Philadelphia Herpetological Society

09/07/2026

Wild Pawpaws are ripening in SE PA. But don't pick the hard green Pawpaws. When ripe they become a bit soft and blush yellow and either drop to the ground or can be gently shaken off the tree.
And leave some for the turtles and other wildlife.
This is a protected native Eastern Box Turtle [𝑇𝘦𝑟𝘳𝑎𝘱𝑒𝘯𝑒 𝑐𝘢𝑟𝘰𝑙𝘪𝑛𝘢 𝘤𝑎𝘳𝑜𝘭𝑖𝘯𝑎] feeding on a native fallen Pawpaw [𝐴𝘴𝑖𝘮𝑖𝘯𝑎 𝑡𝘳𝑖𝘭𝑜𝘣𝑎] somewhere in Pennypack Park in Philadelphia PA. Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Herpetological Society

07/20/2026

Full details at https://usark.org/26esa2/. This is a snippet.

July 13, 2026: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will post this in the Federal Register tomorrow (July 14) at https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-14098/endangered-and-threatened-species-90-day-findings-for-10-species. The notice contains the 90-day findings for 10 species, including the Diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin), which are proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. This is separate from the NOAA alert we posted at https://usark.org/24esa3/ regarding this species. FWS has concluded that the submitted petition presents substantial information indicating that listing the diamondback terrapin as a threatened or endangered species may be warranted.

USARK is collecting information from breeders, keepers, and dealers concerning captive population numbers and production. Please email us at [email protected] if you work with Diamondback terrapins.

We will update with the comment link.

Read the document at https://usark.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/26-diamonback-terrapin-90-day-findings.pdf.

For inquiries regarding the Diamondback terrapin listing, contact: Matt Hinderliter, Regional Listing Coordinator, Northeast Regional Office, 601–720–6531, [email protected]

06/21/2026

PHS's volunteers operate a reptile rescue and occasionally need to place certain large snakes, giant tortoises, and the usual pet trade examples on a compressed timeline. If you are an experienced reptile keeper, and have an interest in adopting a reptile, please send a message with your desired taxa.

We are especially interested to find more volunteers with an outdoor pond suitable for red-ear sliders.

Also always in need of experienced keepers of tropical chelonians.

These are generally available for pickup in NE Philadelphia.

Nothing is offered for resale or expo sales. These are typically healthy reptiles looking for their forever home.

05/23/2026

Interesting new use Gila monster venom

Lizard Venom Regrows 'Irreplaceable' Cartilage – Dr Brad Stanfield

In the early 1990s, an endocrinologist named John Eng walked into his lab at a VA hospital in the Bronx with a vial of dried Gila monster venom. He'd ordered it from a mail-order catalog from a serpentarium in Utah [1]. His colleagues thought he was wasting his time. The idea that a poisonous desert...

05/05/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18ptrHUSjT/

03/22/2026

I am not dangerous. I am eight inches long and I just ate the slug that was eating your tomatoes.

You found me under the mulch when you were planting. You startled. That's fair — I look like a snake and I am a snake. But I'm a DeKay's Brown Snake, and I'm smaller than a pencil.

Gray-brown. A faint lighter stripe down my back. A tiny head with proportionally large eyes. My body is the diameter of your pinky finger. I weigh less than a battery. This is my full adult size.

I cannot bite you in any meaningful way. My mouth can barely open wide enough to take a slug. My teeth are designed for soft-bodied invertebrates — slugs, snails, earthworms, grubs. If I tried to bite your hand you'd feel less than a mosquito.

Here's what gets me killed. People find a small snake and assume it's a baby venomous snake. Baby copperheads have hourglass-shaped crossbands, a triangular head visibly wider than the neck, vertical pupils, and a bright yellow-green tail tip. I have none of these. I'm not a baby anything. I'm a full-grown adult that's shorter than your hand.

I live under mulch, flat stones, rotted logs, and leaf litter. I patrol the mulch layer at night, sliding through the same paths slugs use. A single DeKay's Brown Snake in a garden bed removes dozens of slugs over a season. Your hostas, your lettuce, your strawberries — they look better because of me and you've never once known I was there.

I spend the winter in communal dens — sometimes dozens of us coiled together underground. I emerged two weeks ago and I've been in your garden every night since.

🐍 If you find a tiny snake in your garden:

- Size alone doesn't mean baby venomous snake — DeKay's Brown Snakes are full-grown adults at eight to twelve inches. They're the most common small snake in eastern gardens and they're completely harmless
- Check the head shape — same width as the neck means non-venomous. A triangular head visibly wider than the neck is the venomous indicator. This single check works for every eastern species
- Leave it where you found it — it lives in the mulch layer and hunts the slugs and snails that damage your plants every night
- Flat stones, boards, and mulch piles in garden beds are prime habitat. If you want slug control without chemicals, keeping these features in your garden keeps the snake
- If you're moving mulch or flipping stones in spring, work slowly — brown snakes shelter underneath during the day and a gentle approach gives them time to move before you reach them

The smallest snake in your garden is the one doing the most for it 🌿

03/21/2026

Happy Frog Day and First Day of Spring! 🐸🌷

Today, we are celebrating the largest group of amphibians: Frogs and Toads! There are over 7,000 species found all around the world! Most species hatch from eggs as tadpoles and live an aquatic lifestyle, eating plants. Then, they metamorphose into semi-aquatic, carnivorous adults. The term "amphibian" comes from the Greek word meaning "both kinds of life," referring to their life in the water and on land.

Many frog populations are in trouble, with threats such as deforestation, climate change, and pollution. In fact, around 41% of all amphibians are threatened with extinction. Check out one of our favorite conservation organizations, Amphibian ARK, for more info!

(📷 of Mission Golden-eyed Treefrogs: Zookeeper Joseph)

02/17/2026

Female tortoises being harassed by 19 to 1 male to female ratio

On a remote island in North Macedonia, male Hermann’s tortoises outnumber females 19 to 1, an imbalance driving the population to extinction.

01/15/2026

Ecological improvements from rewilding Galopagos

Source: thaihut.org
https://search.app/Dp9Zz

Why aluminium foil is suddenly appearing along window edges and what engineers say about its true impact on reducing heat loss

12/22/2025

New Publication Announcement:
Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference 2nd Edition
published December 2025, hardcover by John E. Simmons

This revised edition of Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference has been updated with a wealth of new research published during the last decade on preserving specimens in alcohol, formaldehyde, and other fluids. Simmons is well known for his protocols for reptiles and amphibians. The text includes an expanded comprehensive bibliography and sections on managing fluid-preserved collections, determining preservative concentration, storage environments, preservation history and techniques, anatomical preparations, health and safety, fluid-preserved specimens in art and history museums, and cultural interpretations of fluid preservation in art, literature, and film.

This revised edition of has been updated with a wealth of new research published during the last decade on preserving specimens in alcohol, formaldehyde, and other fluids. The text includes an expanded comprehensive bibliography and sections on managing fluid-preserved collections, determining...