Best biology of repriles & amphibians books according to redditors

We found 174 Reddit comments discussing the best biology of repriles & amphibians books. We ranked the 31 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Biology of Reptiles & Amphibians:

u/velocity___ · 62 pointsr/snakes

I've been reading Green Tree Pythons: Natural History and Captive Maintenance and in the conservation section they reveal some startling figures (Source study) on health and mortality. If 50% are perishing before they even make it to the exporter, how many are dying once they get to their destination, a place like LLL reptile for example, flippers who don't give a shit about the animals and put them on their tables at shows without allowing the animals any time for acclimation nor treatment for parasites. And THEN, how many of them are perishing once they end up in the hands of Johnny dipshit at the show who saw one on Instagram and did zero research before impulse purchasing one? Imports have their place, but it is definitely not in the hands of novice keepers looking for a pet Green Tree. By the time you go through vet visits, parasite treatments, and anything else that might go wrong with it you're going to be paying a very similar amount of money for an import vs USCBB. You're paying the same price that come with none of the perks of working with an actual breeder and captive bred animal (acclimated to captivity, no parasites, well started and feeding well, breeder support, etc).

u/nightshifter · 14 pointsr/Hunting

Please don't.

Most likely those were water snakes. They can be aggressive if confronted and mimic the colors of moccasins. However they're essentially harmless, except they will bite you and poop on you if caught.

Snakes are not bad guys, and help keep small rodent populations down. (much better than cats, feral cat populations do a lot of harm) You want to encourage proper native species to flourish in your area, and help maintain that balance otherwise you have to deal with the side effects. As a hunter this should be very important to you, imo.

Also, you might bear in mind that any large-ish snake you see took a few years to get that size, they don't grow fast like mammals tend to do. I recommend learning more about snakes and reptiles, especially species that live in your area.


Maybe next time, borrow or buy a field guide take it with you and see what you discover.

u/ryanrealm · 10 pointsr/herpetology

Welcome! First and foremost, I'd just like to say that herpetology is such an underrated and generally unknown science by most of the world. Herpetology comes from the Greek word herpetón, which means creeping thing or essentially just something that crawls. The world has insane diversity of herpetofauna and you can find animals pretty much anywhere you go, so it's a great hobby that doesn't cost much at all.

And of course, we all like to catch the animals and look at them and admire them, but it is important to have a good understanding of the effects of doing this. Picking up animals brings a risk of spreading disease, hurting the animal, or causing them stress. This is especially true of our amphibious friends. I'm not going to preach about some protocol wearing nitrile gloves and whatever, but when dealing with these animals you should thoroughly scrub your hands with just water beforehand to remove as much oil as possible. It would be wise to look up more guidelines -this looks like a decent site. For reptiles, it's a good idea to ID whatever you catch before grabbing it, ya never know what might be venemous or painful.

When flipping logs (the best way to find most salamanders and lots of other herps), be sure to flip the log, remove the animal from the log, and put the log back in place. Then when you're done looking at the animal, place it directly next to the log. This will prevent any animals from getting squished. It's also a good idea to reposition the leaf litter around the log so that no moisture escapes.

Know your local fauna! I live in the Northeast U.S., so I don't really have to worry about venemous snakes except for copperheads and maaaayyyyybe a rattlesnake. But northern water snakes still bite! Aside from knowing what can hurt you, it's good to know basic information about each species that lives there, such as their range, behavior, habitat, and IUCN status. For example, if you find a really endangered herp, it might be important that you report it's location, or at the very least take care to not harm it. Knowledge about local fauna will come with time, but it's good to get some basics, which can come from a lot of googling.

Speaking of that, it's also good to get a nice field guide if you can afford it. If you're in the U.S., I definitely recommend this guide. Other than that, always just pack a bag with hiking essentials and you should have all the necessary supplies to get started-no need to buy a fancy snake hook or anything like that yet.

The most important thing is to just get out there and gather as much knowledge about your local fauna as possible. This will only come by spending hours in the field. For example, at a certain point you might begin to recognize that the terrain may be too inundated with water for a terrestrial salamander to live there, or there might be a frog species which prefers a specific type of evergreen tree. The brain is magnificent in its ability to recognize and learn these hard to describe patterns. So yeah, just get out there and have fun. Keep us updated!

EDIT: and one last thing, try to learn terminology! Actively try to use scientific words to describe behaviors or morphology, as it will naturally expand your vocabulary and knowledge of this science and you will be able to speak very clearly about the animals that you study.

u/LegalPusher · 8 pointsr/britishcolumbia

I've got one of these, and it's pretty good: Plants of Coastal British Columbia

u/SEB-PHYLOBOT · 5 pointsr/herpetology

There are a number of resources for snake ID and this list is nowhere near comprehensive.

