A lizard slithered hither, unwithered. I shivered.
#reptiles

Bella is catching some heat on her full belly. ❤️

#snake #snek #snakesOfMastodon #boaImperator #reptiles #pets #animals

Secrets of the karst: new species found in Cambodia’s limestone caves – in pictures

A survey has revealed the vast array of wildlife – some never seen before – living within the south-east Asian country’s karst ecosystems. New species discovered include geckos, millipedes and a pit viper

The Guardian

Baby yellow faced whip snake just hanging out

#wildlife #reptiles #snakes #Australia #animals

I discovered three new geckos in Cambodia’s limestone caves – and that’s not all we found

The whole ecosystem inside a cave feeds off guano, dead bats, or any dead animals on the ground. It’s not for the faint-hearted

The Guardian
Has anyone tried using compressed coconut fibers for reptile bedding for potting soil/seed starting? (Some free stuff on the curb, wondering if it's treated or just plain old shredded coconut, i.e. coir.) #random #reptiles #coconut #coir
Some #snakes lack the ‘#hunger #hormone.’ Experts are hungry to know why
The #gene for #ghrelin is missing in serpents, yet present in other fasting #reptiles
Evolutionary #geneticist Rui Pinto and colleagues stumbled on the discovery when comparing the #genomes of 112 reptile species, including snakes, crocodiles and chameleons, which they obtained from public database. Genes for ghrelin and its activating enzyme were absent in 32 snake species.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/snakes-lack-hunger-hormone-ghrelin
https://archive.ph/WvOHr
Some snakes lack the ‘hunger hormone.’ Experts are hungry to know why

The complex biology of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, has researchers wondering how its absence helps snakes last a long time with no food, if at all.

Science News