General
Although not what might be termed an ideal “first lizard”, frilled dragons make fascinating, long-lived additions to the collections of those with a bit of reptile-keeping experience.  This week we’ll take a look at how to provide for these unique animals in captivity.  Please see Part I of this article for a discussion of their [...]

Overview
The frilled dragon was a creature of legend to budding American herpetologists growing up in the 60’s and 70’s – we devoured what little published information existed, but seeing one alive was out of the question, short of a trip to its habitat.  It is still hard for me to imagine that, as a Bronx [...]

Introduction
The snake world is full of species that “break the mold” – none more so than a Southeast Asian import that sometimes appears in the trade, the tentacled snake.
The care of this snake differs greatly from that of all others, and I’ll devote a full article to it shortly.  For now, I’d like to introduce the [...]

Herp enthusiasts are, along with entomologists and exterminators, the only people who actively seek out termites – but we have good reason.  These insects (fascinating in their own right, by the way) are a valuable food source for a number of reptiles and amphibians.  Termites are particularly important for poison frogs, and form a major [...]

Note: Please see Tarantulas in Captivity: An Overview of Popular Species for information on other species and an overview of tarantula-keeping.
 
Sri Lankan Ornamental Tarantula, Poecilotheria fasciata
Beautifully colored in gray and greenish-brown with an overlying pattern of light gray, these striking, arboreal tarantulas hail from Sri Lanka and neighboring southern India.  The undersides of the first 2 pairs [...]

While working in a large tropical bird exhibit at the Bronx Zoo some years back, I was startled to come across tiny frogs hidden among the leaf litter.  I was able to identify them as Greenhouse frogs, Eleutherodactylus planirostris (an apt name, it turns out).  These 1.4 inch-long Cuban natives have been transported around the [...]

Although only 906 of the world’s 40,024 spider species are tarantulas (Family Theraphosidae), these interesting creatures are the best known of the group and among the most sought-after of invertebrate pets. Reptile enthusiasts, myself included, seem particularly drawn to them, hence their inclusion in this blog. Today I would like to provide an overview of [...]

Growing up near the Bronx Zoo, I became fascinated by giant snakes early on, as these magnificent creatures were always featured prominently in my favorite building, the Reptile House.  So it was with great anticipation that, after some years as a reptile keeper for the zoo, I set off for Venezuela to assist in field [...]

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Please see here for more background information on this animal’s natural history and life cycle in the wild.
 
General
Despite living largely underground in the wild, captive spotted salamanders adjust well to artificial caves and shelters, where they are more easily observed.  Well-adjusted captives quickly lose their secretive, nocturnal ways, and will eagerly accept [...]

To read the first part of this article, click here.
Natural Diet
Adults consume a wide variety of prey – earthworms, millipedes, crickets, sow bugs, spiders, centipedes, termites and other invertebrates as well as smaller salamanders. The larvae prey upon zooplankton, dragonfly larvae and other aquatic insects, fairy shrimp, tadpoles, red-spotted newt larvae and each other.
Spotted salamanders [...]