Confessions of a reptile rescuer

What’s That Smell?

2013-03-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Looking back on 14 years of running a reptile rescue. Here is a little bit of what we dealt with on a daily basis...

Gag reflex alert: You might want to skip this section if you are squeamish or sensitive.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I have very little sense of smell. I think it is from many years of using allergy medications when I was younger. They damaged the inside of my nose somehow. I have a range of smells that I can smell mostly on opposite ends of the smelly scale, really good or really bad. Scented candles? Nope, I generally can’t smell them at all. One good side effect of this problem, or maybe it’s an adaptation I created for myself, I can “turn off” the smell if I want. The only time I truly have a good sense of smell is when I’m severely hung over! Usually I wish the “hard of smelling” woud come back when I’m in that situation.

So how is the game played? Sometimes I could smell something horrible – usually a dead animal or an uneaten rodent. Often times I could smell it, but I couldn’t find the source. With usually about 100+ animals in the collection at any given time, there was not always an easy way to find the source of the stench.

There were times when I would have to call someone over with a better sense of smell and we would play what I liked to called, America’s favorite game show, “What’s That Smell?” That poor, unfortunate soul who received the call would usually end up coughing and gagging when said smell was finally identified. Regurgitated rodent is one of the most heinous scents on this earth. It is worse than dead rodent for sure.

As long as I’m on the topic… sometimes snakes will musk when they are afraid. A lot of times, it’s the big, nasty snakes. However, the teeny tiny ones will do it too. California kingsnakes, other kings and milks are notorious for musking, especially babies or animals that haven’t been handled much. One time Chad (a volunteer) and I were cleaning a yellow anaconda’s cage. The snake was as mean as cat shit. Every time we touched it, it would thrash and musk. Thank goodness it was only about 6 ft. long. If it was 10-12 ft., I don’t think I would have been able to deal with it at all. The yellow anacondas don’t get as big as the green ones, but are twice as nasty. A lot of snakes will calm down once they are kept warm enough and fed on a regular basis. No such luck with this animal.

I remember, the snake was in my office. Overflow animals were often kept in the office and that was the case with the anaconda. So, Chad reached into the cage to grab him. It must have been winter. I remember that he was wearing a white, long sleeved sweatshirt. As he grabbed the snake’s neck so it wouldn’t bite him, it’s back end whipped around and thick, disgusting musk flew all over both of us! There is no way to describe the smell, but I’ll try. If you have a cat or dog, they have anal glands next to their butts. Sometimes cats or dogs will have problems with those and scoot across the floor. Or, you might take your cat or dog to the vet and they will express their anal glands (empty them!). That stuff stinks horribly. The anaconda’s musk is so much worse! It’s like cat anal glands on steroids.

It looked like dark mustard, but had the consistency of mayonnaise. The reason I remember the long-sleeved sweatshirt was because one sleeve was covered in the goo. Both of us screamed, then laughed and gagged simultaneously. I had some in my hair. Gross. But, Chad’s clothing was saturated. It was so disgusting. We didn’t have to play “What’s That Smell.” We knew exactly where it was.

Dead animals are something else entirely. Whether it was a rescue that didn’t make it or an uneaten prey item, that is a very distinct smell. One time I was in the Towsontown Mall and I could smell something dead near a potted plant, probably a rodent. It wasn’t strong enough to be anything big. But yes, I have a great nose for death. It’s a horrible gift. The smell is a sickening sweet odor at times, other times, after a long wait, it’s just really disgusting.

Sometimes there were prizes for winning, “What’s That Smell.” Maybe I’d buy a pizza for the clean-up crew. Once the offending object was removed and the bag outside, the smell usually went away quickly. Even now, just thinking about it turns my stomach a little.

Big Bird

2012-11-07T08:29:00.002-08:00

Volunteers Brittany, Dave and Nick, drying off a squirming Big Bird.

Here is another story looking back at my many years doing reptile rescue.

I was at my part time job and I got a call on the rescue cell phone. A woman said her son had an albino Burmese python he needed to place. I asked what size it was. She told me it was 4 ft. long and 100 lbs! I laughed and I said that sounds like the size of a person and not a snake. She told me that she wasn’t sure about the size.

She called back a few days later and informed me that the snake was actually 14 ft. long and 100 lbs. No offense to men, but they always over estimate the length of snakes! Have I mentioned that before? It’s a running joke around here.

I set up an appointment, knowing and kind of hoping that the snake is not that long! The son and dad were going to bring the snake that weekend.

I warned the volunteers that we’re going to have to get the big cage ready because we don’t really know what to expect. And, our intake protocol, soaking – might be a problem.

A lady and her 12 year-old son arrived that Sunday to adopt their first snake, a little corn snake. We were talking about how to care for the corn snake when the big snake arrived.

A pick-up truck pulled up with an oddly shaped object in the bed, covered with a tarp. I thought, “Oh my! These people had the snake out in the cold.”

Fortunately it was above freezing, actually it was in the 50s. It was completely inappropriate and too cold though, to have a snake out driving on the highway. The father pulled off the tarp and there was a big albino Burmese python stuffed into the bottom of a 28” x 28” x 30” wire bird cage. I should have taken photos of it while it was in the bird cage, just to show how horrible it was. I was too angry to think of it at the time.

