RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by Danny13:

Out of the British reptiles the Common Adder is my favourite. I was wondering if people could post there photos of adders they have been surveying this year. Thought it would make a very nice post.

Im a bit confused about this. Is Natrix natrix helvetica the subspecies of Natrix Natrix which occurs in Britain?

Or are they the same species?

Hi i dont know much about insects but its probably just some sort of maggot or larva. Mabey there was a carcus there which has since been consumed, just a thought.

Hi. I Live in Hull and i want to know if there are any sites for reptiles close to Hull and in the Humberside area. Or if anyone has any distribution maps for yorkshire this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi I have been looking for adders for ages and still with no luck. Because we have no car I cannot just go to a well know site in the country, so i have been trying to find somewhere in biking distance (bout 30 miles) from Hull that have a population. Do you think small woods around this area might harbour reptiles?

At school i came across my first Adder unfortunatly in was in a glass jar preserved in some liquid. (Hope it wasnt killed just for this purpose)

Hi and thanks this will be very helpfull.

Do you get antivenin for adder venom?

Or is the venom not strong enough for the need to administer it, I thought they might just use other medicines to keep symptoms down.

I was just wondering because adder venom is hemotoxic which is less deadly than neurotoxic and a typical adder bite isnt that serious. But of course people can have allergic reactions to the AV itself which can be more serious than the actual bite.

To make Antivenom you have to collect venom which can then be made into antivenom correct. So who actually does this and where is this exraction facility? 

Any Chance of seeing any herps this time of year or will they all be hibernating?

Today's weather was very hot for this time of the year so I thought that there might have been some activity. What where the lastest sightings last year?

Im still a bit confused about the types of refugia. Are tins just sheets of corrugated iron that warm up in the sun?

And Felt, is this the felt that you put on shed roofs?

Was there at anytime a population of Natrix tessallata in or around Holme-upon-Spalding-Moor?

If so, why was this species allowed to die out in England. Because Britain has such an incredibly small diversity of reptiles, why wasnt the species protected and why are we not trying to introduce it to England again?

Hi, i am very interested in doing herpetology as a career but it is very hard as you must know to get into this line of work. I am currently in year 11 at highschool and will be taking my gcse exams shortly. I am in the top group for science and maths and will be taking the higher tier in both. In my module science tests i got very good results, these included 2 high B's and 4 A's also i attained full marks for my chemistry AT1, A* (experiment and write up).

I am taking in college, A levels in maths and all three sciences. I guess what im getting at is what level of qualification is necessary to ensure a good job in herpetological based work because i am under the impression that it is a highly saught after job.

I am mostly interested in venemous snakes and the uses for venom in medecine and other uses but because mainland Britain only has 6 native species i dont think it will be easy to follow this type of work.

Also is it true that Tony is the leading expert on vipera berus berus?

thanks a lot Daniel

Thankyou. I have also thought about volenteering for english nature, preferably helping with the distribution surveys for herps. I would like to get out there and meet the people and get to know what they do and how they work. Do you think i should apply myself more?

Also, has anyone else done courses in other countries?

Cheers again.

Hi I have a question about toxinology.

What are the following:

Myotoxins, procoagulants, anticoagulants, haemorrhagins, necrotoxins, nephrotoxins and cardiotoxins.

Am i right in thinking that neurotoxins effext motor and relay neurons and haemotoxins destroy tissue, clot the blood, may thin the blood and destroy blood cells?

Thanks again.

On a family holiday to Florida i made it my personal goal to find a wild snake. I had never found a wild snake before so it would have made my holiday complete. Anyway it was the last day of our two week trip and still no luck with finding the snake (although i did find a hell of a lot of green and brown anoles plus various other kinds of skinks).

So for the last day we went to Gatorland and i convinced my family to do the swamp trail walk. Well i was watching a curious little skink in the foliage until it scurried off and it its place a small (probs baby) snake came a-slithering in. I was overjoyed and i watched it until it slithered away, and about 15 meters from finding the first i saw a second snake (but bigger) basking openly on the swampy floor ( silly me forgot to photograph it). Well my family and I finished the walk and i convinced them to walk around a second time. And thats when i found this fella.

I think its a type of water snake but im not entierly sure. Hope someone can help, cheers.

Caught some good photographs of what im almost sure are neo common lizards. Found hundreds of the little devils on the concrete walls and side of the castle at Joselin in France. ( I was suprised at how small they where i almost squished one with my arm accidently when leaning on the wall.