How to keep…your knowledge up to par
Herman A.J. in den Bosch & Andreas Helmdag
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Although keeping animals is often a matter of intuition, it is certainly also necessary to keep oneself informed about the latest developments. Of course we do our bit by publishing Pod@rcis, but the world offers so much more. It is especially useful to read journals that appeal to you. A subscription to a scientific bulletin that only lies on the coffee table to impress the neighbours is of absolutely no use in keeping your pets healthy. On the other hand, extremely glossy publications rarely satisfy the herpetoculturist's need for detailed information, however beautiful the pictures may be. Nevertheless, such magazines may help the neighbours to better understand your fascination with reptiles and amphibians. Some people are interested in just one special group, while for others the scope of subjects treated should be as wide as possible. The list given below may be of use to help you with your decisions.
For the periodicals with a larger circulation, subscription prices are usually around €30 per volume, while scientific journals commonly charge approximately €60, and publications of smaller societies can cost as little as €5-10. As prices can change and are often also influenced by method of payment, and shipping and postage costs may vary per country, we refrain from a detailed listing of prices. And don't forget about books; here the same applies: a picture book can be nice for leafing through but may not provide many "how to keep" facts, while a herpetological textbook might overwhelm you with scientific data that doesn’t appear to be immediately applicable. A few trips to a well-stocked library should help to discover your preferences, and a good librarian will be happy to assist you in making a first selection; there is no need to immediately go out and buy expensive books that may not meet your expectations.
Any suggestions on necessary changes, additions and/or new publications concerning the listings below will be gratefully received (indenbosch@rulsfb.leidenuniv.nl).
SELECTION OF JOURNALS OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO THE AMATEUR HERPETOLOGIST
Aquaristik Fachmagazin (German, usually just one terrarium paper per issue, rest devoted to aquarium):Tetra Verlag GmbH, Friedensweg 15, D-49143 Bissendorf, Germany. info@Tetra-Verlag.de
Het Aquarium (Dutch, devoted mainly to the aquarium enthusiast): Nederlandse Bond 'Aqua Terra', Havenstraat 83, 1211 KH Hilversum, The Netherlands, postal giro account 163956. www.nbat.nl
Boletín Asociación Herpetológica española (relatively simple papers in Spanish):
Captive Breeding (English, nicely illustrated papers on terrarium keeping): P.O. Box 87100, Canton, Michigan 48187, USA.
Dactylus (English, geckos only): International Gecko Society, P.O. Box 370423, San Diego, CA 92137-0423, USA.
Datz (German, usually just one terrarium paper per issue, rest devoted to aquarium): Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co., P.O. Box 700561, D-70574 Stuttgart, Germany. datz@ulmer.de and www.datz.de
Das Aquarium (German, usually just one terrarium paper per issue, rest devoted to aquarium): Birgitt Schmettkamp Verlag, P.O. Box 3162, D-53314 Bornheim, Germany. schmettkamp@t-online.de
Dendrobatidae Nederland (Dutch, on poison arrow frogs): Vereniging van Pijlgifkikkersliefhebbers, membership secretary W. Zwoferink, Holstenstraat 19, 5045 CE Tilburg, The Netherlands. www.gifkikker.nl
Geckota (German, geckos only): Herbert Rösler, F.-Freiligrath-Straße 51, D-06502 Thale, Germany.
