lamellae lamentae

I'm Mike. I'm a biologist concentrating on herpetology, currently employed as field project manager for a non-profit geared toward reptile and amphibian conservation. I also enjoy photography. I built this tumblr so my photos could be shared with credit. Thanks...

[mikedmartin82]

*pap pap* good snek.

[mikedmartin82]

Canebrake Rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus

Photo by Mike Martin

[mikedmartin82]

Canebrake Rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus

Photo by Mike Martin

[mikedmartin82]

Pigmy Rattlesnake, Sistrurus miliarius

Photo by Mike Martin

[mikedmartin82]

Young alligator, Alligator mississippiensis. 

By Mike Martin

[mikedmartin82]

Juvenile Eastern Coachwhip, Masticophis flagellum.

Photo by Mike Martin

[mikedmartin82]

[frumpytaco]

Uroplatys phantasticus, the satanic leaf-tailed gecko, is my favorite.  

[mikedmartin82]

Normally, people include my name for credit when they share my photos.

[cacajao]

One of the cool things about working in a zoo is that when you go to other zoos, the keepers will show you the parts of the collection that most of the public never sees.

[markscherz]

An impressive collection! Lucky you!

[mikedmartin82]

That there looks a lot like the Riverbanks setups.

[animalaspects]

Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko

Mike Martin

[libutron]

(Uroplatus phantasticus)

[mikedmartin82]

It hurts my feels when my photo gets shared more when other people share it than when I do.

[markscherz]

Sphaerodactylus elegans must be one of the most enchanting tiny vertebrates on the planet. As juveniles they have this wonderful striped colouration, which fades into an overall beige colour as they age.

Photo by Mike D. Martin.

[mikedmartin82]

And you didn't think I had already shared this photo on my tumblr page?  *stinkeye*

You probably think I'm still on hiatus.

[mikedmartin82]

Banded Water Snake, Nerodia fasciata.

by Mike Martin

[mikedmartin82]

Hatchling Veiled Chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus

by Mike Martin

[grubisland-deactivated20251130]

Scarlet Kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides), South Carolina, USA

photo by Mike D. Martin

[boeckx-deactivated20200506]

Vietnamese Mossy Frog

[markscherz]

Thelosperma corticale

[mikedmartin82]

cough Theloderma cough

Freud didn't realize you like these frogs that much.

Source: BlueTongueDan

[mikedmartin82]

Hatchling Southern Hognose, Heterodon simus

by Mike Martin

[mikedmartin82]

Followup- what do you want?

I've only received three comments thus far.  I don't know how to respond to them in the thread (maybe I screwed up by making it a question/ask feature), so I'll go ahead and respond to them here.

Re: arboreal vipers - we already have a couple (eyelash vipers and temple vipers).  We have an adult female western bush viper I want to get on display soon.  I'm partial to arboreals myself (not just vipers), and we have green tree pythons and an emerald tree boa on display.  Also a jungle carpet python.  We have a nice Amazon tree boa I plan to display soon.

Re: Mark's list.  Obviously, I want to get Uroplatus on display.  But having the facility largely laid out as an open place, temperature regulated mostly on the hot side for our large croc collection, it's difficult to cool things sufficiently for Uroplatus.  Rest assured that if I ever figure out how to cool appropriately during the summer time, I'd get some leaftails.  Aside from that, we already have a Mata mata, Fly river turtle, gaboons, and a few dendrobatids (working on getting more).  I have some P. grandis that I'm currently making a nice terrarium for.  As much as I want to get some of the other Phelsuma, I have to start with what I could get my hands on.  And I really want some L. williamsi, though I have some ethical concerns about the illegality of their origins in the trade.  They're also kinda tough to get your hands on, for whatever reason.  Things like Fiji iguanas are unlikely for a facility like us, as we're not an actual zoo.  I'd like a chance to work with some Pipa pipa!

We have several large enclosures pretty much dedicated to our larger snakes.  Someone messaged me about Odatria, and we've batted around the idea of a couple of smaller monitors.  Consensus tends to be that we're worried about the animals roughing up the enclosures, and I need to discuss with closely tied zoological institutions about ways to keep monitors from scratching up glass before we could house such animals.  But I agree, they'd be a nice addition!  I have a friend that has offered me a beauty snake that I might soon take on.  But our large snakes and their enclosures are the hardest to free up/rotate, since our off-display caging can't accommodate their size (like our giant retic, large king cobra, anacondas, burms).  We have one giant enclosure with cottonmouths that doesn't make sense to me, so I might be able to empty that and re-fit it for something different.  I'm on the fence with our green mamba.  It's a big, arboreal, venomous snake...but I can't decide if something at least should be rotated with it every now and then.

Keep the suggestions coming!

[mikedmartin82]

What do you want to see?

Alright, I'm breaking protocol and asking people what they want to see when they walk into a large reptile exhibit.  As you may or may not have read on my profile, I currently curate the collection at a large reptile attraction (there are some amphibians, too).  We're currently overloaded with animals beyond which we have the capacity to house for display purposes.  Aside from a few breeding projects, the main purpose of our off-display caging is to accommodate animals that we rotate on/off display to keep things interesting for frequent visitors.

So my question to you all is this: when you visit a reptile/amphibian attraction, what is it that you want to see most?  Feel free to let me know whatever.  It's probably not worth wasting your keystrokes to mention species that are exceptionally costly, but animals that might cost several hundred dollars can considered.  Animals with restrictive husbandry/diet requirements aren't likely to be considered, as we do not have the facilities to get too specialized (believe me, I wish I could build the Uroplatus display that's I've always wanted).  Animals that are extremely difficult to acquire aren't going to be any easier for us to obtain, so keep it realistic.  But venomous suggestions are more than welcome. While I'm not a keeper particularly interested in morphs, I'm curious what the public thinks.  We have a few albinos and whatnot of a few species, but we don't have much beyond that.  I personally prefer diurnal species, as nocturnal species tend to be a little lame on display sometimes.

I could lay out a list of the species we already have, but that would be exhaustive.  So come at me, bros.