Practical Reptile Keeping

Practical Reptile Keeping is the only monthly herp care magazine published in English. Launched in 2009, it attracts an international readership and is packed with advice on how to look after and breed snakes, lizards, tortoises, turtles, amphibians and bugs. As well as stunning photography, each issue features technical help, product information and health care advice to keep your animals in tip-top condition, plus breeding details and the latest news relating to this group of creatures from around the world.

Welcome

Rare frog rediscovered after more than a century • Featuring stories that include the rediscovery of a frog missing for more than a century, how seven species of snake associate together on one relatively small island, why an incredibly rare butterfly benefits from hurricanes, the results of a rescue mission to Chile by a team from London Zoo, the discovery of a strange reptile in the UK county of Gloucestershire, plus how the breeding period of sea turtles is changing in the Mediterranean, as well as news about one of the most remarkable herpetological discoveries of recent years.

The legacy of an incredible journey

An unusual reptile from Gloucestershire

How snakes on Sado Island co-exist

An incredible, long-distance frog rescue

Endangered butterfly benefits from hurricanes

Guide to breeding snakes successfully PART TWO • In the second part of this short series about breeding snakes, experienced enthusiast Timothy Zedi provides first-hand advice about caring for hatchling and neonate snakes. This article offers the information that you need to raise baby snakes, some of which can be challenging, especially the smaller species of colubrids.

Choosing your life-long companion • Be prepared to redraft your will when you acquire a tortoise as a pet, so you can plan for its future! Today’s young tortoises are still likely to be alive when our grandchildren are elderly. David Alderton reports.

Housing for bearded dragons • What are the choices when it comes to setting up a home for a bearded dragon? Don Harper reports.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

REPTILE FOCUS • Bluestripe garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis similis)

Rare monitor lizard breedings and more! • The biological phenomenon of parthenogenesis is very rare in the animal kingdom, especially in higher vertebrates such as reptiles. It has been recorded in the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) however, and here is an exclusive account of several breedings achieved in this way, documented in a mangrove monitor. John Courteney-Smith, MRSB, FLS discovers more with well-known monitor enthusiast Paul Burrows.

Out of Africa Life in the sand • Examining how reptiles and amphibians have adapted to different environments, Paul Donovan concentrates on how those that are to be found in desert landscapes, and particularly Africa’s Kalahari desert, are adapted to survive in such adverse surroundings.

TALES FROM THE REPTILE HOUSE The python that got drunk at the hen party • Having worked for many years as the curator of a zoological collection in Scotland, Bill Lowe may have missed his vocation by not taking up the chance to become a male exotic dancer! At least he would have had the perfect partner in a mild mannered python - provided that the snake had been sufficiently sober at the time.

The breeding habits of island reptiles • Have you thought that some reptiles might simply be more difficult to breed because they are genetically programmed not to be prolific? James Brereton MSc examines some of the reasons as to why island reptiles are more problematic in terms of their reproductive biology, and provides advice on how to overcome these issues within your collection.

Practical Reptile Keeping