Global Gecko Association (English, geckos only): c/o Leann Christenson, 4920 Chester Street, Spencer, OK 73084-2560, U.S.A. www.gekkota.com
Herpetofauna (German): P.O. Box 1110, D 71365 Weinstadt, Germany. info@herpetofauna.de
Iguana varia (Dutch, simple papers on herbivorous lizards): Stichting Doelgroep Groene Leguanen, Haarlem, postal giro account 52874, membership secretary M. Papen, Koningsbult 4, 7152 GP Eibergen, The Netherlands. m.papen@hccnet.nl and www.groeneleguanen.nl
Lacerta (Dutch): Nederlandse Vereniging voor Herpetologie en Terrariumkunde. www.lacerta.nl
Litteratura Serpentium (Dutch, short papers on snakes): Europese Slangen Vereniging, Zoetermeer, postal giro account 4438855, membership secretary J. C. Jacobs, W.A. Vultostraat 62, 3523 TX Utrecht, The Netherlands. http://home.wxs.nl
Nordisk Herpetologisk Forening (Danish): nhf@worldonline.dk
Reptilia (glossy, available in English, German and Spanish): German production: Natur und Tier-Verlag, M. Schmidt, An der Kleimannsbrücke 39, D-48157, Germany. NTVrep@aol.com and www.ms-verlag.de
Reptile & Amphibian Magazine (English, short papers on terrarium keeping): RD *3 Box 3709-A, Pottsville, PA 17901, USA.
Sauria (German, relatively simple papers): Terrariengemeinschaft Berlin e.V., B. Buhle, Planetenstraße 45, D-12047 Berlin, Germany. tgb@sauria.de and www.sauria.purespace.de
Schildkröte (German, simple papers on turtles): Verlag Schildkröte, Postfach, Ch-4467 Rothenfluh, Switzerland. 106553.315@compuserve.com
De Schildpad (Dutch, relatively simple papers on turtles): Nederlandse Schildpadden Vereniging, membership secretary G. Uytterschout, Veluwehof 19, 5709 KH Helmond, The Netherlands. www.igr.nl/users/nsv
Terra (Dutch): Belgische Vereniging voor Terrariumkunde en Herpetologie, membership secretary J. Meurs, Zandvlietstraat 56, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
The Vivarium (English): American Federation of Herpetoculturists. Information: AFH-News, P.O. Box 300067, Escondido, CA 92030-0067, USA.
SELECTION OF JOURNALS OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO THE PROFESSIONAL HERPETOLOGIST
Alytes (mainly French; papers on amphibians): 25, Rue Cuvier, Paris, France, postal giro account ISSCA 1-398-91 L, Paris, France. http://bach.suv.jussieu.fr/systema/laboratoir/agents/lab12.html
Amphibia Reptilia (English): Published by E.J. Brill, P.O. Box 9000, 2300 PA Leiden, The Netherlands. (Cheaper when member of Societas Europeae Herpetologica; information M.R.K. Lambert, Central Ave., Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, England). www.gli.cas.cz/SEH/
Revista Española Herpetología, Monografias de Herpetología. bioweb.uv.es/zoologia/AHE
Chelonian Conservation and Biology (English, turtles): A.J. Rhodin, Chelonian Research Foundation, 168 Goodrich Street, Lunenburg, Mass. 01462, USA.
Copeia (English; ichthyology and herpetology): American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Department of Zoology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondal Ill. 62901-6501, USA. www.utexas.edu/depts/asih
Hamadryad: (English, with emphasis on Southeast Asia): editor Indraneil Das: idas@tualang.unimas.my and www.herplit.com/contents/hamadryad.html
The Herpetological Journal (English, simpler papers in the accompanying Bulletin). British Herpetological Society, Regent's Park NW1 4RY, England.
Herpetologica (English): The Herpetologists' League, Inc., Department of Biological Sciences, Box 70726, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37641-0726, USA. 130.160.104.76/HL/HL.html
Herpetozoa (German and English): Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie, Naturhistorisches Museum in Wien, Burgring 7, A-1014 Vienna, Austria, Postsparkasse Kto-Nr. 7566-437. www.nhm-wien.ac.at/nhm/herpet/index.htm
Journal of Herpetology (English): Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Department of Zoology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA.
