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

GENETIC STUDY KEY TO ENDANGERED CROCODILE'S SURVIVAL • Featuring stories which include revealing the snake with the biggest gape in the world, how a new vaccine has been developed to protect crocodiles from a serious virus, the rapid way in which lizards may adapt to a new environment and impact on it, the origins of butterflies, the incredible link between extinct marine reptiles and modern whales plus more, starting here with how one man’s foresight could yet save a species from extinction decades later.

New crocodile vaccine developed

The snake that can swallow more than a python!

How a species can influence an environment

THE ORIGINS OF BUTTERFLIES

A SURPRISING LINK BETWEEN EXTINCT REPTILES AND MODERN WHALES

TORTOISES REVEAL A SPONTANEOUS LINK BETWEEN SIGHT AND HEARING

HUGE PREDATORY REPTILE HAD LESS BITING POWER THAN MOST MODERN CROCS

Ball python diary • Careful planning is important when it comes to breeding ball pythons successfully. Jay Mitchell provides a month-by-month management guide to these very popular African snakes. For breeding success next year, you need to start planning now!

The eyes have it! • The eyed, ocellated or jewelled lizard (Timon lepidus, formerly Lacerta lepida) has to be one of the most underrated species available today. Hardy, beautiful, easy to keep and breed in addition to being fascinating to observe, this large member of the European lacertid family deserves to be more popular. Yet for some strange reason, it is often overlooked in favour of other species such as bearded dragons and leopard geckos. Here, however, Hannah Salisbury MSc, BSc Hons (AnSci) shares her enthusiasm for this lizard.

TALES FROM THE REPTILE HOUSE Always expect the unexpected! • Having worked for many years as the curator of a small zoological collection in Scotland, Bill Lowe soon became accustomed to the fact that he had to expect the unexpected when it came to the question of the behaviour of both the reptiles in his care and members of the general public visiting the park.

TORTOISE BEHAVIOUR

REPTILE FOCUS • Flat-tailed spider tortoise – Pyxis planicauda

The world of geckos • The family Gekkonidae contains some 950 species with a worldwide distribution, centred but not exclusively found in tropical regions. A surprising number of these lizards are present on remote islands. Here Don Harper profiles some of the most popular and interesting species encountered in collections today.

The case of the yellow anaconda • Few snakes are as notorious as anacondas, based on the myths and stories surrounding them. But while the popular focus is invariably on the green anaconda, thanks to its large size, relatively little is heard about its smaller cousin, the yellow anaconda. Christian Castille and American breeder Dan Mulleary discuss the care of this smaller species.

Creating a buzz • Bumblebee toads are growing in popularity, and here is first-hand advice to guide you in caring for and breeding these attractive amphibians.

MEETING AN IGUANODON ON A STREET IN ENGLAND! • It’s not every day that you can meet up with an iguanodon – reptilian royalty from the far-distant dinosaurian kingdom of the Mesozoic Era – on a street in England, or anywhere else, for that matter. Yet it is possible on Downing...