The boisterous man was groaning as he carried the bird cage into the house. The dad stayed at the curb and didn’t venture inside. The man was speaking loudly and wildly gesturing with his hands. He told us all about how his wife, who had recently died, took in this snake 12 years ago. Someone had found it and was keeping it in a metal trashcan with a sharp edge. The snake had some cuts on it that needed medical attention. The wife took the snake and nursed it back to health.

We could see lots of old scars on the body. The man surrendering the snake told us that you could see the words “moon me” and “joy” in the pattern of the snake. It was opaque (ready to shed) making it hard to see the pattern at all. We could also see new injuries and there was some kind of wound medication taped to the side of the bird cage.

The man told me the snake’s name was Baby Girl. I found that interesting since the snake appeared to be a male.

The man told us that the snake was “free range” in their house. It was fed live chickens, pigeons or rats in the house. To my horror and the fascination of the young boy adopting his corn snake, the man continued with his incredulous story-telling. He told us how the snake “hogged the bathtub.” I have no idea what that means and really didn’t want to know.

Can you imagine the carnage as a snake fights it out with a live, full-grown chicken?!?! And, they are loose in the house? All I could picture in my mind was cock fighting.

At least he wasn’t using grocery store chicken pieces because that is not healthy for the snake. Don’t get me wrong, using birds instead of rodents is acceptable and some people swear by them. But, not loose in the house! And, feeding large live prey to a snake results in injuries to the snake, not to mention the hideous death for the prey item.

Why shouldn’t you let a large Burmese python loose in your house? It’s not warm enough. They can get wedged behind a refrigerator or other appliance with a motor and get stuck, injured or killed. They can find a way out of the house. They can KILL SOMEONE! Forget having a dog or cat if you have a big Burmese running loose.

The snake turned out to be pretty big, about 10 ft., however, not the 14 ft., 100 lb. monster we were told about. The head was large, which means it was full grown. But the snake itself is way undersized probably because it was never kept warm enough, and was only fed once every three weeks.

I can understand having a huge cage, or even devoting a whole room to a Burmese python. But you should never let a snake have free access to your home.

All reptiles can carry salmonella. A snake that is crawling across your kitchen table, dining room table or kitchen counters is just a bad idea.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say that the bigger the animal, the bigger the poop and urates. Can you imagine waking up one morning and stepping in a big pile of that??? If you give a Burmese python access to water, which I’m hoping they did, they can create urates and liquid that is like someone dumping a bucket on the floor. Why would you want the snake to do that wherever it wanted in your house? You shouldn’t!

Burmese pythons are prone to upper respiratory infections. If you have a free ranging Burmese python, it’s going to look for warmth. If you are asleep in your bed, that warmth might be you. I can’t emphasize enough what a bad idea it is to have a free roaming snake.

It’s funny that they brought the snake in a bird cage when they were feeding it birds, hence the new name – Big Bird! Today is the first time I’m trying to feed Big Bird frozen-thawed rats. I hope it will eat them. Somehow, I think it will.

After being put in a large cage (6 ft. x 3 ft. x 2 ft., the biggest cage we have) the snake roamed around looking for a way out. That’s not so unusual. Most snakes check out the surroundings when you put them in a new enclosure. It’s been a few days and it seems to be relaxing now, just sitting coiled up in the corner. It took us a long time to find a hide box big enough for this animal – another thing it had to find on its own while being a free range snake. We ended up using the top half of a dog crate. So far, it has not figured out that the dog crate is the hide box. It has been hiding behind it. I have a feeling that after eating, it will retreat to the hide. We always try to make the animals feel secure here. A hide box is a good way to do that.

The man finally left. The house was oddly quiet as he galloped back to his pickup truck, hopped in with his dad and drove off. The young boy asked me about the big snake. This man had just set the worst example.

“Is it okay to let a snake loose like that?” he asked, his mother rolling her eyes. I gave them a good talk about how people surrendering animals are not the best people for advice. The boy asked me about feeding live prey and feeding chicken. It turned out to be a good chance for this young boy to learn some good information. I think I ended up giving him a book. Sometimes I give books or magazine to the younger kids, especially if I have multiple copies. A lot of times when people surrender an animal, they bring everything – as I request – and that often includes books.

Snapping turtle tied to a tree

2012-07-12T17:34:00.001-07:00

Was I brave or was I crazy? Here's another post looking back over the 14 years of running a reptile rescue.

I was working occasionally for a friend of mine who did wildlife relocation. He called me one day and said that he had gotten an emergency call and he was way out in Howard Co. I was much closer.

The manager of an apartment complex in Baltimore County had gotten a report of a decent sized snapping turtle tied to a tree in front of an apartment. The office manager wanted the turtle removed from the premises.

I grabbed a big dog crate and threw it in the back of my station wagon – and off I went. I was there in about 15 minutes although I got very turned around when I was looking for the apartment building because it didn’t face the front of the road. It was positioned awkwardly and faced a small stream that ran behind the apartment complex.

