This week I have the honor of speaking at the International Herpetological Symposium in Atlanta. I will be sharing a variety of stories of my over 25 years working in reptile rescue and with a limited time, only so many stories can be shared. I thought I would share one that didn't make it here as a preview!

The IHS is a fantastic conference held annually in different locations around the world in partnerships with local zoos. The speakers range from people like me who love reptiles and people in the trade to experienced researchers, vets and zoo professionals. There is always the greatest banquet and behind the scenes tour at the local zoo. Just in case you were unaware of what IHS is.

One story I had to cut was that of Wylde Stallion. Sit back and grab a drink, because this is a long one.

Happy World Snake Day!

What is that? Well it is a day that is an easy one! It is a day to focus on conservation and education about snakes!

Snakes are one of the greatest fears in the world, but their importance to our environment as well as our health is enough reason to work to change minds. I grabbed a few fun articles for you to read and share today to help reach out and share the joy of snakes.

These articles give a breakdown on the holiday and the issues facing snakes. This post from RepublicWorld is a very basic breakdown that you can readhere. Another option is this article from Newsd. It has some fun little trivia tidbits and again very basic info and can be found https://newsd.in/world-snake-day-2020-here-are-some-snake-facts-you-must-know/.

Today, social media will be flooded with photos of dogs and cats to celebrate National Pet Day. If I show you mine, will you show me yours?

This is Karen, an adult male iguana who came to live with me recently through my rescue. Karen was left behind in an eviction, so I really know nothing of his past. Being a green iguana, he came with metabolic bone disease, a few infections, and was just beaten down from neglect. He is slowly recovering and showing signs of breeding behaviors. While he is "technically" available for adoption through my rescue, I know he will live his life out with me. Seriously, I do.Living in Wisconsin, he got his first taste of sunshine recently and I can honestly say this is one happy iguana here!

Looking into the Rattlesnake Pit - Sweetwater Texas - Photo Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur

Nothing says “quality family time” like beheading live animals with blunt force trauma to the head, or skinning them alive! If you have young children, they can paint in the blood of the recently slaughtered on the hand-print wall in the children's section. There is even food and a beauty pageant, where the winner will prove she likes to skin animals alive!

photo courtesy of Maxmax Reptiles Rescue from CNY Kids' Expo.
Late this morning, a fire broke in the home of Scott Dombrowski and Diana Sleiertin, the founder of Maxman Reptile Rescue.

Their home sheltered many of the rescue's animals as well as the family's personal pets. The only one home at the time was Scott, who was critically injured while attempting to save animals.

Scott's condition is at present critical and unstable. Diana is with him at the hospital while friends and family attempt to go determine what, if anything, can be saved at the house.

Having spent most of my life doing reptile rescue, I know the life Diana has lived. We shared stories of our rescue work the year she visited the Reptile Fest. Everything she had, she put into the animals, and she rescued everything. While her work and heart lay in reptiles, she worked with other area organizations to save as many as possible.

Right now they need our help. Scott's condition is currently listed as critical. Donations to the family can be made at their gofundme. As we learn more information, we will keep you posted.

Reptile rescues need the community's support now more than ever. With the recent addition of the the reticulated python and all species of anaconda to the injurious species list, rescues will lose a large adoption and placement pool.

I have operated my rescue for 21 years now, and for much of that time I have relied on my friends to the south to assist when I had giant species. Depending on what I have in the rescue at any given time, I may need to call upon my Illinois friends to take even a large boa constrictor. Thankfully, I still have that outlet for boas, but at the end of our 30-day grace period, I will lose that ability with retics and all anacondas. Crossing state lines with those species will no longer be legal, and working with my partners in Illinois would make me an instant felon. I am not alone in this; there are rescues across the country that will need assistance from our community.

As the community rallies behind USARK in the upcoming battle to remove these species from the list, it would be wonderful if those of you who have the ability to own one of the restricted species would take this moment and reach out.

Contact your local herp society, which undoubtably runs a rescue program, as well as local reptile rescues to let them know you are willing to help.

Need help locating a rescue near you? Please post in the comments or check out our rescue listing located here.

Contrary to popular beliefs, the most common reptile in rescue is not a giant. I see and receive requests to surrender more water turtles, primarily red eared sliders, than any other reptile. In fact, in one week I will get more requests to surrender sliders than I have received to surrender Burmese pythons in the entire existence of my rescue.

With Christmas around the corner, I am cringing. The wildly popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie will lead to a lot of impulse slider purchases. They are small, cute and cheap, and available at almost every pet store. They also live a long time, take a lot of care to set up properly and while the animal itself is inexpensive, a good set-up is not.

I have no problem with gifting a pet, but slider acquisitions are often made on impulse. Research will be minimal and the care sheets that are handed out are less than wonderful. The animals will come from a big box chain, and the likelihood that they have a chance to talk to an actual reptile person will be minimal.

The end result will sadly be people who talk about how horrible reptile pets are. This takes more than a blog post to fix. Reach out to friends who may be thinking of getting their very own "hero in a half-shell" for their children. Let them know the real commitment that a water turtle will take, and let us hope they do not follow the historical trend of movie impulse purchases.

There's nothing like really bad science and equally bad reality TV to make problems for reptile rescuers.

Discovery Channel, in their brilliant glory, ran a farce of a documentary last weekend where a man got into a snake proof suit, slathered himself in pigs blood and then pretended like he was going to be "Eaten Alive" to boost their ratings. Unfortunately, it's created a big headache for reptile resue groups like mine.

My first call was to find out if anacondas are able to live in Wisconsin. The answer is no. Despite the fact that we have a lot of rivers and swamps, as the caller pointed out to me, the temperatures are far too cold for an anaconda to survive. I mean seriously, it is 22 degrees outside right now.

Three emails followed that asking about anacondas. All three inquired as to if anacondas could really eat people and if they do all the time. It was about this time my head started to hurt and that is when I logged onto Facebook and realized that "Eaten Alive" had aired the previous night.

Several emails followed, all asking a variety of questions about large species of snakes and their deadliness to humans. By the end of Monday night, I had a pre-typed email as a response and was several beers into my 12-pack.

A call this morning also induced severe head pain (no, it wasn't a hangover!), but thankfully I was able to talk the person down and into keeping their pet. The caller had a ball python and wanted to surrender it because they ate meat. Not the snake, mind you, but the pet owner!

They were concerned because the "scientist" who appeared on the show used pig's blood, and since they eat meat, their snake would become dangerous. Thankfully, I was able to explain the reality of snake ownership and also touch on cleanliness issues relating to owning any pet. Monty still has a home tonight and the owner no longer fears her pet.

While the show claimed it was aimed at educating about conservation, it merely introduced a new level of fear for those who live among reptiles. It is time that the media on all levels let go of the hype and stick to the facts.

Photo provided with permission by Mike Pingleton