#herps

[celestialmacros]

DeKay's Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi)

April 24, 2024

Southeastern Pennsylvania

Finally found one of these common snakes. I'm terrible at finding herps. This is a small snake, about a foot long (30 cm) as an adult.

[severalbugs]

Who erased her

[toadschooled]

I mean no disrespect to prior toads OK? But this lady has to be the cutest toad I've seen all summer. Looked and felt like a little ball of dough. VERY CUTE FACE! Tiny, unimpressive hops & no reaction to being lifted for pictures. Moved her off the trail and she just sat there. Amazing specimen & perfect in every way. I'll remember her forever

[claypigeonpottery]

sold

a sweet little wingy snake commission

love the texture on this one

[feather-bone]

[ID: an illustration of a coiled corn snake with its head up and to the right. Its expression is content and it is surrounded by simple white leaves on a light green background. End.]

Cute little corn snake! Timelapse under the cut. :-)

[micromys]

We received these endangered yellow legged frogs as eggs, and raised them, treated them, inoculated for chytrid, and finally released 500 of them in Yosemite. Some we put on a helicopter to get flown to an area we can’t reach by foot, and others we put into backpacks and hiked in. It’s really nice to get to see them finally get to be real frogs, especially after the struggles some of them went through!

[rebeccathenaturalist]

THIS IS SO COOL! So animals can get fungal infections, as can plants and even other fungi. We've seen fungi like Cordyceps produce fruiting bodies on insect hosts postmortem. But this is the first known observation of a fruiting body on a live host! And the frog apparently seemed to be in good health otherwise.

It's likely a situation with an opportunistic spore of Mycena landing in a wound or other small vulnerability on the frog's skin, and since amphibians have to stay wet, the fungus had plenty of water. I'm not sure what it's been consuming since Mycena normally is a decomposer of dead plant tissue; maybe dead skin cells and bacteria?

Before people start leaping to conclusions, this is NOT the start of some sort of zombie apocalypse. Mycena and Cordyceps engage with their hosts in very different ways, and neither are anywhere near related to any fungi that parasitize human hosts and which do not cause any sort of altered mental state of that sort. I find it kind of sad when people have to sci-fi a new scientific discovery in order to find it interesting enough to think about, instead of just appreciating how awesome, weird, and scary nature is all on its own.

Regardless, this is a really spectacular find, and we'll see if any other crop up or whether this was one of those once-in-a-lifetime discoveries.

[brightmoontrigon]

juvenile red-eared slider & spatterdock in colored pencil

[iambittythings]

It's a hot one! So today's beast is one that might like to sun itself before running back to shade, a lil Hognose Snake! They're so pretty and wee, and have a nice variety of colours available as they've been bred by reptile enthusiasts.

The fact that they will punch you with their little stumpy face instead of biting, and if that doesn't work, very stubbornly and insistently fake death is super endearing. Like tongue hanging out the mouth, flopped belly up, and they'll keep flipping to belly up if turned over. 'I told you! I'm dead!'

If you'd like a wee Hognose, or another reptile, please check out Bittythings and Beasts.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/BittyThingsAndBeasts

[faunafeature]

Photo found here . . .

The artic fox!

Fun facts about this fox..

• There are 8 recognised subspecies of the Arctic fox! Mainland Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus lagopusc, Iceland Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus fuliginosus, Greenland Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus groenlandicus, Spitsbergen Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus spitzbergenensis, Hall Island Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus hallensis, Bering Island/Sea Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus beringensis, Pribilof Islands Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus pribilofensis, and Ungava Bay (Fort Chimo) Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus ungava

• Their fur colour changes depending on the season! Different seasons can mean different climatic conditions and opportunities for the Arctic fox. So its fur colour can change between seasons for thermal insulation as well as to help blend with its immediate surroundings. in the winter, their fur morphs into the iconic, thick white coating. But as summer arrives, snow melts, and Arctic foxes start to shed their long white coat to a shorter, thinner fur, which can come in a variety of colours, from dark and light grey, charcoal brown to bluish brown coating.

• They can also snow-dive to catch their prey!! An Arctic fox usually has different tricks up its sleeve when hunting. Lemmings are its favourite prey, but they live in a complex network of tunnel systems buried deep within the snow, protecting them from predators on the ground. So, Arctic foxes carefully listen for lemmings moving or burrowing underneath the snow to pinpoint their location by tilting their heads. Once the prey is located, an Arctic fox can jump several feet in the air and nose dive into the snow to catch its prey. Sometimes, it takes more than a few tries, but it’s the effort that counts.

The artic fox belongs to the Vulpes family which is a sub-clade of the Caninae. The members of this genus are colloquially referred to as true foxes, meaning they form a proper clade!

Thank you for visiting our zoo 🐾

[severalbugs]

Howdy Snartner

[toadschooled]

Mr. Smallfellow

[claypigeonpottery]

sold

had to fix this baby with paper clay, but it worked!

[feather-bone]

[ID: a scratchy llustration of a green chameleon perched on a dark branch and facing to the right. It is on a simple background with faded branches and a gradient between green and orange. Signature text reads “Featherbone”. End]

Jackson’s chameleon, aka three-horned chameleon. Like all chameleons, they change color depending on mood, temperature, and health.

[tenderanarchist]

7.29.23

American Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus)

[ballin-pythons]

Mouthbreather supreme