I figured that the snapping turtle, was probably a female due to the time of year, and had climbed up out of the little creek to lay eggs. When the occupants of the apartment saw the turtle looking for a good egg-laying spot. They had somehow tried to tie up the turtle. Not a good idea! No matter where you might think of tying a “leash” to a turtle, it could seriously injure the animal.

It looked to me like the turtle had escaped its noose and was simply lying on top of the leash. The leash was attached to a small tree. The storm door to the apartment was open, but the screen door was shut. I knew this was going to be tricky and I really was not in the mood to be confronted by the occupants of the apartment.

I stood there with my crate, trying to figure out how I was going to grab the turtle, put it in the crate and get out of there without being seen when the apartment dwellers’ door sat wide open. I may be known for a lot of things, light on my feet is not one of them!

Also, I might add, grabbing a snapping turtle is not something to be done without thought and consideration. This particular animal was about the size of a dinner plate and had decent jaw power. A snapping turtle this size could easily bite off a finger, which is probably why the office manager didn’t want it tied to a tree!

In order to pick up a snapping turtle safely, you need to lift it by the back end. They have really long necks to go with the powerful jaws. So if you put your hands on the sides of the turtle, like you would pick up most turtles, the long neck can easily reach around and the mouth will bite you.

I tried to be as stealthy and quick as I could be, while also being as careful as possible. I gently lifted up the big girl, pushed it into the crate, snapped it shut and practically took off running. It was not a pretty sight. It looked more like waddling than running. A medium sized dog crate with a 15 pound turtle held off to my side, and me practically goose stepping my was to the car.

Just when I thought I was home free – about 10 ft. from my vehicle – I heard someone yelling to me. I turned and it was the person from the apartment. Damn! I was caught red-handed.

“Hey! That’s my son’s turtle!” a man yelled to me.

I told him I was hired by the apartment complex to remove it. I didn’t know anything about who owned what. And I scolded the guy for trying to put a leash on a turtle.

The guy was still running toward me as I quickly opened the back of my station wagon and inserted one turtle.

“Who told you to take the turtle?” The man asked again.

“The manager of the apartments.” I answered

“Is that where you are going?” He asked.

I thought about it for a second. Why would I take a snapping turtle to the office? I wouldn’t.

“Yes.” I’m taking it to the office.” I lied.

“I’ll meet you there.” Said the man.

“Okay.” Not if I see you first! I hopped in the car and took off. I had no idea where the office was in the apartment complex. My heart was racing as I pulled out of the complex and into traffic. I kept looking in my rear view mirror expecting that guy to be following me. I didn’t feel safe until I was back on the highway. And then I spent a lot of time checking the rear view mirror, not that I had any idea what kind of car that person drove.

I took the turtle to a park near where I live and released her. She seemed a little confused as she took in the sights of her new home. I knew there were snapping turtles at this park so it was a nice place to let her go.

I was still a nervous wreck as I left the park and went home. Snapping turtles will always remind me of that day!

The guy I worked for got a huge kick out of my story. He couldn’t believe that I stole the turtle right out from under them. Poor thing, she just wanted to lay her eggs in peace. Hopefully, she is still enjoying her new digs along the banks of the Jones Falls.

Hiding in the bathroom

2012-06-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

Looking back over 14 years of running a rescue, there are some moments that just stand out in my mind. Here is one of them...
Sometimes, there just isn’t enough room for all of the animals in the rooms that I have in the two bedrooms I set up for them. In those cases, I had something I called overflow areas. Part of my office and some places in the dining room were used when I was in a pinch. Of course, there are always stray cages, aquariums, stands, lights, heat mats, etc. available. They are tucked away in just about every nook and cranny in the house.

On this day, I had a wire dog cage set up in my office. It was a bit larger than the size of a ferret cage. I believe they are usually 4 ft. x 3 ft. x 2 ft. The wire on this dog cage was much thicker and the bars were further apart. I had the cage all shored up by using cable ties. Cable ties are a fantastic was to secure a wobbly metal cage and make it feel much more sturdy. Since they are cheap, it is easty to just cut them off when it’s time to fold up the cage and put it away, and then use a new set next time it needs to be used for another rescue. Those cages are handy because they fold up fairly flat and don’t take a lot of space unless they are in use.
A fairly decent sized Nile monitor was living in the cage at the time. My cousin Gail came over and we went to the state fair, which is held at the same place where the reptile show used to be. Gail tolerates the reptiles, but is not a huge fan. She doesn’t know how to deal with them and doesn’t really want to know. That’s fine. To each his own.

After enjoying ourselves at the fair, we came back to my house. Walking in the door, the office is to the left. We walked into the den, which is to the right. Gail said, “Look what the dog did to the blinds.”

A chill ran down my spine. I looked at the blinds. “The dog didn’t do that. The Nile must be loose!”

And with that, Gail dashed into the powder room and slammed the door shut. Hoping the Nile wasn’t hiding behind the toilet, I started looking around.

“I’ll be in here until you find him!” she shouted.

He wasn’t behind the couch where the blinds had been broken. I did a quick 360 of the room. Nothing seemed out of place other than the blinds. A 4 ft. lizard generally leaves a path of destruction. I put the dog outside. He seemed fine. I guessed the Nile didn’t mess with him at all. He probably slept upstairs and missed all of the fun. He would have run from the lizard anyway.

