Disease Leads to Behavioral Changes

Ranavirus in UK frogs may be leading to mating choice changes in the amphibians there. (Eurekalert.)

Some Envenomations

A man was bitten by his pet beaded lizard. (News source.)

A Texas man was bitten by a rattlesnake. (News source.)

Three snakebite deaths were reported from India. (News source.)

Nepali Snake Festivals

Hindus in Nepal are celebrating Naag Panchami, the festival of snakes. (News source.)

Turtle Tech

Researchers are using GPS-devices to track diamondback terrapins. (News source.)

India: New Gecko

A new gecko, Cnemasspis kolhapurensis, has been described from India. (News source and image.)

Horned Lizard Species

The coast horned lizard in California, Phrynosoma coronatum, has been split into three species. (Eurekalert.)

Massasauga Bite

An Ontario woman was bitten by an eastern massasauga. (News source.)

Brown Snake Bite

A woman in New South Wales (Australia) was hospitalized for a brown snake bite. (News source.)

Sea Turtle Smuggling

Indonesian police seized 45 poached green sea turtles. (News source.)

Lonesome George Not So Lonesome

The famed Galapagos tortoise has apparently fathered 5 healthy eggs. (News source.)

New Varanus from Indonesia

Varanus lirungensis has been described from the Talaud Islands in Indonesia. (News source.)

Tiger Ate Snakes

A tiger in the Sunderbans, which apparently died of age-related problems, was found to have a couple of cobras in its stomach. (News source.)

Problem Gators

A SC sheriff's deputy was fired for shooting at a gator without a nuisance gator permit. (News source.)

A Florida man lost two fingers to an alligator while rescuing his dog. (News source.)

Python Hunt Catches One

Newly authorized python hunters in the Everglades quickly found a 10-footer while on a publicity-tour. (News source.)

Invasive News

Cuban tree frog expansion in Florida may be nearing its limits as they reach colder climates. (News source.)

The governor of Florida has approved python-hunting in the Everglades. (News source.)

Prisoners Raise Endangered Frogs

A few prisoners in Washington State are helping to raise endangered Oregon spotted frogs, and are doing a pretty good job at it. (News source.)

Smugglers

Two suspected tortoise smugglers have been arrested in London. (News source.)

Hellbender Conservation

Missouri is trying to preserve their hellbenders, along with the St. Louis Zoo's captive-breeding program. (News source.)

Sabotage at Croc Farm?

A Singapore croc farm operator found 50 baby crocodiles dead in their pond; police investigation is underway. (News source.)

Rattlesnake Bites

A Florida man was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake while shopping in a Wal-Mart garden department. He plans to sue. (News source.) Now seriously, what idiot living in rattlesnake country seriously believes that it's a garden center's fault if he doesn't watch where he puts his hands? Snakes can be anywhere, there's no way to effectively prevent them, so common sense has to be applied.

Another man in Florida was driving through the Everglades when he stopped to rescue an eastern diamondback from the road, and ended up getting bit. (News source.)

Lizard Locomotion

Researchers have now shown that neon blue tailed tree lizards (Holaspis guentheri) actually do glide when leaping from trees, because of their light weight, which makes their Mass to Surface Area ratio the same as that of the gliding gecko. (Eurekalert.)

Sandfish (a desert lizard) swim like snakes through the sand. (Eurekalert.)

NC Snake Law Passed

Stricter regulations are now in place in North Carolina for keepers of large constrictors and venomous reptiles. (News source.)

Frog Farm Failure

A Chinese farmer trying to raise American frogs (I assume bullfrogs) lost 270,000 of them, and blames noise from a nearby construction site. (News source.)

Eastern Massasauga Bite

Details on a massasauga bite in Michigan, here.

Rescue Holds Fashion Show

An iguana rescue needs to expand, so is holding a fashion show fundraiser, with lizard-themed fashions. (News source.)

OOP Gators

A small gator was caught in Butte Creek, in California. (News source.)

A couple of Indiana teens killed a 6-foot alligator in a Jasper County river. (News source.)

A small alligator was captured in the Tuscarawas River, in Ohio. (News source.)

Chinese Alligator Success

A group of wild-born Chinese alligators from previously captive adults has been discovered on Chongming Island. (News source.)

Croc with Armor

A very strange fossil crocodilian has been discovered in Brazil, with armadillo-like body armor. (News source.)

Massachusetts Rattlesnake Bite

An unnamed researcher was bitten by a timber rattlesnake in the field, near Sheffield, MA. (News source.)

Crocodile News

A 52-year old Malaysian man survived a crocodile attack. (News source.)

Australian police are searching for thieves who stole 18 young saltwater crocs from a crocodile farm in Darwin. (News source.)

Snake Bites

A Connecticut man was bitten by a rattlesnake when he tried to pick it up. (News source.)

An Idaho woman was bitten by a small rattlesnake. (News source.)

A Florida man was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake. (News source.)

Sri Lanka recorded approx. 33000 snakebites in 2008. (News source.)

New US Salamander

A tiny new salamander has been discovered in the Appalachians. It has been named Urspelerpes brucei. (News source.)

A new genus and species of lungless salamander (family Plethodontidae) from the Appalachian highlands of the south-eastern United States
C. D. Camp, W. E. Peterman, J. R. Milanovich, T. Lamb, J. C. Maerz, D. B. Wake
Journal of Zoology
Published Online: Jun 22 2009 12:04PM

Gator Farm Blues

Bad economic news for gator farmers. (I'm surprised there isn't an enterprising group taking advantage of this to bring a former "luxury" item to a cheaper market.)

Rip Van Frog

Researchers are investigating how some burrowing frogs can sleep in mud for months or years. (News source.)

Crocs in Rio Grande

Crocodiles reported in the Rio Grande near Reynosa, Mexico, are rumored to be released "by drug lords or others." A close to five-foot one was caught in a Reynosa backyard. (News source.)

Snake Bites (or Not)

A hiker was airlifted off the Blue Ridge Parkway for alleged snakebite (news source), with reports he was bitten five times by a timber rattlesnake, but medical evaluation says the snakebite story is false (news source), though the man remains hospitalized.

A Texas woman was bitten by a copperhead. (News source.)

Superpredator Salamanders

Supersized hybrid tiger salamanders are wiping out the California native species. (News source.)

Maine: Giant Snake Rumors

A "monster snake," "perhaps up to 17 feet long" was reported in Rumford, Maine. (News source.)

Australian Smuggler Fined

A man in NSW was fined $4,000 for trying to smuggle 12 pythons out of Western Australia. (News source.)

Alabama Coral Snake

A coral snake was found in central Alabama for the first time in 40 years. (News source.)

Rattler Bites

Three people in Florida have been bitten by rattlesnakes in the last week. (News source.)

Fox Snakes

A story about fox snakes near Sandusky, Ohio, here.

Fatal Attack by a Burmese Python

An unlicensed and improperly housed Burmese python killed a 2-year old girl in Florida. (News source, and here.)

Actually, while the stories say the python was a pet, it also says the man had "bagged and caged" the python the night before -- so was it a recently captured feral snake?

Pennsylvania: Snake Farm Profile

Pocono Snake and Animal Farm is profiled here.