Search found 127 matches

by mywan
October 1st, 2013, 12:15 am
Forum: Image Lab
Topic: What could I do better?
Replies: 10
Views: 4952

Re: What could I do better?

Other than lighting the most consistent issue I see with all the pictures is not enough attention to the background border. The 3rd one in particular would have been particularly good with just an inch or two more of the background around the border, but not too much. Once I have a subject in the vi...
by mywan
September 30th, 2013, 7:59 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)
Replies: 9
Views: 3439

Re: Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

It seems the H. cinerea is returning to the same spot within the bromeliad every day while being absent at night. I've often been curious about the territorial habits of various frogs and how familiar they were with that territory. I do know that year before last, after a cricket explosion, a Bufo a...
by mywan
September 29th, 2013, 8:34 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)
Replies: 9
Views: 3439

Re: Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

We have seen them quite frequently in Chattanooga this summer so I don't think Dalton is that far out of range... The guides I referred to showed that their range to be limited to about 100 miles further south. That puts Chattanooga even further out of range, or about the same if you measure from A...
by mywan
September 29th, 2013, 8:24 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)
Replies: 9
Views: 3439

Re: Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

Very cool, John. Thanks for showing them and the great looking habitat. Alas, what birdinggal says is true. In older field guides, that general area is devoid of H. cinerea , but newest guides like The Amphibians of Tennessee by Niemiller and Reynolds (an excellent book by the way), Greens are foun...
by mywan
September 28th, 2013, 9:48 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)
Replies: 9
Views: 3439

Range extension Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea)

More complete pic set can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/mQtnz#0 Tuesday Morning (9/24/2013) about 2:30 AM it had been raining hard and steady all night and I spotted this Hyla cinerea on the window of a friends house. This is in Whitfield county Ga very near Dalton roughly a hundred miles north a...
by mywan
June 6th, 2013, 8:03 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Snakes in a survival situation
Replies: 20
Views: 4884

Re: Snakes in a survival situation

Funny, I initially read the title to mean the snakes survival. :) Don't step over logs without looking at what's on the other side. If in high grass or brush travel slowly enough and make enough noise to give snakes a chance to avoid you. Can you also talk about myths and issues that shouldn't be an...
by mywan
June 2nd, 2013, 11:08 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Can you help me solve a mystery?
Replies: 13
Views: 2466

Re: Can you help me solve a mystery?

This is my favorite frog and I have spent a lot of time watching them. They also breed in pools I create with child's swimming pools around my house. Gray Tree Frogs are not water frogs and only associate with vernal pools for breeding. Often when they call they do it from brush or up in a tree at a...
by mywan
May 25th, 2013, 6:19 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Must Read - Liability Waivers
Replies: 18
Views: 4466

Re: Must Read - Liability Waivers

I wouldn't hesitate to sign a liability waiver for both the organization and any land owners or other people incurring risk of liability. I think anybody that would have a problem with it probably shouldn't be that involved in field herping.
by mywan
May 10th, 2013, 9:30 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Texas: animal cruelty and neglect report
Replies: 62
Views: 22017

Re: Texas: animal cruelty and neglect report

Mywan- thanks for your take. Admittedly, I hadn't seen the term "superinfection" before, but after reading, it made sense that it was an infection caused by an antibiotic/antifungal-resistant strain. The term "superinfection" is actually much more inclusive of all types of simul...
by mywan
May 9th, 2013, 6:00 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Texas: animal cruelty and neglect report
Replies: 62
Views: 22017

Re: Texas: animal cruelty and neglect report

I doubt that a superinfection is the problem here, Please elaborate! I can do this. Since a "superinfection" can involve a range of causal factors I will only deal with the subset of causal factors implied by implicating the use of antibiotics. This generally results when medication used ...
by mywan
March 31st, 2013, 6:05 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Sprinter in Georgia
Replies: 12
Views: 4367

Re: Sprinter in Georgia

The mound looks like a fire ant mound to me. They are all over my property and will cap over the top during winter months like that. Disturbing the mound a bit should tell you for sure. If it's fire ants you can get them to surface and just under the crust it should be riddled with passageways.
by mywan
March 27th, 2013, 12:53 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Backyard herps and habitats
Replies: 18
Views: 3647