Back to my scan of the room. Since nothing was out of place, I started looking behind things. After the couch, I checked the chair. And there he was, squished up against the corner of the room. His dusty head, with eyes glaring at me, turned in my direction.

Nile monitor on the loose.

“Gimme a break.” I said as I scooped him up, wiped off the dust and stuck him back in the, now useless cage. Monitor lizards are a lot smarter than people give them credit. They are problem solvers. If he got out of that cage once, he’d do it again and a lot faster this time. I figured out another cage for him and Gail decided to emerge from the bathroom. We had a good laugh. It was especially funny watching how fast Gail could get in the bathroom and slam the door!

Remember Back – Reptile Rescue Pet Peeves

2012-03-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Over the past 14 years I have heard some horrible things, some funny stories, some ridiculous anecdotes and because of this I have developed a list of things that just drive me crazy about people!

One of the most irritating things is when people bring an animal to us and tell us about how they did everything right and took great care of their animal and we take a look at the animal, and it’s a wreck.

People don’t like to buy things at a pet store because it is too expensive, so they go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and buy cheaper fixtures. Sometimes they buy fixtures with a plastic cover of the light bulb. UV light is filtered out when it passes through plastic or glass. So putting an animal in front of a window does not give it UV. And using those light fixtures from Home Depot with plastic over them also does not give your animal UV light. It’s so simple to alter them. There are two small screws that hold on the plastic and it takes about a minute to take that off and then, when using an actual UV light, it works just fine.

No pal -- it’s called a donation. These animals don’t have jobs to help pay the bills. They cost us money to feed, light, etc. I used to tell people that I would appreciate a donation and the amount is up to them, but one asshole has to ruin it for everyone. A guy told me, “I’d like to donate nothing.” Now we require a donation. And I tell people that most people give $40-50, which is true because that’s how much I ask for! Of course, we get the occasional person who “forgets” their checkbook, cash and credit cards, but most people do give about $40-50.

A lot of people think we’re subsidized by the government or that money falls from the sky into my awaiting hands. If only!

We get a lot of calls for wildlife, which we don’t take. We have enough problems with the exotics.

People threaten to let the animal go if I don’t take it. I try to explain to them that it is illegal to release their pets. Obviously, they don’t care because a lot of animals are found outside. If they are tropical animals, like iguanas, one freezing night and they are dead. And they also don’t seem to care that releasing a tropical animal in Maryland is not only horribly cruel, but can reek havoc on native species.

And why do people think they should keep any animal they manage to catch in the wild? Don’t do that! They usually die of starvation or from stress shortly after being captured anyway. Especially when they are being kept by novices who know nothing about the husbandry of the animal.

Box turtles (or any tortoises) don’t eat iceberg lettuce. It’s not good for them (or us for that matter). Iceberg lettuce has no real nutritional value. Please do not send the Iceberg lettuce people after me. It’s just not that great nutritionally. I have not purchased a head of iceberg lettuce since I started keeping retpiles.

My absolute favorite is people who either conveniently forget or outright lie about the health of their animal. As I’m taking the snake out of the bag, “Oh, I forgot to tell you it’s missing an eye.”

“I think I forgot to tell you the lizard is missing half its toes.”

Over 50% of the lizards we get have something missing or regenerated.

The best one was the guy who told me on the phone that his three bearded dragons were missing a couple toes. When they got here, two had half a tail and one was actually missing an entire leg. The ones with half a tail were missing lots of toes. The one with the missing leg also had toes missing on the other feet.

This makes rescues dislike and distrust humans.

New websites...

2012-03-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

Now that the reptile site is gone, I had to do something to keep up with all of the rescue groups and rescue news. I created www.PetSaver.info and I am now referring people there since our rescue is closed. There are lots of lists of all sorts of rescues for all types of animals.
In addition, I created a site just for fun called www.ExtremeCuteness.com with loads of cute animals pictures, links to fun sites and other adorableness.
Follow me on Twitter for more info: www.twitter.com/snakecharmed.

Going Bananas

2011-07-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

Forever, I’ve been trying to find a grocery store that would donate greens. Vegetables and fruit are the only thing that I have never been able to get donated. I’ve had a couple one time donations, but nothing that I could make work on a regular basis. I spend a small fortune on vegetables, mostly greens and a little fruit every week. Tortoises, iguanas, bearded dragons, blue tongue skinks and other animals eat veggies and small of them eat fruit. Fruit isn’t recommended in certain tortoises, but mostly they all eat the same salad.

One day, I received a call from the Maryland Food Bank. Every grocery store that I talked to about donations, told me that they couldn’t donate to us because they sent stuff to the Maryland Food Bank. I found out that they mostly lied. I suppose the reason is that they are afraid a person will eat the food and get sick (then WHY would they give it to the Food Bank?).

The Maryland Food Bank had a donation of a truckload of organic bananas, which were already yellow. They told me that they rarely get perishable food, mostly they get donations of canned goods, boxed food or jars. That’s where the lie from the local food stores came into play. The only one that admitted they throw food away was Whole Foods. They said that any food that is past its prime goes right into the dumpster. They are not allowed to give it away. I asked, “Are you saying I can get it out of the dumpster?”

