Arkansas Reptile Rescue

10/11/2026

Hey guys! Meet the eastern collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris). Most folks just call it the mountain boomer.

This is one of the coolest lizards in the Ozarks, and most people have never even heard of it.

Males glow blue-green and gold with two black collars around the neck like a biker vest. Big head, long tail, and when they run full speed they get up on their back legs ONLY and sprint like little T-rexes. You read that right. Two legs.

They live on rocky glades in the Ozarks, baking on sunlit boulders. Arkansas has lost most of its mountain boomers as those glades grew thick with cedar. They are a species of greatest conservation need here, but people are fighting back with burns and clearing.

They WILL bite if you grab one, so don't. Admire from a couple feet back and share this so more people learn what a mountain boomer is!

10/10/2026

10/09/2026

Exciting News!!

Our Central Arkansas Branch has been watching this guy in quarantine! He is passing with flying colors so now it is time to start looking for him a new home!!

He is around 80-90 pounds and is not friendly with other tortoises but loves people! So we will be looking for a home where he can be an only tortoise! He will require a spacious outdoor area and a nice cozy inside place during winter.

This big boy is VERY strong and has a history of escaping, you know we are very picky about where our surrenders go so be sure to have adequate space ready before you apply!

https://forms.gle/MbcBimjVw2zxWYCq9

10/09/2026

VENOMOUS OR NOT?

This snake lives all over Arkansas. Most people walk right past it and never know it was there.

It does not chase you. It does not want anything to do with you. But it does demand respect.

So what do you say? Venomous or not? Drop your answer in the comments. I will post the reveal tomorrow.

10/08/2026

Meet Arkansas's most accused snake. It has been tried, convicted, and executed thousands of times, always for a crime it did not commit: being a cottonmouth.

This heavy, dark, chain-patterned snake lives all over Arkansas wherever there is water. From a muddy bank it looks just like the venomous snake everyone fears. Up close the truth shows: round pupils, no heat-sensing pits, a narrow head.

It is completely harmless. It eats fish and frogs and wants nothing to do with you. But it shares the cottonmouth's silhouette, so it is one of the most killed snakes in the state.

Cornered, it stands its ground and strikes with a closed mouth. That bluff is meant for herons, not people. It is a fisherman with no venom and nowhere to go.

See a heavy dark snake by the water? Back up and look twice. The life you spare is almost certainly this one.

Drop your guess in the comments. Answer follows below.

10/07/2026

Tag a herper who has said this with a straight face.

10/06/2026

Meet Arkansas's greatest fisherman. It never casts a line and it has not moved in an hour. It does not need to. The bait is built into its mouth.

This is the largest freshwater turtle in North America, and Arkansas is one of the few places it calls home. Males can top 150 pounds, with a ridged, armor-plated shell and a beak that can bite through a broom handle.

Its best trick is nearly invisible. It settles on the river bottom, opens wide, and wiggles a pink worm-shaped lure on its tongue. A curious fish swims in. The jaws snap shut in a fraction of a second. Dinner, delivered.

It can sit still underwater for close to an hour and may live 80 years, but it breeds slowly, which makes it fragile. It is legally protected in Arkansas.

See one? Keep your distance and admire it from the bank. You are looking at an animal that fished this way before humans had boats.

Drop your guess in the comments. Answer follows below.

10/06/2026

Hey guys! Science just found a brand new lizard and I am fired up about it.

Researchers in the Peruvian Andes just described a species nobody on earth has ever officially named. It is called Liolaemus archipensis, and it lives at over 4,800 meters, above 15,000 feet. This little guy survives in thin freezing air on a rocky plateau where almost nothing lives, and it was there the whole time, waiting for someone to look closely.

Here is the wild part. Scientists had collected specimens from this area before, but they were filed away as a different species. It took DNA work plus a careful look at the physical traits to prove this one was its own species all along. That is called a cryptic species. We run into the same thing right here in Arkansas, where two animals can look nearly identical and turn out to be different species.

This lizard is tiny, only 6 to 8 centimeters long. Males and females look different. Females have square spots on their backs, males have slanted spots and pale scales that blend into the rock. They hide under stones and in tunnels at the base of tough mountain plants, and they eat plants and small arthropods like spiders, beetles and insect larvae.

It also gives live birth. At 15,000 feet it is too cold to lay eggs and hope for the best, so the mother carries the babies until they are ready. Smart little survivor.

Peru now counts 296 known lizard species. Every new description reminds us that we still do not know everything out there, and that conservation matters even in places most of us will never visit.

If you were naming a newly discovered species, what would you call it? Drop your best idea in the comments below, I want to hear these.

10/06/2026

Here’s a little recap of everything we got up to at dig day! Thank you to everyone who came out in a show of support! We hope to see even more of you at our next community day!