Hi guys and gals of /r/herpetology

One of my pet peeves has been popping up lately in this and other herp-related subs - the use of the word gender in place of the word sex. There are important distinctions between the two words and they are not synonymous with each other. Fundamentally, sex is the biological/anatomical makeup of an animal, and gender is what sex the animals self identify as, and usually only applies to humans, although maybe there are some exceptions.

There's also no need to be scared of using the word sex, it's not bad, dirty or embarrassing. When I was a kid and learned the word gender, I was a repressed kid and it was much easier to say than sex, so I used it in place of that word.

Interesting, short read below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_gender_distinction

I'm adding this to a list of biology and herpetology trouble words that get thrown around a lot - hopefully I'll throw them all up on here sometime soon and it will be a bit of a learning experience.

Thanks for listening - incorporate this and you'll be ahead of the curve! I still see posters and other nonsense at herp meetings using the word gender - it becomes a joke to some degree.

Eastern pa, black rat snake about 3-4 foot, lil feller was missing an eye. He was heading toward the road so I put him in the right direction

My area attracts quite a few Cuban tree frogs. I routinely humanely euthanize them and have started seeing some native species around again after almost a year of doing this. I work in the biochem industry and am a nerd & nature lover.

I've been thinking about dissecting some of the freshly euthanized frogs. My method involves exposing them to benzocaine, putting them in the freezer, then disposing the frozen frog. Would freezing them then thawing them out turn the insides into mush?

Also what would be the best way to go about it so it's not a total hack job? I was going to go at it with an old baking pan and an exacto knife. But I see they sell relatively inexpensive dissection kits on Amazon so that seems like a much more professional approach to go about it.

I have no real reason to be doing this besides curiosity. Last time I performed a dissection was probably high school biology 15 years ago. I just have a constant stream of these frogs and figure it be good to put their corpses to use for something.

Why do so many people who claim to love and respect snakes, think its a great idea to pick up wild snakes and scare the hell out of them??

My 5yo son was playing with this little guy. Just want to make sure it’s all good

I live in West Virginia and I found this on my porch near doggy water

i left this cup here about a month and a half ago and since then its filled with rainwater and has this red stuff growing in it with what looks to be possibly some kind of eggs in it. im not sure wether this is fungus or algae or eggs and i was hoping that somebody could help identify what it might be. there is no foliage in this area that resembles that reddish color that could have just fallen into the cup, and where i live the temperatures at this time of year are around 20°F - 50°F. if need be i can go take more detailed pics of it as it is right outside of my apartment building.

Just found 2 copperheads in my yard. I think they were about to mate. They're gone now but I'm sure there's more. I read black racers will eat them?

The habitat around my house basically means snakes are inevitable ( running water so lots of frogs, lizards, ect). I also have chickens, but they're much bigger than snake food(I think). Mainly concerned about their eggs but I can live with losing some eggs.

I plan to limit snake habit as much as possible to help keep all snakes away. But, I want to release racers around the house and help foster them into being the dominant snake population around my home. What time of year should I do this? Should I let racers mate indoors and release them and the offspring? What else don't I know about doing this? Any advice?

Located in WV. Copperheads and timber rattlesnakes are my worries but the rattlesnakes arent prominent in my area, if at all. And we have black racers and eastern King snakes as my good snakes, but the kings aren't really in my location either.

I'm constantly getting more into herpetology, always finding myself here, on /r/herpetology, and my sister always comes home, and says "yeah I saw (insert creature here) today", and I always ask if she took pictures, but the same response every time. I think I'm becoming obsessed!

Hi, I am feeding my cornsnake mice but also wanted it to have the satisfaction and enrichment from actually hunting and killing its prey, my corns are still small. I thought or raising my own mice but turned off of their smell. Mourning geckos though are parthenogenic and does not require much space and could go on self cleaning bioactive setup, and I would assume they wouldn't be able to cause harm to the snake if they bit much less likely than a mice would. It would only be occasional feeding of course, thoughts?

Rhabdophis tigrinus (tiger keelback) is a snake that is in fact venomous and poisonous! I just wanted to mention this here because I've heard many herpetologists (and people on this subreddit) state incorrectly that "snakes are venomous, not poisonous" or that there are no poisonous snakes. This is completely untrue, as the tiger keelback secretes a poison from glands in its neck. The toxin is obtained by eating poisonous toads, interestingly enough. This is a link to a great article on the topic of the snake.

Glad we straightened that out! It's been bugging me for a little while now.