“NOOOOO!” Yelled the produce manager. “We don’t give it away.”

That’s such a shame because I wouldn’t mind cutting off the bad spots and using whatever is left over for the animals. But, that was never meant to be.

Normals, as I call them, or people who don’t have reptiles, don’t always understand when I would ask for help for the reptiles. I would say “reptile,” they would think “rattlesnake.” I was always careful to ask for food to “help the tortoises,” or “feed the iguanas.” I tried to avoid the word “reptile.” It just has a bad connotation for some reason.

Back to the Maryland Food Bank… They called with a “bunch” of bananas. (Get it? Bunch of bananas?) I had a Ford Taurus station wagon at the time. They told me it wasn’t going to be big enough.

Here’s the deal. I only had a couple parrots that would eat a small piece of fruit as a treat, and some iguanas that eat about fruit for about 5% of their diet. That meant I could basically use a bunch of bananas.

Finding the Maryland Food Bank was tricky. It was nestled in a not-so-great neighborhood and it took a couple passes with angry drivers honking at me, to figure out exactly where it was. Eventually though, I found it. I got a brief tour of the facility and met some people. They were all very nice to me, unlike the grocery store people.

Somehow I ended up loading my car completely with cases of bananas. I could barely see to drive with bananas blocking every mirror in the car. They were stacked up on the seat next to me, my purse wedged in between the cases and me. The smell wafting from them was almost sickening sweet. Fruit flies came along with the donation and I’m sure the Maryland Food Bank was happy to get rid of them!

As soon as I got home I was on the phone with everyone I knew, trying to find people to take bananas.

My friend Laurie had just gotten a pot bellied pig, I gave her three cases. Of course, she too, only needed a bunch or two.

I called my friend Vicky, at what was then the Reptile House at that Baltimore Zoo. I asked if maybe the bears or other animals would like some nice organic yellow bananas. Nope.

All of my friends came over and took a few bunches. That left me with only about 15 CASES of bananas! Needless to say, a lot of them ended up in the compost. I peeled and froze a lot of them, although I got so sick of bananas I couldn’t bear to eat them for about a year after this happened.

I didn’t want to offend the Maryland Food Bank and I definitely wanted to be on their good side so I could get more produce if they ever got it. I never, ever heard from them again! And the banana debacle went down in history as one of the most fantastic food donation situations ever.

Production Reptiles

2011-07-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Charles, runs Production Reptiles. He's got high quality animals and I'm trying to help him out. I set up a website for him and also a facebook page, so check him out!
He sells gorgeous rainbow boas, morphs of sand boas, ball pythons and a lot of other stuff.
Here are is ball python morph.

Mmmmmm.... glove!

2011-06-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

I had to give a talk at 9:30 this morning at the St. Paul School. I do this every year on the last day of school. The kids don't want to do any work on the last day so I help entertain them.
I went to get the Dumeril's boa (AKA demerol boa) out of the cage. I didn't feel like messing around for 10 minutes with a hook because it's bitey, so I put on my big gloves and just grabbed it, but not before it tried to grab me! Instead it grabbed the glove. It had me wrapped so tightly that I couldn't get the glove off.
It didn't hurt, I just couldn't get my hand out of the glove. Finally, I was able scrunch my hand up and pull it out of the glove after several minutes of wrestling.
I was now running late, so I had to leave it, just hoping it wouldn't swallow that glove like the dummy it is. Meanwhile, I wasted at least five minutes of precious animal-packing time.
I got everything in the car and took off. I got stuck in traffic -- and I was not even on the highway. I sat there for a good 15 minutes (I would have had 15 minutes to unload my car, etc. at the school).
I got there, unpacked just as the kids were getting there. I think I had about 15 seconds to spare.
Using all of that adrenaline is exhausting!
It is now four and a half hours later. The snake is still wrapped around that glove, but thankfully, not swallowing it. Every time I make a move to get it, the snake coils tighter around the glove.
Just another day in the asylum.

Black throat monitor

2011-05-25T11:27:00.001-07:00

Rescues get sickly animals all of the time, but we rarely get ones with extra hole in their faces. We recently received a black throat monitor from a nearby shelter with a fistula, or a hole, in its face. Fortunately for us, it has already healed, but left a permanent reminder about how a simple infection can destroy your animal's face.

The white spot on his face is where the hole is. Sorry for the poor quality photo, it was taken with a cell phone. It looks like he has a nostril in the middle of his face, but it is actually a lot bigger and wider than his real nostril.

This animal came to us emaciated and vomiting. In just a couple weeks of keeping him warm and feeding him the appropriate sized food items and he's good to go. He still needs to put on a lot of weight, but he has an adopter coming to check him out tomorrow. Hopefully she will fall in love with this slightly damaged animal.

Boy Scout Snake

2010-11-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

We had several snakes, as we always do, in the rescue. A young boy scout called me and told me that he wanted to get his badge in reptiles. In order to get that badge, he needed to take care of a snake for one month. He was probably about 12 years old at the time. That’s a pretty good age for kids to get a snake for a pet.

