Snakes for rehoming:
Its so sad for all the corn snakes and king snakes that come into the sanctuary now, as not many people want them anymore, fashion shouldn’t be with animals but sadly it is, morph royal Pythons and small species of Boa are the fashion now.
The corns and kings live 20 to 30 years, people were buying all the baby snakes from reptile and pet shops and so many people breeding them but sadly people just don’t keep them all of their lives, some people actually think they would be better off in a sanctuary!
They are so easy to keep and I feel that’s part of the reason, trapped in a vivarium and only need feeding once a month which means they don’t defecate too often either, change their water bowl once a week and there you have it, easy to neglect and forget that the snake may need a bit of TLC, all the fuss that was given to it when it was a baby and no-ones wants to bother anymore.
In fact they don’t need to be handled more than once a month to know your scent and that you are their carer and baby snakes should not really be handled too much, but that’s when they get handled the most. When they are adults they often get forgotten about and neglected this sometimes leaves them fearful of the strange hands the suddenly come into their home perhaps just to change the water bowl but the fearful snake will strike out and bite and the owner then says “it started biting” this is usually because of lack of handling, if this happens there is a simple solution, just place a small cloth over the snakes face and pick the snake up from behind, once the snake is out of its house it is usually fine to handle again and once it is handled more often it will not be afraid of the hands, as it will know them well
They do get handled here at the sanctuary so that they don’t become fearful, can you imagine what it would be like to be trapped in a box, fed and watered yes but nothing else, sometimes people even stop cleaning out their feces, their senses of smell and taste are very acute, how horrible that must be for them.
There is no natural weather or other animals moving around just solitary confinement.
At the sanctuary the female corn snakes and male corn snakes are kept together where possible, this gives them some sense of movement of another living creature around and this also means they need to be taken out of their vivarium to be fed, snakes cannot be fed in the same place as they may attempt to eat the same food leading to an accident, corn snakes do not fight one another.
King snakes need to live separately because they are snake eating species, which means they need handling occasionally here at the sanctuary other than taking them out to be fed, luckily we have some volunteers who will help to give them some extra attention.
Below are some photos of snakes looking for forever homes.
Descriptions of snakes starting from the left:
First is of Storm and Ziggy they are brother and sister all eggs that she lays are discarded, they came to the sanctuary 21st July 12 and are 9yrs old
Second is Naji he’s a very laid back kinda fella, not sure of his age probably 7/8yrs moved here 3rd July 2011
Third is Kellogs and Syrup as you can see by the photo it would be cruel to separate them, I believe they are approx 10yrs old came in 19th Nov 2012
Fourth is Wills, he is about 6yrs old he’s not keen on big crowds of people but would make someone a very special friend came in 19th July 2011
Fifth is Boosh the Whoosh she is quite a character and loves to hide in your jumper about she is 6yrs old and came in 30th July 2010
Sixth is Mizzy she was called misery guts because she bit the father of the boys who she was bought for, she was just a tiny baby 🙁 she’s a great little snake now came in 11th Sept 2010 making her age 4yrs.
Seventh is Genie she came in with Naji 3rd July 2011 and is 4yrs old and very sweet but also not keen on being handled by lots of people, Genie, Boosh and Mizzy all live together.
Eighth is Claudette, she was very difficult to handle when she came in 15th Oct 2010 and was re-homed at one point only to be brought back, over 3yrs we have calmed her and she lives with 3 other females who help her to be calm, she just needs special handling when she is taken out of her feeding box because she always thinks the hands are another dinner lol age unknown.
Ninth is Magic a Mexican Black King snake, he hasn’t been handled much for a long time but seems perfectly fine he came in 18th May 2013
Tenth is Cleo an Albino King snake (I believe Cleo to be male) He is good to handle and would make someone a fabulous pet.
Any of these can be taken on presentation of a donation to the sanctuary and a home check.