#not a rating

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Bro why did you censor the snake's cloaca on the snake anatomy post??? It's a snake?

I didn't censor anything, what -

oh. Oh, no. That's meant to be a line to show where the tail begins. Oh no, now I look like some weird prude.

Yeah, that's meant to help people grasp the anatomy and visualize how small the tail is in relation to the torso. Not meant to be some kind of weird snake privacy screen

#not a rating

[chunkfunkgunk-offishal]

Long ago, I promised you wonderful gunkers that I would share some of my silly moray eel memes, and finally,

That day has come.

I hope that you enjoy the fruits of my eel hyperfixation (=´∀｀)

#chunk funk gunk #chunk #funk #gunk #moray eel #eel #not a rating #silly guys #my edit #my edits #fish memes #eel memes #ocean #ocean animals #ocean fish #asks open

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Via

#he has ruined my life #not a rating #fernando alonso #f1

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They say "new year new me," but as far as I can tell, nobody's shown up yet

#mod 🐈‍⬛️ #not a rating

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A Minor Correction to the JVP Post

Thanks to one of our lovely followers, who requested to be anonymous, we've found that the Shekhinah Ministries organization is, in fact, not a Christian group of a similar name, but rather the Shekhinah Creative Ministries, run by someone from the Kohenet Institute. We have removed that line from the post, and are currently looking further into both organizations.

#jumblr #jvp #correction #announcement #not a rating

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One of my colleagues and good friends was bitten by one of his favorite snakes yesterday (mistaken feeding bite) and he's handling it really well and normally. He texted me this meme in the middle of the night and I thought you all would appreciate it

#not a rating #memes

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Hanukkah PSA for reptile owners!

Hanukkah is almost upon us (woohoo!), so I wanted to give a quick reminder to all my fellow Jewish reptile keepers to avoid lighting candles in the same room as a reptile!

Even the smoke from small Hanukkah candles can be very dangerous for reptiles, especially hatchlings and juveniles. Reptiles can't cough, so any smoke they breathe in stays in their lungs and can cause respiratory illness very quickly. It's less dangerous on the first night when you've only got two candles going, but by night eight, it can be a recipe for disaster! This is true if you have an oil-based chanukkiah, too!

To keep your pet reptiles safe and healthy, make sure you always light your chanukkiah in another part of the house, and keep your reptiles out of the room while your Hanukkah candles are burning.

!חג אורים שמח

#not a rating #snake health #reptile health

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you CANNOT say there’s a snake called “bandy-bandys” and not provide any more info

Aha! You've played into my trap and now I get to talk about bandy-bandys!

The bandy-bandy (Vermicella annulata), sometimes also called the hoop snake, is a cute little snake native to a wide range in Australia. They are adorable and perfect and I love them.

They're very small - around two feet long - and prefer to eat other snakes. Because they're so small, they mostly eat tiny blindsnakes. Despite being elapids, a family known for potent venom, bandy-bandy venom is very weak (one of my friends was actually bitten once pulling one of these guys out of a condemned building, he says he's had worse bee stings). They're reluctant to bite and generally very placid snakes.

They're the only land snakes in Australia with a black-and-white striped patterning, making them impossible to mistake! But that's not even the coolest thing about them...

Their defensive display is super unique! They throw up sections of their bodies into hoops in an attempt to disorient predators!

I love them so much. They're so cool.

#not a rating #bandy bandys #snake facts

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Divided geographically because that's what I'm interested in - forgive the partitioning, this allows for only so many options! I'd also be interested if you could drop your location and where you were taught (school, scouts, etc.) in the comments.

"Basic snake safety" refers to basic first aid for snake bites, how to ID your area's venomous snakes, and how to avoid snake bites (don't pick up wild snakes, don't stick your hands in places you can't see, etc.).

#not a rating #polls

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Hi! I was looking at pictures of crocodiles looking flat and SO SO COMFY and I noticed that some of them look like they've got a bit of pudge in the neck area (outlined). I'm just curious - is there a particular reason they look like that?

That's just fat! One of the places crocodilians store fat is around the neck, so when they lay down and get comfy it kind of pudges out to the sides.

You can see it on bigger crocodilians when they're not laying flat, too, if you get the right angle:

#not a rating #crocodilians

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Finally remembered what the picture of a rinkhals cobra playing dead that I shared on here a while ago reminds me of

#not a rating #basically the same picture #rinkhals cobras

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So correct me if I'm wrong, but what egg-eating snakes do is a lot like what you might do when getting a long noodle stuck in your throat, right?

If your process for getting noodles out of your throat involves swallowing them until they're at the very back of your throat, using a special vertebra to crack open the noodle's shell, straightening your neck and squeezing your muscles to swallow the delicious and nutritious noodle yolk, and then regurgitating the noodle shell, then yeah, it's very similar.

#not a rating #egg eating snakes

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Sometimes I forget how cute snakes are and then one of your posts pops up in my feed. You have a really big positive impact on our community. Thank you for what you do. Snakes are such good animals.

Thank you, that makes me so happy to hear!

Aren't snakes just the cutest animals around?

#not a rating

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are those pictures of Bush vipers real????? they're the most adorable thing I've ever seen

Yes! The first picture of them on the pencil is of babies (a lot of zoos will take pictures of new baby bush vipers on a pencil for scale, they're so tiny!) and the adults will usually stay under about 2 feet long. And variable bush vipers especially come in so many colors!

Bush vipers are often green, but they can also be black, red, yellow, brown, grey, and even this purple-ish color.

This is now a bush viper appreciation post!

#not a rating #bush vipers

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What's wrong with heat rocks?

Right, so, these things:

Are crazy unsafe. They can't be well-regulated even if you plug them into a thermostat because they can just get way too hot. There's no temperature regulation on these things. On top of that, reptiles are notoriously lousy at recognizing when their bellies are getting too hot because they just haven't evolved to pay much attention to that, so it's super easy for them to get burned badly on heat rocks.

They're unsafe to the point where a lot of reptile vets will just ask outright if you have one as, like, a safety precaution. There is genuinely no excuse for these things to still be on the market because they are that unsafe.

#not a rating #reptile husbandry #snake safety

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Today I saw a gif of a gaboon viper "crawling" (moving its muscles like a walking caterpillar rather than slithering), I was wondering if you could explain why/how they do that? Is that the only way they move around or just something they do occasionally? (Your blog is super cool btw!!)

Like this?

This is called rectilinear locomotion, and it's one of the main ways a snake can move! Gaboon vipers use rectilinear locomotion frequently because it's slow but a great way for heavy-bodied snakes to move. It doesn't involve any bending so it's also great for snakes who have recently eaten.

Rectilinear locomotion works by using the special muscles snakes have attached to their ribs. One muscle pulls a section of the body forward, and another pushes it back so they're propelled forward. This repeats in sections throughout their bodies, so you get that "crawling" effect.

All snakes are capable of rectilinear locomotion, and Gaboon vipers can move like any other snake, but rectilinear locomotion is their favorite way to get around! It's like how sidewinders prefer sidewinding even though they can use other styles of locomotion.

#not a rating #snake locomotion #gaboon vipers #snake anatomy