I thought this was a great idea. It was like foster care. The boy’s father told me that he had snakes as a kid and knew how to take care of them. The father would supervise the care of the snake. And, they would pay to “rent” the snake for a month.

I was hoping that the boy would really love taking care of the snake and then decide to adopt it. I had the people fill out the paperwork as if they were adopting the snake.

The boy and his dad came over and they chose a California kingsnake. It was an adult snake and everyone in the family was excited about the snake coming to stay. We went over all of the care for the animal. They told me that they had gotten a couple books about snake care as part of the research for the badge.

They gave a donation and also donated money for some frozen mice we had.

Unfortunately, my plan didn’t work. The boy kept the snake for the month and was able to get his reptile care badge, but he lost interest in the animal by the time the month was over.

I was glad that the people “rented” the snake instead of buying one. I would have ended up with that animal either way, so at least I got a donation out of it this way.

How we got our vet

2010-10-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

Dr. Sue Felter of Westview Animal Hospital called me one day when we first were getting started. She said she didn’t have much experience with herps and wanted to help with the rescues to get experience.

Well, I must say, she’s now got a boatload of experience! I don’t know how we could survive without her. Way back when, Dr. Felter talked me through trying to put back a prolapse over the phone. At that point I didn’t even have latex gloves and I had to use dish-washing gloves.


Dr. Felter surgically removing a gigantic tumor from a bull snake. I took the photo with my cell phone so it's not too good.

Giving the bull snake room air to help him breathe while waking up.

She taught me how to sub-Q fluids (give them under the skin with a needle). She removed a gigantic bladder stone from my iguana Jub-jub (he’s kind of our mascot and the background photo of this blog). She taught me how to give a lizard an emema, how to tube feed a snake, how to give IM (in the muscle) injections and so many more things that I thought I could never do! I used to be pretty squeamish, no more. I still can’t bear to watch my dog get an injection, but I can give them to one of the rescues.

Jub-jub had to have massive sub-Q fluids before his bladder surgery and I never thought I’d be able to do it. He’s so strong and fights me that I had to have help until I got the hang of it. Jubs has been through a lot, but I’ll talk more about him later.

Although she doesn’t do it for anyone else, Dr. Felter comes to my house regularly to see the rescues. That is a huge help. Sometimes I have several animals that need to see her and it is so much easier for me if she comes here. It’s a big sacrifice on her part, and it is appreciated.

Sometimes we’ll try things, like the first time Dr. Felter spayed an iguana. I would much rather have her “practice” on a rescue than someone’s beloved pet. Knock on wood, we’ve had very few problems. We’ve done tons of biopsies on things. Dr. Felter has even convinced the place that does the bloodwork for us to give us a break. She hoped they would do it for free, but I’m happy for any help we can get. On several occasions, Dr. Felter has paid for tests herself just for professional curiosity. A couple times the animal had already died, but she wanted to find out why. It goes back to the whole “greater good” thing. If that test can help someone else in the future, why not do it?

I can't say enough about Dr. Felter. We would have really struggled as a rescue without her help and generosity. Vet bills can add up quickly, especially with a rescue, where animals often arrive with serious medical issues. After over a dozen years of working with her, I have seen her save countless animals that would have died without medical treatment. I completely trust her judgment when it comes to deciding whether or not to spend money on expensive tests, choosing a treatment or even whether or not to euthanize animals. Those decisions are not made lightly and an expert opinion is always welcome.

Lots of rescues, or people who claim to be rescues, don't even have a vet!

Dr. Fred Cohen, who owns the hospital, doesn’t work with reptiles. I have to give him a shout out too, because he’s very cool about the reptiles. He doesn’t want to touch them, but he’s understanding.

I get to go back in the treatment area of the hospital because a lot of times I either hold the animal or help in some other way. Once I saw Dr. Cohen lose a dog that went into cardiac arrest. I saw him give the dog CPR, even though the dog was very ill. He tried his best to save the dog for quite a while. After the dog died he went back into the treatment room and just put his hand on the dog’s chest and looked at him. That was really touching and it made me realize how difficult that job is. My dog had recently died of heart failure and that dog had a lot of the same problems as mine so it was upsetting for me too.

After several years of knowing Dr. Cohen at the hospital, we realized that we graduated high school in the same class. We never knew each other back in high school, but he lived in the neighborhood where I live now (only a couple miles from where I lived in high school). Small world.

Reptile Rescue Pet Peeves

2010-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Over the past 12 years I have heard some horrible things, some funny stories, some ridiculous anecdotes and because of this I have developed a list of things that just drive me crazy about people!

One of the most irritating things is when people bring an animal to us and tell us about how they did everything right and took great care of their animal and we take a look at the animal, and it’s a wreck.

People don’t like to buy things at a pet store because it is too expensive, so they go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and buy cheaper fixtures. Sometimes they buy fixtures with a plastic cover of the light bulb. UV light is filtered out when it passes through plastic or glass. So putting an animal in front of a window does not give it UV. And using those light fixtures from Home Depot with plastic over them also does not give your animal UV light. It’s so simple to alter them. There are two small screws that hold on the plastic and it takes about a minute to take that off and then, when using an actual UV light, it works just fine.

