Note: Please see my article on king cobra natural history for further information about this fascinating snake.
It is often difficult to determine what a snake will do in a particular situation, as their external cues are quite subtle. A great deal is going on behind those unblinking eyes, I can assure you, but most species [...]

Snapping turtles bite viciously in self defense and when striking at food – in fact, the species’ name, “serpentina”, refers to the long neck and lightening-fast strike.
I have worked with a number of quite calm captives that showed no propensity for biting, but all are capable, and feeding accidents are always a possibility. Never put [...]

To read the first part of this article, click here.
Field Research on Nesting King Cobras
Famed herpetologist Romulus Whitaker took on the “quite invigorating” as he put it, task of disturbing nesting king cobras to determine just how far their protective instincts extended. He was early on in the research when last we spoke, but found [...]

Overview
This week I’ll cover an animal that is not (thankfully!) a pet trade species but which has long inspired awe in reptile enthusiasts and “regular people” alike – the king cobra, largest and arguably most intelligent of the venomous snakes. Please see my note –
A Close Call with a King Cobra, as well.
Physical Description
The king [...]

“Behavioral enrichment” - allowing captive animals a wider choice of behaviors in which to engage - is all the rage in zoos, especially for mammals. Reptiles and amphibians also benefit greatly when afforded the chance to act in a more “natural” manner. While they do not seem to engage in “play” (although turtle owners may [...]

Click here to read the first part of this article

Feeding
Snapping turtles take a wide variety of prey (see Part I) and will accept nearly any animal-based food placed before them (hatchlings may need to be started on live blackworms and guppies, and weaned to non-living food items). However, in order to thrive, they require a [...]

General
Please see Part I of this article and the short entry titled “Miscellaneous Notes” for information on natural history.
As mentioned in Part I of this article, snapping turtles are held in great regard as pets in places where they are not native. This is not surprising – they are hardy and interesting, and grow into [...]

Years ago, we believed that chameleons changed their body color to “match” their background – green while on a leaf, brown while on a twig, etc. Those of us who kept these interesting lizards began to question this theory, and we soon learned that the other factors were at play. Color change turned out to [...]

Last time I wrote about the natural history of this behemoth of freshwater turtles, and I plan to address its care in captivity (for those of you who are up to it!) shortly. There is so much of interest concerning this impressive beast, however, that I find myself compelled to write a bit more. Hopefully, [...]

On May 7th of this year a fisherman in North Carolina caught a snapping turtle that is reputed to be 85 pounds in weight. If the weight proves accurate, this animal would be the largest of the species yet captured. There is an 86 pound animal on record, but this represented a “captive weight” (as [...]