Yellow Branded Poison Dart Frog

                                Chris Hall

This cat’s name is Mike, and he is a yellow-branded poison dart frog, Dendrobates Leucomelas, of the family Dendobatidae, and is a nifty little critter for those with a passion for frogies. 

Habitat and Range: 

                These dudes live in middle to South America, in countries like Guyana, the south of Colombia, the north of Brazil, and Venezuela.  They like to live in humid and/or wet areas, such as the moist locales of rainforest trees and their trunks, drippy soil and stones. 

Mating, Offspring and the joys thereof

                The females of this species reach sexual joy and ability at 2 years of age; they enjoy breeding in the months of February and March, and only in the raining season.  Right after sunrise and before sunset are the most intense “passion” moments, as they call the most aggressively during this time.  The males chirp and trill to get the ladies to come, and so unlike many species, it is the females that vie for the attention of the males, and have to compete, instead of the other way around.  She can lay up to 1000 clutches of eggs (a clutch is 2-12 eggs) in one breeding season. 

Feeding Needs and Diet

                These guys eat ants, termites, beetles, spiders, tadpoles, giant damselfly nymphs, and other dart frog tadpoles—gross.  But whatever, right, food is food? 

Size

Adults can get up to 1.57 inches, which is large for poison dart frogs.  Their average weight is 0.11 ounces.  Females are larger than males.  Their life span is 5-7 in the wild, though the record for captivity is actually 20.5 years. 

Role in Ecosystem

                These guys have a role in the ecosystem by keeping down bugs (most importantly poisonous ones) down to a minimum.  In fact, the only reason these frogs are poisonous is because they eat poison ants. 

Relatives

                They are in the family Dendrobatidae, which means they are related to all other poison dart frogs, including the Ranitomeya and Andinobates  

 

 

http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/assets/uploads/animals/pdf/Yellow-bandedPoisonDartFrog.pdf

               

His name is Tommy-Flordia Kingsnake

His name is Tommy

His name is Tommy, he was born some years ago to the titular callsign of the Florida Kingsnake, or Lampropeltis getula floridana, and will live a good, influuemtial life among other snakes, especially those he doesn’t eat. Yes, Tommy is a cannibal, he, along with other Kingsnakes, enjoy snake cuisine. He will never be a monster sized snake killer, but will get up to 48-60 inches, which for those with less than adequate motivation to think, is 4 to 5 feet.

Habitat, Range and Temperature requirements

According to LILREPTILE, these snakes “Inhabit tropical and semi-tropical grassland habitats near ponds and swampy regions of Florida.” It also mentions that dark spots for them to hide are appreciated by the snake. Range appears to be simply in and closely around florida, however due to their temperate requirements ( 78 to 90 degrees F), they can be held captivitely in areas more north.

Feeding and Offspring Info

Tommy here and others among his species will enjoy rodents and mice that are the right size for them to chow down on. However, as mentioned earlier, Tommy here is a cannibal, his taste for other snake flesh is insatiable (just kidding), so one can also feed him “small lizards and snakes as well as amphibians and birds,” according to LILREPTILE. Females of this species generally lay anywhere from three to thirty eggs, with babies hatching at five to eight inches long.

Other Info

I think that the fact that this snake eats other snakes is pretty significant and cool, enough so that repeating it as my one fact is acceptable. The fact that Tommy here wants to eat all of his friends is pretty awesome

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http://lllreptile.com/info/library/animal-care-sheets/snakes/-/florida-kingsnake/

http://www.snakeestate.com/kingsnakes/florida-kingsnake.html (Just the Offspring part).

 

 

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Argentine Boa

Argentine Boa

Boa constrictor occidentalis

 

     Adult Size:  The Argentine Boa Constrictor can grow up to eight feet in length if it is a male.  Females, on the other hand, can grow up to twelve feet long.  They have been known to reach over 60 pounds in weight.

 

     Temperature Requirements:  These snakes are found in the warmer parts of the world, particular South America, so temperatures generally are around 80 high, occasionally 60 low (farhenheit).  This far up north, these snakes would die, but in captivity they can live here just fine.

     Range:  Argentine Boas are found in Bolivia, Uraguay and of course, Argentina. 

     Habitat:  The Argentine Boa generally prefers wet areas, however they can be found in grasslands, rocky slopes and even scrub forests. 

    Feeding:  Argentine can be found on the ground, but love to climb in trees, and therefore very apt to eat birds and other small animals.  However, once in captivity they are usually just fed rats.

     Argentine Boas are considered an endangered species due to them being hunted for their skins as well as their habitats being destroyed and invaded by humans.  For this reason, Argentine Boas are bred in captivity in the hope that we do not lose these wonderful snakes.