Species Focus: reptiles

Question 1

What class are reptiles?

Answer 1

Reptillia with over 10000 species

Question 2

3 families we are interested in

Answer 2

squamata
chelonians
crocodilians

Question 3

What are squamata?

Answer 3

snakes and lizards

Question 4

what are chelonians?

Answer 4

tortoises and turtles

Question 5

What species are Colubrid snakes?

Answer 5

corn snakes, rat snakes, milk snakes, king snakes

Question 6

what species are Boid snakes?

Answer 6

boa constrictor, royal and Burmese pythons

Question 7

what species are under viperid snakes?

Answer 7

vipers and rattlesnakes

Question 8

What species are Elapid snakes?

Answer 8

cobras

Question 9

list 4 types of lizard:

Answer 9

• geckos- leopard geckos, crested geckos, day geckos, tokay geckos
• agamids- bearded dragons
• iguanas
• monitors

Question 10

give different species of lizards

Answer 10

skinks, chameleons, heloderma= venomous

Question 11

different species of chelonians

Answer 11

• tortoises- testudo spp, mediterranean, hermann’s, Greek- common illegal import, horsfield’s, leopard
• terrapins- red eared, map turtles
• box turtles- american and asian

Question 12

features that makes reptile handling difficult

Answer 12

• aggressive and dangerous
• fast movements and strikers
• some are venomous
• zoonotic risk, salmonella (all reptiles considered carriers)

Question 13

When should you not handle a snake?

Answer 13

During ecdysis

Question 14

what is ecdysis?

Answer 14

skin shedding

Question 15

How can you identify a male snake?

Answer 15

males have paired hemipenes and boids have spurs, sex by probing or everting hemipenes from tail base

Question 16

how many scales will the probe be able to go into the tail base of a male snake?

Answer 16

6-15

Question 17

how do you sex a female?

Answer 17

the probe will only go in 2-6 scales into their tail base due to lack of hemipenes

Question 18

what is autotomy?

Answer 18

Where some lizards drop their tails as a defence mechanism.

Question 19

how to sex lizards

Answer 19

• sexually dimorphic
• larger heads, dewlaps, crests and some have horns
• prominent pre-femoral pores in males
• hemipenal bulge, mineralised hemiberculae
• sometimes probing

Question 20

how to sex chelonians?

Answer 20

• size difference
• sexually dimorphic
• longer tails and distal vents males
• concave plastron in males
• sizes
• nails
• irises in eastern box turtles- red male, yellow female

Question 21

What is a snakes diet?

Answer 21

eat whole prey

Question 22

what is a lizard and chelonians diet?

Answer 22

carnivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous, herbivorous

may depend on life stage

Question 23

requirements for a insectivorous reptile

Answer 23

-gut loaded and dusted with vitamins and mineral supplements

Question 24

herbivorous lizards and chelonians diet

Answer 24

high fibre weeds, grasses and veg
2:1 cal:phos ratio
vit/mineral supplement usually needed
fruit limited

Question 25

Metabolic bone disease in lizards and chelonians

Answer 25

- insufficient calcium | - lack of UV light

Question 26

Vitamin deficiency in tortoises and geckos

Answer 26

- obesity and hepatic lipidosis | - periodontal disease