, two amel motleys, and one motley. So, Stripey has proven to be het for motley! WooHoo!

The rest of the hatchlings can be seen in the gallery!