Re: Backyard herps and habitats

My yard is where I do a lot of my herping. I should do a picture album of different structures, but here's a list I would consider important beyond basic tin and board cover. Many pics are linked to a facebook album where displaying the images don't work. Pools: My favorite is to place child's swimm...
by mywan
March 11th, 2013, 12:36 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

Photosensitivity seems to be a basal trait shared by even earths most primitive organisms. How fossorial would an organism have to become to lose such archaic pathways? In general, from a genetics perspective, what tends to happen is that the genes responsible remain but become functionally degrade...
by mywan
March 10th, 2013, 9:01 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Lifer (queen snake)
Replies: 3
Views: 1516

Lifer (queen snake)

Handled my first queen snake (Regina septemvittata) today, about 18 inches and about 1.5 hours before dusk at 70 degrees. Sorry no photo, was at an apartment complex with a friend and took her 8 year old daughter for a short walk. The snake did a body roll during handling so I limited my handling to...
by mywan
March 8th, 2013, 8:08 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

I know birds can see UV, has anyone tested whether any herps can? I linked a study on page #2 showing ball pythons can see UV. THE PHOTORECEPTORS AND VISUAL PIGMENTS IN THE RETINA OF A BOID SNAKE, THE BALL PYTHON (PYTHON REGIUS) Sillman et al. (1997) provided the first evidence of the retinal sensi...
by mywan
March 8th, 2013, 10:39 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

Herps may be basking under non-heat UV bulbs simply because in nature, UV, visible light, and heat are highly correlated, and they may not have the ability to identify these diffferent features. Even the ability to sense UV at all is an unusual capability. Nor is UV, visible light, and heat signifi...
by mywan
March 6th, 2013, 11:46 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

Here is a more linear image of the light spectrum. http://www.nsinails.com/images/naillab/uv-overview.jpg Below the 400 NM wavelength is UV, which humans generally can't see. The infrared wavelengths, most responsible for heating, are above 700 NM. Again generally outside the spectrum of what we can...
by mywan
March 6th, 2013, 10:33 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

I have noticed snakes will not bask under radiant uva unless it is their only form of potz. I use cable for potz. There are thermal influences with sunlight as it is comprised of uva and uvb wavelengths. They are also both present in uvb tubes. But they have very minimal thermal capacity and are a ...
by mywan
March 5th, 2013, 4:37 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

Can you log how constantly you get basking behavior under identical conditions with and without UVB? Then log changes in basking behavior, with and without UVB, under specific modifications to environmental conditions? What's needed is enough observations to form a statistical picture of behavioral ...
by mywan
March 5th, 2013, 2:41 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

This morning, with this thread in mind Im sure, I replaced the bulb in my MBK with a fresh one. Within 15 minutes he was beneath - the temperature was the same as the room. (76 degrees) I'm attempting to survey the peer reviewed literature we have and it's quiet obvious we have a lot to learn. A ge...
by mywan
March 3rd, 2013, 8:03 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

But this study didn't tell us whether the D3 production was ore than needed by the liver alone. For all we know, corn snakes have access to both systems, but preferentially use one or the other. It doesn't tell us that they receive any benefit from the extra D3 production. This is true. The snakes,...
by mywan
February 27th, 2013, 7:03 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

John Vanek wrote:By this logic, shouldn't be worried that millions of mice and hamsters don't have access to vitamin C drops?
This was one of the arguments I used against UV for D3 production. I wasn't arguing differently here, just pointing out that more research was a good thing.
by mywan
February 27th, 2013, 2:10 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

This is a good starting point for your own research. This company doesn't appear to be making absolute claims, and even advises against such lighting for high morphs. Even lacking hard data this company is at least avoiding sensational claims, but leaving the details of the research up to the owner...
by mywan
February 26th, 2013, 9:18 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Finally the Amphibs are moving..
Replies: 3
Views: 1214

Re: Finally the Amphibs are moving..