Globally, comprehensive species lists are available via Reptile Database Advanced Search. Reptile Database is mostly correct and up to date in terms of taxonomy. Another worldwide resource is Snakes of the World which, in addition to being comprehensive for extant snakes, also provides a wealth of information on fossil taxa.

Regional guides are useful. If you're in North America, the Eastern Peterson Guide and Western Peterson Guide are great tools, as is Snakes of the United States and Canada. While plagiarized and problematic, the book Snakes of Mexico is the best easily accessible information for the region. For Central America, the Kohler book as well as Savage's Costa Rica book are excellent resources. South America is tough but has a diagnostic catalog. Australia has Cogger as a herp bible. SE Asia has two guides one in German and one comprehensive. For Europe, you simply can't get better than the three volumes of Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas. Africa is also difficult - no comprehensive guide exists but there are a few good regional guides like Reptiles of East Africa and Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa. Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar is a good source for that distinct region. For the Indian subcontinent, use Snakes of India

Remember, species names are hypotheses that are tested and revised - old books become dated by the nature of science itself. One of your best resources is going to be following /r/whatsthissnake, or (for North America) with the SSAR Standard Names List for the most recent accepted taxonomic changes.

Here is an example of a small personal herpetology library.

--------------------------------------------------------

I am a bot created for /r/whatsthissnake, /r/snakes and /r/herpetology to help with snake identification and natural history education. You can find more information, including a comprehensive list of commands, here and report problems here.

u/stumo · 5 pointsr/collapse

Nope, none of those for my location, but there is this fantastic book which is the bible of most foragers in my neighbourhood. And this one.

u/WalkingTurtleMan · 5 pointsr/wildlifeecology

Get him "A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians." There's a couple of different editions out there that depend on where you live (you wouldn't want the West Coast edition when you live on the East Coast). It's informative and very helpful if he's into catching and learning about different kinds of reptiles.

Here's one version from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Reptiles-Amphibians-Peterson/dp/0395904528

If you live in the western half of the US and Canada, I'll send you my copy of the book! Here's a pic of the area covered in my book: http://imgur.com/0K4VV1I.

I got this book for one of my last classes in college back in spring. It's brand new, never been opened, and a little dusty from sitting on my self for 9 months. I would much rather see someone more interested in reptiles to enjoy the book, use it to catch reptiles, and to actually learn something from it. And you can have it for free!

If you're interested, just pm me where your address. If not, I hope that you'll find something great for your brother!

u/Phylogenizer · 5 pointsr/herpetology

There are some links below - basic field guides for your region, that might be good gifts to get started. These are the better texts in what is sort of becoming a bit of a media-saturated market. You're going to be tempted to buy books by authors like Mattison and Hubbs - don't do it! They are garbage that will have to be unlearned.

Additional links for CA - missed the location before

Western Peterson Guide - recently updated, a little janky in terms of taxonomy and reflecting modern methods in herpetology, but a good start

CA herps website - not every state is so lucky to have such a comprehensive and up to date website. It's not perfect but they mostly know what they are doing.

!resources

u/Fooledya · 4 pointsr/snakes

Peterson field guides... ive got a box full of them lol This is the one i think youre looking for

u/ive_got_a_boner · 3 pointsr/vancouver

This is pretty tight too

u/raumschiffzummond · 3 pointsr/whatsthisplant

There's absolutely such a thing as red elderberries. They were all over our property in Olympia, WA, along with the red huckleberries in the 4th and 5th pictures. The red elderberries are supposed to be edible if they're cooked, but after I smelled them cooking I dumped them out.

Red huckleberries are extremely tart compared to the blue ones, more like a red currant, but they make good jam. They take forever to pick, though.

The first and second pictures are Saskatoon berry, also known as Pacific serviceberry.

The last picture is unripe cascara berry. I've never tried those, but in Plants of Coastal British Columbia it says they're "edible but not incredible."

u/Viridovipera · 3 pointsr/herpetology

Such a guide doesn't exist. The very expensive Herpetofauna of Vietnam is by far the best and most complete guide. It's definitely not a field guide, and still only lists the provinces and towns where animals have been found (no range maps). The closest thing to an acceptable guide is something like this or this both of which are mediocre and don't directly cover Vietnam. Don't bother with this one either, the drawings are shit, the natural history info is lacking and there's almost no distribution information. Your best bet is to cobble information together from a few other guides. Amphibians are harder yet still, but you should be able to get down to at least genus with other sources. Sorry to be a downer! Still, Vietnam is great fun for herping!

u/dexwin · 2 pointsr/biology

A general idea of location would help greatly. For example, Peterson's 4th edition has the most up to date taxonomy for half the the US, and is fairly detailed, but Werler and Dixon's Texas Snakes has a ton of easy to read snake natural history information, but is limited to Texas.