Russian Journal of Herpetology (English): Folium Publishing Company, P.O. Box 42, Moscow 127238, Russia. rjh@foliummsk.su and www.folium.ru/rjh
Salamandra (German, simpler papers in the accompanying Elaphe): Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde, P.O. Box 1421, D 53351 Rheinbach, Germany. Also embodies several study groups (e.g. Die Eidechse devoted to lacertids). www.dght.de and gs@dght.de
Zeitschrift für Feldherpetologie: published by Burkhard Thiesmeier, thiesmeier@cityweb.de
NEWSLETTERSHERPDIGEST is a free, electronic weekly newsletter, and runs the website www.herpdigest.org Use their website to register and/or to consult past articles in their archive section. The editor can be contacted at asalzberg@herpdigest.org With kind permission of HerpDigest we reproduce the latest issues on our website www.podarcis.nl At HerpNet@egroups.com you can subscribe to another newsletter. The same webmaster runs VaHerper's International Directory of Herpetological Resources at http://www.vaherper.com, which is designed to provide a directory to reptile and amphibian resources on the Internet. Sites are organised by country and state and include a search engine.
ONLINE LITERATURE DATABASESA large number of literature databases are online. Most of these are meant for specialists and cannot be consulted without charge. There are several that can be checked for free. Listed below are some of the herpetologically interesting ones. As with Discussion groups (see below) the smaller ones – not listed here – tend to disappear, have a strong regional accent, or are not frequently updated. However, they can contain exactly what you are looking for, so let us not dissuade you from using them by only listing the more professional sites. In almost every case copies of complete articles are not provided by the systems mentioned. Consequently these must be ordered separately. Usually larger public libraries are able to provide such facilities. Academic libraries are to be chosen if possible because these are more familiar with the procedures.
Herpetological Contents lists the indexes of almost all herpetological journals: http://www.herplit.com/contents/
MedLine. Amazingly enough, this substantial medical online literature service can be consulted for free. It also indexes many herpetologically interesting publications, and even includes abstracts of the papers listed: http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/. A growing number of the publications (abstracts and/or the indexes) are linked to the corresponding full-text version, usually via the web site of the editor. Access requires subscription and thus payment. However, some journals are available full-text for free. An incomplete list of these journals can be found at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov
Biosis is intended as a starting point for people with an educational, scientific and academic interest in zoology, including herpetology: www.biosis.org.uk The corresponding database can be accessed via commercial hosts like STN (http://stnweb.fiz-karlsruhe.de/). Many other relevant databases are available there as well. Some knowledge of specialised search language is required. Although charges usually are considerable, extensive differentiation is often possible, which makes such services worthwhile at least for some groups of herpetologists. Full-text delivery service is incorporated in the system.
The EMBL Reptile Database is a very good starting point for your searches when you only know the name of a reptile species or higher group. It also offers a selection of historical reptile papers as PDF files: http://www.embl-heidelberg.de/~uetz/LivingReptiles.html The amphibian equivalent is http://research.amnh.org.herpetology/amphibia/index.html
WWW search engines (like http://www.google.com/, http://www.alltheweb.com/) are becoming more and more sophisticated and can be used to search for very specific information. Some of them (like http://www.northernlight.com/) even provide alerting systems, automatically notifying subscribers to newly published information in accordance with their entered profile.
DISCUSSION GROUPSAnother way to obtain information via the Internet is to spend time in discussion groups. In so-called reptile or amphibian forums (or chatrooms) questions can be asked in the hope that the other visitors may answer them. It is usually a good idea to use groups which are mediated, i.e. have one or more persons who regularly check what is going on and help people who seem to get stuck, and who may also help prevent less well-considered answers from circulating as the final truth. In general it seems that newcomers especially appreciate discussion groups. This may explain why people rarely use their own names in discussion groups, and instead use an alias. It is an anonymous way of asking "dumb" questions. So you may meet many a typing Lizard or Frog on the Net! However, we think there are no dumb questions, only dumb people: those who never ask advice or share their experiences! At the moment it appears impractical to list names of discussion groups as many seem to have a short life-span, but it can be expected that in the future several of the chatrooms associated with larger societies will form a permanent useful addition to the many ways that knowledge can be acquired. Of course you are already familiar with our Discussion forum at www.podarcis.nl (Dutch and English listings). Make good use of it! | |