Yep, these are always the first frogs of the year to use my kiddy pools around the yard as a breeding pool. I like when the Gray tree frogs show up. That's why I get a lot of snakes in my yard, and even a few that came in my front door.
by mywan
February 25th, 2013, 11:15 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

We, or at least I, understand why you take your position and I respect you for it. I'm more a hard science guy that digs deep for factual, and don't put much stock in evidence that falls short. As a breeder you have to work with what you have and your showing more than enough conscientious integrity.
by mywan
February 25th, 2013, 10:39 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

I understand how that can be done artificially - but when are visible light and ultraviolet separated in daylight? By lots of different factors, from time of day, latitude, ozone, etc. A phenomena called partial reflection can entail that with just a few degrees difference in the suns position the ...
by mywan
February 23rd, 2013, 6:21 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

I don't know the full cost/benefit ratio any more than you do. Virtually nothing of benefit is without cost. Even Sickle Cell Anemia has benefits wrt conferring resistance to malaria. That's why I said "both benefits and cost" and "outweighed by the benefits". Hence I'm speaking ...
by mywan
February 23rd, 2013, 2:02 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

As a general rule of evolution, functions like D3 synthesis tend to come with both benefits and cost, and those benefits tend to only be meaningful in the context of the environmental conditions the organism is likely to find themselves in. Natural boom bust cycles are a major environmental factor t...
by mywan
February 23rd, 2013, 7:18 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

"Standard Husbandry" practices as people here have defined in terms of the lack of intent to use UV lighting.
by mywan
February 23rd, 2013, 5:02 am
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: UVB for Snakes?
Replies: 109
Views: 200758

Re: UVB for Snakes?

This is an interesting topic wrt ecology, which is more in my interest than keeping or breeding snakes. Though I do enjoy some direct interaction at times. The kind of information, insights, and observations keepers and breeders have to offer is of value to me, and I hope strong opinions on variatio...
by mywan
February 22nd, 2013, 1:37 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Interesting solution to Guam's snake Problem
Replies: 27
Views: 10628

Re: Interesting solution to Guam's snake Problem

Aside - who among us has not seen a cottonmouth or ribbon snake pulling a nasty, stuck-on DOR frog off the asphalt? This reminds me of something I seen as a kid. When I was 6 or 7 I was told that it was a myth that a cottonmouth would bite underwater. When I seen a cottonmouth attempting to scaveng...
by mywan
February 21st, 2013, 1:33 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Need a jpeg of the NAFHA logo.
Replies: 5
Views: 2576

Re: Need a jpeg of the NAFHA logo.

How big does it need to be? There is this from January 2011: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4126 If you want the full logo from the top of the main page like: http://www.nafha.org/images/nafha_logo.png You can blow it up significantly, but you need the background image ...
by mywan
February 17th, 2013, 6:05 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: An added “lunatic fringe” thread on an amphib rule
Replies: 14
Views: 2842

Re: An added “lunatic fringe” thread on an amphib rule

Many years ago, in my youth, I placed a small black rat in a shoe box with some cotton cloth along with a very small speckled king to travel about 50 yards to another building. When I opened the box at the door all that was left of the rat was a tail sticking out of the kings mouth. This kind of thi...
by mywan
February 11th, 2013, 9:22 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: brainstorm: prize ideas for a field herper
Replies: 15
Views: 2457

Re: brainstorm: prize ideas for a field herper

Night vision goggles
All weather radio
Snorkeling gear
Parabolic mic
Wildlife cam
Emergency medical kit
by mywan
February 6th, 2013, 9:51 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Talk about your envenomations.
Replies: 41
Views: 7650

Re: Talk about your envenomations.

There should be an option for no notable envenomations. I selected "No envenomations", but this is obviously my intent. Been stung by an assortment of bees, and my whole arm swelled slightly once after a honey bee sting. Not sure why because it never happened before or since. Nothing that...
by mywan
February 6th, 2013, 9:37 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Cat owners are fighting back!
Replies: 7
Views: 2084

Re: Cat owners are fighting back!

We should still be working towards fixing the problem, but we shouldn't let one study distract us too much from the other perils facing our wildlife. I'll second that. When I derailed with the regulatory bodies so narrowly focused on hobbyist I noted how even cats, in spite of numbers dwarfing the ...
by mywan
February 4th, 2013, 3:26 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Not sure what to make of this
Replies: 8
Views: 2471

Re: Not sure what to make of this

It seems to me what they were actually looking for was incidental to falling through the ice. It doesn't even say whether it was the result of walking on thin ice, a fall from a bank position, sliding off an embankment, etc. I've hiked many days in cold weather, for various reasons including herping...
by mywan
February 3rd, 2013, 5:42 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Save the critters that fall in your pool!
Replies: 17
Views: 5368

Re: Save the critters that fall in your pool!

