Pictures Sent In From Southern Ohio. Thanks ET!

These pics were sent in from ET in Southern Ohio. This is a wild black snake that lives in her house. She has not seen it in a while, but there was time when this snake would come out while she sat on her porch and look in her coffee cup. She became concerned and started putting water out for "Blossom" to drink. Blossom never hurt her and never, ever offered to bite.

I wish every one was like this. Too often, a snake this size found in some one's home, gets killed. I am glad that this wonderful lady, Elaine, prefers to enjoy a new experience and make a new friend.

If you have a great snake story to tell or any other animal rescue, please let me know. Send pictures if you can and I will put it on my site. I appreciate the help to try to change how people think about my long slithery friends and all the other wild animals out there, too.

Ronald The Milksnake

My wife calls him the mean little bastard. He does have attitude. His name is Ronald. He is a Pueblan Milksnake. He is about 7 months old right now. This is the only snake that has ever bitten me. And he meant business. He was just grinding his tiny teeth into my hand. Looking at it from his point of view, he was only defending himself. He didn't know me. Now he does, but it took over three months to get him settled down. He was also an owner surrender. He was infested with mites. That can take one to two months to get rid of, if you're lucky and quarantined your new snake properly in a completely seperate room.I am working on an article about Mites and will post it soon.

Anyway, meet Ronald finally.

Taking Care Of An Adult Red Tail Boa

Harry has been here

for a month and a half now and he is
doing well. As I get to know him and handle him, I am finding he is very friendly. So far, he has not offered to bite, even once. He is impatient to get out of his far too small of a cage, but other than that, he is eating well and is healthy.

People do not realize when they purchase a little 14 - 22 inch snake at the pet store that happens to be a Red Tail Boa, for example, how big they get. The enclosure above I built for Jenny. She is now over 8 feet long and her cage has to be at least that long so she can stretch out. My whole body is in her cage with ample room to spare. Harry needs one nearly this large. Hopefully it will be completed by the end of January.

My message here is to remind you that if you are looking for a snake as a pet, keep in mind that snakes live to be at least 20 years old, and if you are in the market for a large snake, you have to have a lot of room for them to live and maintain a decent existence. Jenny and Harry will be taking up an entire room in my home when I am done with their enclosures. Make sure you are willing to make that kind of a commitment.

A Turkey Buzzard At My Door

All week long we have seen an injured Turkey Buzzard in the field above our house. His wing seemed to be broken and he could not fly. There was not a lot we could do, though we attempted to lure him closer to the house. After 5 days, he finally did get closer. He was eating what he could from some bones we had remaining from Deer Season. Following the advice of a woman we managed to get a hold of from Alchemy Acres, we took a sheet out and, once we cornered him near the house, gently wrapped the sheet around him and brought him in.

He seemed cold and tired. I have never seen one this close. He was not as large as I thought he would be, and I was not surprised to find out he was only a baby. We took him to Birds In Flight Sanctuary Inc. It is operated by a very nice lady named Heather Merritt. They have a web site. http://www.birdsinflightsanctuary.com

They take in raptors of all types, including endangered species. Heather told us that this guy was about 4 months old. He still had down feathers on his head. After giving him an examination, she determined that he had a broken wing, probably suffered while still in the nest. Turkey Buzzards fly south for the winter, and sadly his parents had to leave him behind. The break in his wing is severe and Heather does not think he will fly, ever. However, there is still hope. She will be x-raying him on Monday to determine how bad his wing is. She said they may be able to use him for educational purposes. They can rehabilitate him, and socialize him to use to teach people about him and birds like him. I sure hope so.

Birds of Flight Sanctuary is a non profit organization and really needs donations. If you are interested, please check their web site out to see what you can do to help.

Some more on Harry the Boa

Harry is about 6 foot long. His cage is 4'. He hates to be in it. He is very nicely tempered however. After a thorough going over, we discovered 4 contact burns from the reptile heating rock that was in his cage. We threw the rock away. His cage is so small for him that he couldn't get away from the too hot rock completely. That is the main reason that i don't condone in using hot rocks. Giving you an example, it would be like me or you using a hot water bottle and putting it on our belly in a snowstorm.

This is my step son Jon looking at Harry. It kind of gives the pic some scale and you get a better idea of how big this guy really is.

The markings on his belly look like dog tracks.

This is the extent of his ability to stretch out. He even has creases down the length of him from always being curled like a rope. This has been going on for him since he reached his full size. Harry is 14 years old so you can imagine how many years he suffered.

We also have Jenny who is 8 feet long. We actually built a nice enclosure for her that encompasses half of a room. My wife is also not happy about that. :) But she handles it the best she can. Harry's former owner asked if we were going to breed the two snakes. The answer to that is a profound NO. Jenny and Harry are here because they are so big that no one wants them and obviously lack of dedication, commitment and proper husbandry. They start out as cute little charmers, but when they get as big as these two, they are harder to house and take care of. We would never make more OF THEM out there to suffer this same fate. I strive for life long commited homes for these rescues. We are actively looking for a good home for them. NOT BREEDERS. It doesn't hurt me one bit to home these majestic creatures until we can and if we can find them a forever home, because in my heart I know they are well loved here.

Meet Harry, my newest snake

This is Harry. I just got him today. He is an owner surrender, 6ft long male Boa Constrictor. His owner was away on business a lot and just couldn't care for him any more. Harry is about 14 years old. He is het. Anerythristic.

This is his home. A 55 gallon terrarium. Not big enough but hopefully we will fix that within the week.

This is how I got him. His owner came to my home and delivered him. I will keep you updated on his progress. I am actively seeking a good home for Harry and Jenny for any one who has the proper facilities to house them. I would prefer not to home them with breeders.

These snakes don't have a home because of their size and we don't need more out there to add to the problem. They can live to be 30 years old easily and are a life long commitment. If you are interested, email me. michael6000@att.net..

Sorry it has been so long....

I have had a busy summer. A new job, and dealing with Jenny the Snake has been a constant challenge. I also found and rescued a clutch of baby opossums in August. They might not be to appealing to the eye when they grow up, but these little guys were pretty cute. There were 8 of them and miraculously, their mother's head was the only thing a car had struck. I thought she was still alive when I came across her and I was going to move her off the road. As I approached her, these little faces peered out from under her. I couldn't leave them there. Of course they were fierce. They hissed a lot but couldn't hurt anyone. I took them to Alchemy Acres in Salem, Ohio. That place is one of my favorite institutions in this county. They are better equipped for animals of this nature and said they would raise them and return them to the wild.

I finally got Jenny's cage finished. My wife is not happy because it literally takes up half the room. But Jenny has to be able to stretch out in order to reduce her stress. She is very smart and curious about everything. She knows where her cage door is and I find her sometimes waiting for me there or she comes to me when I open it. Her former owner did take good care of her, but she just got too big for him. I had no idea how hard it would be to find a suitable place for her so I think I have her for a while. She is very charming despite her size.

I will be updating this more often. Look for more articles to come soon. I have new little buddy named Ronald. He is a Pueblan milk snake (black, orange and white). Right now he is not too tame, and is the first snake to ever bite me. But things are going well and I hope to get him settled down soon. Thankfully snakes do not like the taste of latex.