Here is one of those lights with the plastic cover removed.
Also note: when light bulbs get black like that on the ends, they are not working!

Another great thing is when people think they are doing us a favor by “donating” their exotic ball python to us. Meanwhile, we have about 20 of them at any given time. Then the people get mad when I ask for a donation. “You want me to PAY you to take my animal?”

No pal -- it’s called a donation. These animals don’t have jobs to help pay the bills. They cost us money to feed, light, etc. I used to tell people that I would appreciate a donation and the amount is up to them, but one asshole has to ruin it for everyone. A guy told me, “I’d like to donate nothing.” Now we require a donation. And I tell people that most people give $40-50, which is true because that’s how much I ask for! Of course, we get the occasional person who “forgets” their checkbook, cash and credit cards, but most people do give about $40-50.

A lot of people think we’re subsidized by the government or that money falls from the sky into my awaiting hands. If only!

We get a lot of calls for native wildlife, which we don’t take. We have enough problems with the exotics.

People threaten to let the animal go if I don’t take it. I try to explain to them that it is illegal to release their pets. Obviously, they don’t care because a lot of animals are found outside. If they are tropical animals, like iguanas, one freezing night and they are dead. And they also don’t seem to care that releasing a tropical animal in Maryland is not only horribly cruel, but can reek havoc on native species.

And why do people think they should keep any animal they manage to catch in the wild? Don’t do that! They usually die of starvation or from stress shortly after being captured anyway, especially when they are being kept by novices who know nothing about the husbandry of the animal.

Box turtles (or any tortoises) don’t eat iceberg lettuce. It’s not good for them (or us for that matter). Iceberg lettuce has no real nutritional value. Please do not send the Iceberg lettuce people after me. It’s just not that great nutritionally. I have not purchased a head of iceberg lettuce since I started keeping retpiles.

My absolute favorite is people who either conveniently forget or outright lie about the health of their animal. As I’m taking the snake out of the bag, “Oh, I forgot to tell you it’s missing an eye.”

“I think I forgot to tell you the lizard is missing half its toes.”

Over 50% of the lizards we get have something missing or regenerated.

The best one was the guy who told me on the phone that his three bearded dragons were missing a couple toes. When they got here, two had half a tail and one was actually missing an entire leg. The ones with half a tail were missing lots of toes. The one with the missing leg also had toes missing on the other feet.

This makes Rescue workers dislike and distrust humans.

How the rescue got started...

2010-10-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

I’ve been bringing home unwanted animals since I was a small child. I grew up in Cumberland, a small town in western Maryland. My friend and I once found an old basset hound wandering around our neighborhood. I was disappointed when we were not offered a reward. My mother told me that the reward was the great feeling of doing something good for someone else with no regard for myself. Though not an animal lover by any stretch, my mother taught me a valuable lesson that day. I learned that there are things that are more important than money, more valuable than financial rewards.

A few years later, still living in Cumberland, an animal control facility opened in our neighborhood. By crossing through back yards, my friends and I could make it there in a matter of a few minutes. We loved looking at the animals, having no idea what would happen if they were not adopted. One day I asked my parents about it. When I found out the animals were killed if they didn’t find homes, I was mortified. I came up with a plan. Since the statute of limitations for this crime ran out many years ago, I can confess it now. Earlier, we had seen some puppies with their mother in an indoor/outdoor run at the shelter. The puppies were all loose because they had squeezed themselves under the chain link fencing of the kennel. The neighborhood kids and I decided we would steal some puppies the next day. My friend’s brother would distract the guard. Yeah, we called him a guard because he wore a uniform. I was really young at the time – give me a break! While the guard was being distracted, the rest of us would each grab a puppy and take off. Our parents would let us keep them! (Boy, were we not thinking this through. I was very passionate about the idea and talked everyone into it.) By the time the distraction was over, we’d be long gone with the puppy. Of course, it didn’t really work. The puppies were all inside the kennel and I had to stick my hand under the fence and pull my puppy out. When I did, he squealed! Didn’t he know I was trying to save his life?! I guess not.

My friend’s brother took off running and so did the rest of us. We never looked back and never stopped running until we were safely in our own little neighborhood. It was probably about a half a mile running through back yards. When we got back to the neighborhood I showed my puppy to everyone. It turned out I was the only one who had the guts to take a puppy. Everyone else was afraid. We named him Cookleburger, Cookie for short. My parents were about ready to kill me. Cookleburger had to stay outside and he howled all night. Poor thing. He was big enough to be away from his mother, but emotionally, maybe not.

One of our neighbors found someone to take the puppy after a few nights. I was happy he found a home, unhappy it wasn’t with me.

Many years later, actually about a year ago, I was talking with my friend’s mother who was here in Baltimore after having heart surgery. We were talking about my puppy theft. She couldn’t remember his name. I said, “How can you forget Cookleburger?” She said, “No, not that time. The next time.” I had never known all of these years, that after we moved away the puppy thefts continued. I had started a trend and never even knew it.

I dragged home cats and dogs throughout my childhood. We had a few box turtles too.

