RHJ 4
Nelly Kuzmenko, Tatiana Koshlanskaya
Emergency Herpetoculture from Nelly Kuzmenko: eighty day occupation with thousands reptiles
Herpetoculture in a war zone! Read about Nelly Kuzmenko's heroic efforts to save thousands of reptiles at Sergei Prokopiev's Reptiles Breeding Center in Ukraine during the early days of the Russian Invasion. Nelly and others risked life and limb to protect and save as many of the Breeding Centers inhabitants as possible while dealing with unimaginable hardships including shelling, power outages, supply shortages and much more.
Jurgen Van Overbeke
ONDERWERP: HERPETOCULTURE OF CRESTED CHAMELEON
Jurgen Van Overbeke, a private herpetoculturist in Belgium discusses the general biology and natural history of the Crested Chameleon. He then shares the techniques he has developed during his over 30 years of experience in chameleon keeping that has enabled him to maintain and propagate a multigenerational colony of this beautiful species for more than 15 years. Details on acclimation of wild sourced stock, housing, feeding, general care and breeding, and the hatching and the raising of young are discussed.
Olexiy Korshunov
SIMPLE METHOD OF KEEPING AND BREEDING OF COMMON, CARPATHIAN AND ALPINE NEWTS (CAUDATA, SALAMANDRIDAE)
Olexiy Korshunov of the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv national university in Ukraine presents the simple and efficient, yet very successful methodology he employs to maintain colonies of common, Carpathian and alpine newts in laboratory conditions that could easily be adopted by private herpetoculturists. All aspects of housing, feeding and reproduction, along with incubation of eggs and the raising of larvae are discussed.
Rafał Kasperek
SPOTTED WHIP SNAKES: CARE AND PROPAGATION
Private herpetoculturist, Rafał Kasperek from Poland shares his experiences with the herpetoculture of the spotted whipsnake (Hemorrhois ravergieri). Beginning with a general review of the genus Hemorrhois and the distribution of H. ravergieri in particular, Rafał provides general care tips along with his methods of brumation and breeding, incubation of the resulting eggs, and raining of the young. He also discusses a number of naturally occurring regional variations of the species.
Anna Maria Modlińska, Jakub Witkowski
FOREIGN MATERIALS IN THE DIGESTIVE TRACTS OF REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS
Veterinarians, Anna Maria Modlińska and Jakub Witkowski discuss the incidences of, and problems associated with the ingestion of foreign materials by captive reptiles and amphibians. The authors provide an overview of the risks involved when these animals ingest these materials, the steps that can be taken to prevent or at least reduce the chances for this ingestion to occur, and the methods they recommend for treatment when this problem does occur.
César Barrio-Amorós
PHOTOGRAPHING AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN THE WILD
Renowned photographer and scientist, César Barrio-Amorós from Costa Rica discusses how his lifelong fascination with wildlife, reptiles and amphibians in particular, combined with his interest in photography to develop into a career where he documents some of the most beautiful and amazing specimens through his stunning photography.
Johan De Gruyter
BROWN BANANA FROG: A HERPETOCULTURE REPORT, BUT ABOVE ALL A STORY OF A STOWAWAY WITH A HEALTHY DOSE OF LUCK
What began with acquisition of a chance stowaway in a shipment of flowers to a florist shop, Johan De Gruyter, a private herpetoculturist in Belgium, describes his experiences with the care, maintenance and breeding of the brown banana frog (Afrixalus dorsalis). Johan describes his efforts to acquire additional stock to build a breeding group, and the lengths he went to research and build the ideal naturalistic vivarium here the species has thrived and become quite prolific in his care.
Taras Okhrimchuk
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN DEVELOPMENT OF HERPETOCULTURE ON THE EXAMPLE OF ONE FACEBOOK GROUP
Taras Okhrimchuk, a young private herpetoculture hobbyist in Ukraine discusses how the development of social media groups can be used for the dissemination of information on the proper care of reptiles and amphibians in captivity. He describes how he formed and grew his group from the beginning, along with providing tips on how to manage the various pitfalls with social media groups and the effort it takes to keep existing subscribers engaged and to keep the group growing.
Umberto Schiavone, Antonino Marciano
NOTES ON HUSBANDRY OF RED DOMINICAN MOUNTAIN BOAS
Italian herpetoculturists Umberto Schiavone and Antonino Marciano describe the beautiful Dominican red mountain boa from the Island of Hispaniola, and the methods they use to maintain and reproduce this impressive and colorful Caribbean member of the family Boidae.
Roger Kramer
NOTES ON THE MORPHS OF BLUE-TONGUED SKINKS
Roger Kramer, owner and operator of Bluetonguemorphs in Australia provide a history of his breeding facility where he has worked with blue-tongued skinks, particularly Northern blue-tongued skinks, and the many morphotypes he has developed and reproduced for the herpetoculture community. In addition to descriptions of each of these morphotypes and the presumed genetics behind them, Roger also provides details on care, maintenance, and breeding, as well as sexing techniques and experiments with artificial insemination.
Dmitri Tkachev
SIMILAR MISSIONS IN HERPETOCULTURE. UNITY IS STRENGTH
The founder of the Responsible Herpetoculture Project, Dmitri Tkachev, discusses the importance of collaboration between various herpetoculture and herpetology groups and societies so that their shared missions can be strengthened through numbers. Dmitri describes several prominent groups from around the globe and highlights where our interests overlap and how, together, we can use these similarities to strengthen all of our communities.