If you can give us a location we can perhaps give better suggestions.

u/flip69 · 2 pointsr/Chameleons

Thank you... Notenoughsuspenders

It would require a book to answer for the some hundred or so known species that are out there.

Even for the most common... very very broad questions that are open to interpretation

OP, I agree with /u/Notenoughsuspenders that is is something that DjHandels should go and research. I found Petr Necas's book Chameleons: Natures Hidden Jewels to be one of the best for a good general perspective.on the group.

and that you should start with veiled, as they're both well understood and common in the herp market.

u/Zanzibar_Land · 2 pointsr/coolguides

I'll just copy and paste what I responded to earlier in the comment thread. Too lazy to type.

"Snake head shape is also a bad idea. Most snakes will flatten their head when threatened or preparing to strike. Think of what cobras can do, but not so extreme. This is to puff up and look more threatening. This isn't 100% universal, but a common behavior.

Yes your rattle snakes of the family Crotalidae/Viperidae do have very prominent head shape, but the rattling is such a better way to pick them out. Contrasting, the coral snake, Micrurus tener, has a very round head, looks very similar to milk snakes, however their neurotoxin venom will kill you.

EDIT: Best advice I have is to just pick a field guide of your region and read it. (https://www.amazon.com/Peterson-Reptiles-Amphibians-Eastern-Central/dp/0544129970) Other then that, just let the sneks be sneks and slither away!"

u/Dave_Blackburn · 2 pointsr/science

I've not worked in Central America, but Costa Rica has a long history of important work on amphibians and reptiles. For decades now, work in Costa Rica has been influenced by Jay Savage. He wrote an amazing scientific book on the subject titled, appropriately, The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica.

u/TooManyBeavers · 2 pointsr/snakes

Here's a study detailing venom expenditure on various sizes or Crotalus sp.: http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(09)01560-1/abstract

Here's a decent book well worth the purchase, it covers this subject quite a lot: http://www.amazon.com/Venomous-Reptiles-Hemisphere-Comstock-Herpetology/dp/0801441412

If you require something a little more comprehensive, I'll have a look back at the lab tomorrow to see if there's something hidden away.

It doesn't exactly cover what you asked for, but to my knowledge there hasn't actually been a study done specifically on this subject. There's just theories that have been derived from other studies that have been done.




u/rilata · 2 pointsr/snakes

We actually have five species of water snakes, but based on the information you've given, I think that N. sipedon is the only one in your area (although N. erythrogaster and N. taxispilota get close, so you might see them if you're a little further south than I'm picturing).

If you're ever in the market for local snake books, I highly recommend Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia or Snakes of the Southeast. The latter is part of a series whose books collectively cover frogs & toads, salamanders, snakes, lizards, crocodilians, and turtles of the southeastern United States. I personally own the snakes and salamanders books and think that they are really good guides which are useful to both experienced and amateur individuals; I also own Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia and love it, too!

u/nessman69 · 2 pointsr/VictoriaBC

Also not specific to just edible plants, http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1551055325/ref=pd_aw_sim_b_2?pi=SL500_SY115 is one of my fav identification guides & has lots of details on what's edible.

u/panthersrule1 · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

I found some more for you:

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Edible-Wild-Plants/dp/0811734471/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486204&sr=1-3&keywords=field+guide+to+edible+wild+plants

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Full-Color-Wildflowers-Weeds/dp/0671608835/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486260&sr=1-7&keywords=wildflowers+and+weeds+booth+courtenay

https://www.amazon.com/Trees-Shrubs-Virginia-Oscar-Gupton/dp/0813908868/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486309&sr=1-1&keywords=Trees+and+shrubs+of+Virginia

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Medicinal-Wild-Plants/dp/0811734935/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486334&sr=1-1&keywords=Field+guide+to+medicinal+wild+plants

https://www.amazon.com/American-Horticultural-Society-Flower-Finder/dp/0671723456/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486392&sr=1-1&keywords=flower+finder+Jacqueline+heriteau

https://www.amazon.com/Killer-plants-poisonous-plant-guide/dp/B0007JJHIK/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486436&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=killer+plants+joseph+kuzma

