The who's who of our household The very first rescue I did was for a Savanna Monitor. Monster. We still have him, partly because I saw firsthand how neglected and abused he'd been, and partly because he's just a wonderful little guy who craves attention and love. Monster is only about 2 ft. in length, and is about 3 years old. The people who had him though he was supposed to be eating fruits and veggies, not realizing that he is a meat eater, but would "induldge him" and give him chicken once a week or so "Because he seemed to like it". This stunted his growth tremendously. Monster has many missing toes, had about 5 layers of shedding on him, a broken jaw (did I mention he was stepped on?), a broken front leg and was in general, a mess. Now, 2 years later, Monster is eating pre-killed mice, extremely active and using his gimpy leg to steer with. It doesn't support his weight, so he scoots from here to there, using his hind legs to propel him forward, and his front ones to manuaver in and out of places I can't get him out of.
Harold, Hiss Piggy and Mookie! Our own personal reptiles are Harold (my sons ball python), Hiss Piggy (my ball python) and Mookie. Mookie started out being a rescue from a local no-kill shelter, unfortunately the workers there were afraid of snakes, and so for over a year, Mookie wasn't handled at all. He was fed a live rat every two weeks, kept in a 20gal. Tank in his own shed apart from other animals there. Once "on scene" I took the top off the tank and reached in to find him (he was buried under tons of bark substrate, 2 hidey-logs and branches from various trees!), I lift out a 3ft. long beautiful, but terrified, ball python. As I stood there talking to the people, swaying gently back and forth, Mookie tentatively popped his head out from the middle of the "ball" he'd wound himself into, looked up at me and slithered up around my neck, resting there and "massaging" as I spoke to different workers there. That was 3 months ago. Mookie is still a bit hand shy and doesn't like fast movements, but is doing much better than when I first got him. He's extremely sweet and gentle and loves attention. At 5a.m. every morning, I am up giving the dog his breakfast and insulin, making coffee and salads etc, Mookie has adjusted his clock to mine and is the only snake up to greet me for some coffee and snuggles. He warmed all of our hearts, even the little girl (oops, she's now 15, time flies!) who "would never like snakes, but would tolerate them, if she HAD to!".   Mookie is up for adoption to the right home!   The ideal home would have at least a 40 gal. tank, a heating pad on one side, a hidey cave and proper substrate.  Also, this home should come with a pair of gentle hands that move slow and have proper knowledge of "How to Administer Chin Rubs!", and a patient person, willing to overlook the tendancy to hide his head under his own body when things get stressful.  How do I know these things?  Mookie told me, of course!
Shiva! my Mothers Day gift from the kids Shiva is also one of my personal pets. Shiva is my baby Columbian Red-Tail Boa. My children apparently didn't think we had enough reptiles in the house, and so, for mothers day, actually conned a pet store into selling them one for . Knowing it was coming to me, and how much I'd always wanted one (waiting to "rescue one" is what I kept telling them, but yeah, I really REALLY have wanted one for a long time!), the pet store helped them achieve their goal: getting one for mom! Shiva is a little over a ft. long now and is probably the most tolerant snake I have ever seen, to the point of being downright pushy for head and chin rubs. I realize that Shiva won't stay small forever, and our cuddle time will definitely be more "cuddly" when he reaches his full 8-10ft length and possible 100 pounds, hence the name I gave him, Shiva: the Hindu God of death and destruction. At his adult size, he will probably destroy whatever he wishes to! Although I do feed pre-killed, so he won't be bringing death to anything except the plants he crushes that I decorate with!
For any comments, please send me an email at reneesreptilerescue@cox.net
There's more?! yep! Jake the snake! A beautiful 2 year old corn snake that is a complete freak that we all adore! He is the one that can spot movement from a block away, he's seriously hyper and hard to hold onto. He has things to see and do and...let go let go let goooooooooooo!