Table of contents for May 2025 in Practical Reptile Keeping

News & Views By using antibodies from a human donor who induced a hyper-immunity to snake venom by himself, scientists have now developed the most broadly effective antivenom to date, which is protective against the likes of the black mamba, king cobra, and tiger snakes in mouse trials. The antivenom combines protective antibodies with a small molecule inhibitor and opens a path toward a universal antiserum. The current process How we make antivenom has not changed much over the past century. Typically, it involves immunising horses or sheep with venom from single snake species and collecting the antibodies produced. While effective, this process can unfortunately result in adverse reactions to the non-human antibodies, and treatments tend to be both species and region-specific. While exploring ways to improve this process, scientists…

Imagine a crocodile built like a greyhound — that’s a sebecid. Standing tall, with some species reaching 6m (20ft) in overall length, they dominated South American landscapes after the extinction of dinosaurs until about 11 million years ago. Or at least, that’s what palaeontologists thought, until they began finding strange, fossilised teeth in the Caribbean. A confused picture “The first question that we had when these teeth were found in the Dominican Republic and on other islands in the Caribbean was obviously what are they from?” says Jonathan Bloch, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. This initial confusion was warranted. Three decades ago, researchers uncovered two roughly 18 million-year-old teeth in Cuba. With a tapered shape and small, sharp serrations specialised for tearing into meat,…

Introduction It had been a dream of mine, ever since I was a young boy of seven years old, to travel to the mysterious island known as Madagascar that lies off the east coast of Africa, and has the title of “Island of Marvels”. This country is home not just to an incredible range of fauna and flora, but it also boasts some of the most unique wildlife on the planet. The island offers some of the most dramatic landscapes as well, in addition to being one of the world’s most significant biodiversity hotspots, attracting increasing numbers of botanists, ornithologists and herpetologists. For me, it all started when I saw some old black and white clips during a BBC documentary with Sir David Attenborough. I sat watching Sir David walking…

Originally from South America, the charismatic tegu made its way to the United States via the pet trade in the last century. After wreaking havoc in Florida’s ecosystems, the exotic lizard became classified as an invasive species. But a recent discovery from the Florida Museum of Natural History reveals the reptiles are no strangers there — tegus were resident in the region millions of years before their modern relatives arrived. This breakthrough discovery came from a single, 1.25cm (0.5in) wide vertebral fossil that had been unearthed in the early 2000s and had puzzled scientists for over 20 years. Jason Bourque, now a fossil preparator in the museum’s Vertebrate Paleontology Division, came across the peculiar fossil in the museum’s collection freshly out of graduate school. “We have all these mystery boxes…

Rear-fanged or opisthoglyphous snakes are frequently misunderstood with regard to their biology and how toxic their venom can be to humans. With over 700 species spread across the world, they make up a significant proportion of all snake species. Some rear-fanged snakes are common in the reptile-keeping hobby, and so it is vital to understand their venom and its variable toxicity, plus the potential symptoms that can arise if you are unfortunately bitten. What Is a rear-fanged snake? Snakes belonging to this group can be identified by possessing enlarged teeth towards the back of their mouth and they use these teeth as part of their hunting technique in order to envenomate prey. There are rear-fanged snake species living on every continent where snakes are to be found, as well as…

The direct ancestors of this large freshwater species can be traced back over 200 million years, which helps to account for their decidedly prehistoric appearance. They represent a group that saw the dinosaurs come and go, and are still alive today. The common snapping turtle has a wide distribution in its North American homeland, stretching from south-eastern parts of Canada right down to Florida. The population of snapping turtles that occurs further south, in parts of central and north-western South America, has now been subdivided into two separate species. Although well-equipped to hunt with their powerful jaws, these turtles will often scavenge for food. There is a story of one being trained successfully to help law enforcement officers track down the bodies of people who had drowned in waterways, operating…

News & Views Mezcal is a distilled alcohol made from the boiled and fermented sap of agave plants. Most mezcal beverages — including all brands of tequila — are sold as pure distillates, but some have an added stowaway bottled inside: popularly but inaccurately referred to as a worm. Known locally in Mexico as gusanos de maguey (which is Spanish for “agave worms”), these odd organic chasers are actually a type of insect larva, with their addition to mezcal being a relatively recent one, given the long history of this type of drink. Mezcal production dates back centuries, to the first Spanish inhabitants of Mexico, but these larvae only started to be added to the drink during the 1940s. Since then, these gusanos have helped to boost the popularity of…

Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) found that the fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus), known to eavesdrop on frog and toad mating calls to find its prey, learns to distinguish between palatable and unpalatable frogs and toads through experience. This new discovery provides the first evidence that eavesdropping predators fine-tune their hunting cues over the course of their development. Fringe-lipped bats, which range from Panama to Brazil, are amongst the most skilled eavesdroppers in the world: they are attuned to the sexual advertisement calls of over a dozen frog and toad species that live in their habitat. If a fringe-lipped bat hears a call, it will fly toward the sound within seconds. However, just like some incoming calls on people’s cell phones originate from scammers, not every frog or…

Tortoises have been popular as pets in the UK for decades, and tortoise keeping has advanced rapidly over the last twenty years. Now, several relatively hardy species of tortoises are being bred regularly and reliably, including Horsfield’s (Agrionemys horsfieldi), Hermann’s (Testudo hermanni) and the Mediterranean spur-thighed (Testudo graeca), along with a growing number of marginated tortoises (Testudo marginata), which is Europe’s largest species. These tortoises will all eat and thrive on similar foods, requiring a herbivorous diet. Relying on plant matter, they may also be cheaper to feed when compared with more insectivorous reptiles such as the bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps). There is another benefit that may be significant for some owners too, as tortoise faeces tend to be a lot less smelly as well! Many plants suitable for tortoises…

One major area of distinction that sets acquiring a pet reptile apart from choosing a cat, for example, is that the accommodation needs of reptiles can differ quite widely between the various species. It is therefore very important to make your choice, before purchasing equipment. There are also significant dietary differences to bear in mind that may play a part in your decision. Snakes As snakes are not social by nature, so they are kept on their own. It is important to remember that some snakes such as boa constrictors (Boa constrictor) spend their time off the ground, and so require a taller enclosure than those that are essentially terrestrial. The vast majority of snakes feed on birds and mammals, and some prey on others of their own kind, as…