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Along-Blue-Ridge-Parkway/dp/B0007HHCIE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486474&sr=1-1&keywords=nature+along+the+blue+ridge+parkway

https://www.amazon.com/Flower-Expert-D-G-Hessayon/dp/0903505525/ref=la_B001KMG5W4_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486507&sr=1-7

Those are really good books. They’re my moms and we’ve used them a lot over the years. I also really like the folding waterproof guides. They’re small enough to put in your pocket. Here are some links to em:

https://www.amazon.com/Wildflowers-Mid-Atlantic-States-MD-NY/dp/1943334250/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524486632&sr=1-1&keywords=wildflowers+of+the+mid-Atlantic+states

https://www.foldingguides.com/product/sibleys-trees-of-trails-forests-of-the-southeast/

https://www.foldingguides.com/a_fg-southeast/

https://www.foldingguides.com/foldingguides-southwest/

http://www.waterfordpress.com/products/pocket-naturalist-guides/state/virginia.html

u/beefjeeef · 2 pointsr/snakes

American Snakes By Sean P. Graham. It’s an amazing book that details the Daily lives, behaviors, anatomy, natural and cultural history as well as threats to the snake species native to the US.

Complete with amazing photos from people in the herping community and interviews/stories from the researchers who fight to save and understand these animals.

u/nana_nana_batman · 2 pointsr/herpetology

As a fellow Georgian, I would recommend "Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia" as linked here It has relevant information about ranges, habitats, colorations, habits, everything. Its a little big for a field guide (huge) but is a wonderful tool to learn from and then reference when you get back to the field.

u/islandtimber · 2 pointsr/forestry

Plants of Coastal British Columbia is pretty much the standard for coastal BC tree/plant ID. And the BC Tree Book is a real simple one to understand with only native BC tree species.

u/arbutus_ · 2 pointsr/foraging

[Plants of Coastal British Columbia: Including Washington, Oregon and Alaska by Jim Pojar]
(https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1551055325/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1977604502&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594853665&pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_r=ZE56QP0A00SH8K6G23SM)This book here is my holy bible for foraging and IDs. I know you are in Oregon, but I'm on Vancouver Island which is practically in the US and as west coast as it gets. Many of the plants growing where I am grow in parts of Oregon too. Consider fining this book or one similar. IMO a good Id book with images is the most important thing to carry with you (aside from gloves and a pocket knife).



Here are a few books I do not own but have read or heard people recommend.

Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West by Michael Moore

Pacific Northwest Foraging by Douglas Deur

Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt to Plate by John Kallas

u/Lego_C3PO · 1 pointr/whatsthissnake

californiaherps.com

This book doesn't have accurate taxonomy but is still an invaluable resource for IDs and general information:

Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians, Fourth Edition (Peterson Field Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1328715507/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_xd7YBbKB95P8S


u/kaijutegu · 1 pointr/reptiles

One of my all-time favorite herp books is Dragon Songs, which gives a fascinating look into the world of crocodilian communication and social behavior. Crocodile: Evolution's Greatest Survivor is very interesting, too. It's more of a general overview of crocodilians.

I also found this one that looks pretty good: American Alligator: Ancient Predator in the Modern World.

Dragon Songs is probably the best on the list, simply because it takes such an interesting approach to understanding crocodilians.

u/luftwaffles · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Base on your comments, you live in southern portion of the UK. Therefore, I think this book should at least cover you for now. If you plan on heading east, let me know!

u/Latirostris · 1 pointr/HerpetologicalScience

I would recommend Snakes by Harry W Greene. A professor of mine gave it to me when I graduated. It is a beautiful book and has a ton of great information. Link to Amazon It only comes in paperback but it is a great book. If they are into going out and looking for herps I would recommend a field guide. Depending on where you are in the US there is a field guide, one for the Eastern and Central US and one for the Western US. The scientific names are outdated but the range maps and photos are still handy for learning about all of the herps in your area. Hope this helps!

u/DIDDLY_HOLE_PUNCH · 1 pointr/biology

I fricken love field guides and my favorite Herp guide is Peterson's Eastern and Central North America or Peterson's Western North America depending on your location, assuming you live in North America.

u/GerardHopkins · -5 pointsr/pics

False. This is myth.

edit: I guess the downvotes are because i don't prove otherwise yet neither does treekin.
Source. Not everything is found so freely on the web. Or how about this as a source you can read right now. is that better?
Now can anyone prove that treekin is correct?