The only reason I would have a pool in the first place is for the critters, not me. I did notice that Hyla versicolor sang and breed in a pool created by a fire hydrant the county would leave running all night for over a month one summer. I never seen any tads do well but the frogs didn't seem to mi...
by mywan
February 2nd, 2013, 7:11 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: Loggerhead Musk Turtles
Replies: 10
Views: 2825

Re: Loggerhead Musk Turtles

I see these all the time when I go out herping in creeks. When it warms up a bit I'll do a more detailed identification for the database.
by mywan
January 31st, 2013, 6:42 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: About Cats
Replies: 31
Views: 7565

Re: About Cats

It seems to me that perhaps when you assigned my opinion to a "confirmation bias" you fail to recognize from where my perspective comes from. I apologize for not clarifying: that comment was a general observation/prediction, not directed at you specifically. That's why I made the claim be...
by mywan
January 31st, 2013, 9:59 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: About Cats
Replies: 31
Views: 7565

Re: About Cats

The comparison falls apart because herp hobbyists (and others, like turtle sellers for the food market and biological supply houses for frogs) GENERALLY target certain species, whereas cats show little to no preference, so the pressure from collectors is comparatively unevenly distributed. That's a...
by mywan
January 31st, 2013, 7:00 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: About Cats
Replies: 31
Views: 7565

Re: About Cats

In order for hobby collectors who take wild pets to match the impact of cats on birds and mammals alone, given the numbers from this article, it would require each and every US citizen to be a hobby collector collecting at least one new pets from the wild each and every week. That doesn't even count...
by mywan
January 27th, 2013, 9:01 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: first herps of the year
Replies: 8
Views: 1503

Re: first herps of the year

Thanks. Still leaves me with the only meaningful term, when species is unknown, to be Rana. If I can't differentiate the species under some conditions then specifying Lithobates instead of Rana risks being unnecessarily wrong. Would I then be required to say "Rana (including Lithobates)" f...
by mywan
January 27th, 2013, 6:28 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: first herps of the year
Replies: 8
Views: 1503

Re: first herps of the year

Lithobates has been accepted by both SSAR and CNAH. Ok, but if Lithobates is a Genus of its own presumably it doesn't include all Rana, or does it? Does it include all North American Rana? The bottom line for me is this: When I can't identify a particular species but its Genus appears fairly obviou...
by mywan
January 27th, 2013, 3:24 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: first herps of the year
Replies: 8
Views: 1503

Re: first herps of the year

Rana is the genus, Lithobates is the subgenus. It was Frost et al. (2006) that first used Lithobates as a separate genus. However, this is rejected by many others. Personally I'm not too terribly interested in taxonomic debates of this nature. Rana works just fine for me when I only wish to specify ...
by mywan
January 26th, 2013, 8:13 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: first herps of the year
Replies: 8
Views: 1503

Re: first herps of the year

The tadpole appears to be a Rana, which often takes multiple years to morph into a frog. It's not at all unusual to have tadpoles from the previous summer remain tads through the winter.
by mywan
January 22nd, 2013, 9:07 pm
Forum: Herpetoculture Forum
Topic: Friendly breeder rats?
Replies: 3
Views: 1447

Re: Friendly breeder rats?

I keep very few pets but I've been reading up on and considering keeping a few pet rats for a while now. It is my understanding that whether they are breeders or not has nothing to do with how friendly they are. Friendliness, in my understanding, is a product of socialization and genetics resulting ...
by mywan
January 22nd, 2013, 5:23 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Tiny Frog ID
Replies: 11
Views: 2067

Re: Tiny Frog ID

Yes, I agree with others ID here. Almost certainly a Bufo. Same frog that's in my avatar except a few days older.
by mywan
January 22nd, 2013, 3:50 am
Forum: The Forum
Topic: Hmm....Is this significant?
Replies: 11
Views: 1502

Re: Hmm....Is this significant?

I wouldn't call your pontificating ridiculous, Phillodactylus. It was no more or less than what you claimed it to be, and that's the best anybody can ask. Looking at the geography of the area Wide Canyon has a permanent tributary to the Colorado River in the area to the south, and spanning the north...
by mywan
January 21st, 2013, 8:01 pm
Forum: The Forum
Topic: emergence triggers
Replies: 24
Views: 2870

Re: emergence triggers

Emergence triggers may have some unmeasured factors, and may be part of a larger phenomena that I'm interested in, especially the apparent interspecific synchronicity in activity levels. Other than personal anecdotal evidence there is this study that appears to support my observations: (PDF): http:/...