As an adult I started rescuing cats after I looked at a house and found a stray with worms coming out of its butt! The real estate agent wouldn’t let me put the cat in her car because of the worms – me and my big mouth – so I had to go back the following day and find the cat again. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was about an hour drive that I had to do over. I knew the cat didn’t have a home because no one was living at the house and it was a large piece of property. Too bad I didn’t buy that place, it would have come in handy for all of the rescues!

Eventually, I got involved with reptiles and the Mid-Atlantic Reptile Show. It really bothered me that so many animals were sold at the show and that there were no reptile rescues. After more than a year of begging, pleading and whining, the rescue was started. Lots of people said they wanted to help, but not one of them ever did. I had a list of about 30 people who wanted to volunteer. They would gladly foster animals, AKA take free animals and keep them. But no one wanted to do the transporting, cleaning and other stuff involved. We are now called Charm City Reptile Rescue.

After a few years, volunteers starting coming and going. After 12 years, we (the animals and I) have not had a volunteer who lasted more than about four years. I could be wrong about that, but volunteer work seems to fill a void in people. Once their lives change, i.e. they get married, go off to college, move, get divorced, etc. they usually abruptly stop volunteering. We’ve had some volunteers who only wanted to clean certain animals, or were afraid of certain animals. I guess I can understand that, but I don’t really pick and choose what I take. We take what we get. I will say we rarely take iguanas and red eared sliders because too many of them need homes. And, homes are for those animals are hard to find.

After a couple years of doing rescue I decided to start asking for a surrender fee or donation to take the animal. Sometimes people get mad at me and say, “Do I have to pay you to take the animal?” I try to explain that we are not funded by anyone. No one buys food, there is no government money to pay the outrageous winter gas and electric bill. I certainly can’t afford to do it without help. We also make people donate the cage along with the animal in addition to the donation. An empty cage is begging to be filled. When there is no cage, the urge is not as strong to get another animal.

Many times people don’t want to give the cage because they’ve spent a lot of money on it. I just tell the people good luck and go on about my business. I stopped begging for people to give me their animals a long time ago. There are plenty of them out there and lots of people are happy to give the cage and a donation.

I used to tell people that the amount of the donation was up to them. One day a man gave me a very sick bearded dragon along with a $5 donation. That made me really mad. Another time a person told me that he would like to donate ZERO. Now I word things a little differently and I try to remember to ask about the health of the animal before I commit to taking it.

As you read about the various rescues, you will see that a lot of people don’t tell me when they have a sick animal. They conveniently forget to mention it. I’ve also had people conveniently forget their checkbook and/or cash. It’s frustrating. Once I see the animal, it’s hard to turn them down. I’m not completely heartless as some people seem to think.

Recently a man called me about adopting an iguana. I usually get right back to potential iguana adopters because they are hard to find. Sometimes they are a little too eager though. And it seems like they are almost always iguana people. Take what you will from that statement.

The man said that he had left a message earlier and that no one had called back. I apologized and explained that I work a few different jobs and sometimes when I’m on a deadline for a graphics job, I don’t have a lot of time to return calls. He asked to speak to my supervisor and told me that I acted like I didn’t want to find homes for the animals. I tried to assure him that I definitely want to find homes for them – that’s the whole idea! He again asked to speak to my supervisor. I said, it’s just me. There is no supervisor. He asked when my supervisor would be back. I tried again. I said it’s just me, I AM the supervisor! Well, that just seemed to anger him even more.

I swear I’ve had the same exact conversation with a woman, possibly his spouse? So after he wasted about five minutes arguing with me about the fact that I don’t have a supervisor he said he’d like to come see the iguanas. I told him he had to fill out an adoption application first. He didn’t want to fill out the application until he saw the animals. I tried to explain that I’ve been doing this almost 12 years and that’s how we do it. Application first, visit later. I think he ended up hanging up on me.

People hang up on me a lot too. Maybe I’m just abrasive, but I’m in this for the animals. Since I started doing rescue, I’ve become friends with a lot of other people who do rescue. I get hung up on more than anyone else. Oh well… I don’t know what to say about that except that I get calls from some really annoying people! Enough about my bad temper.

I get along great with the shelters, other legitimate rescues (there are a lot of people out there calling themselves a rescue and not really being one), the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Zoo and National Aquarium in Baltimore. They give us referrals, so of course, they appreciate what we do.

Speaking of people who call themselves rescues, but really are not. If you talk to a rescue and they don’t have a vet, I wouldn’t trust them much. So many rescued reptiles need medical care. There is no way you can do everything yourself without having access to prescription drugs. If they don’t have an adoption application, that’s another sign they are probably not legitimate. A real rescue has a screening process. A lot of people who surrender animals will ask me about that. Our adoption application is on line, so everyone can see it.

If you deal with a rescue, ask about a vet, adoption application and how the process works. We’re basically about the same as any cat or dog rescue. No on site adoptions at events, no adoptions without an application with references. If they application is not complete, I don’t get back to the people. One guy complained on Craig’s List that I didn’t get back to him. He filled out half of the application and didn’t even put his name on the application. No, I’m not getting back in touch with people who can’t even give me their name!