Snake encounters in North Essex?

Posted by on September 7, 2014

Snake encounters in North Essex??  Snake encounters in Waltham Forest where we were based before 2011 were paid for often, by the local authority events management. They acknowledged that we were a small “not for profit” charity that run live snake awareness and educational presentations which were enjoyed by all.

Since we moved to North Essex we are endowed with three separate councils, Harwich Town council, Tendring council and Essex County council, do we really need all these and what do they do for the residents, they certainly don’t arrange any entertainment, all entertainment here is arranged by Rotary clubs, charities etc.

All is forgiven Waltham Forest as the bookings we received helped to keep the sanctuary running, here in North Essex we feel that maybe we will have to give up, somehow rehome the snakes that can be rehomed and keep just the poor things that nobody will want, give up educating children (and adults) because all the charity run events here want everyone to donate to their charity and cannot see the why they should pay for another charity to give a service at their events, it’s understandable especially as in these backwoods so many people are frightened of snakes and they can’t understand why it would be interesting and confidence building to try to find out something about them, a very sad affair.

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Funding raising for the snake sanctuary

Posted by on May 11, 2014

Funding raising for the snake sanctuary:  Many people think we are funded by the government or other sources i.e. lottery or other organisations, sadly no funding is available for any animal rescue projects even though we also give an educational service to all age groups, especially children and we allow young people to come to the sanctuary to help out on work experience.

The only funding we receive apart from the snakes going out to work for their living is from private sources when kind people decide to donate to sanctuary.

Many people think that animal sanctuaries receive more funding than childrens charities etc. this isn’t the case at all as charities for children and other human needy causes can apply for funding from all manner of sources but animal charities are not accepted.

It’s strange because the animals wouldn’t need any help if it weren’t for people needing help to care for the animals that they cannot for whatever reason care for themselves, after all they are peoples pets not wild animals.

Anyway just in case anyone thinks you can get rich running a sanctuary for animals its not true 🙂

When not so much work for the snakes is being offered we run Fundraising Events, we hire a hall usually on a Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours.

The snakes tire after two hours of handling so we cannot run them any longer.

We charge an entrance fee and usually between about 6 of us, myself and some wonderful volunteers take approx 20/30 snakes for people to meet and handle, we have “get over your phobia”  corner with the family of Kenyan Sand Boas,  although often people who originally started off with a fear suddenly prefer to hold a large boa or python! Some people are afraid they may drop the tiny Kenyans but the larger snakes can be draped across your shoulders.

Everyone has a hugely educational experience with an animal most people know very little about, we make a little money to put towards the care of the snakes and the snakes get out of prison for awhile.

Here are some photos at our latest Fundraising which was held at Long Meadows, Dovercourt, Essex on 27 April 14

 

 

Filed Under: Encounters, Phobia Busting, Sanctuary | Tagged:

Snakes for rehoming UK

Posted by on February 19, 2014

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.

Filed Under: Sanctuary, Snakes | Tagged:

Snake Cuddling

Posted by on October 21, 2013

Snake Cuddling is good for you and for the snake – snakes in captivity need some attention, many snakes come into the sanctuary because people neglected giving them a cuddle now and then.

Mostly people buy a snake and want to handle it everyday at the beginning but this isn’t a good idea for a baby snake, once a week is plenty and no handling  just after the snake has eaten, because it may make him regurgitate his food (be sick) also no handling when he is in slough (shedding his skin) you can tell when this is occurring because his eyes will change colour and look greyish or milky, this is because a liquid forms underneath the skin to help him to slough easily, strangely enough just before the snake sloughs his eyes clear and he can look as if he has sloughed but if there is no shed skin he will shed in a day or two.

Sadly its easy to get bored and neglect snakes because they are trapped in a vivarium and cannot beg for a cuddle, although often they will peek out and sometimes come to the glass for attention, but if no-one is looking then they get overlooked and neglected; it’s at this point that the keeper puts their hand into the vivarium to change the snakes water bowl, clean the vivarium or feed the snake that the keeper get bitten and wonders why. Snakes sense essentially by scent/smell so it’s important that they know the scent of their keeper that’s why it’s important to cuddle your snake from time to time – it doesn’t even have to be that often, but if the snake is fed outside of his vivarium in a separate box at least he will know the scent of the person that picks him up to feed him. Of course it’s much better to have a proper cuddle session from time to time it good for the snake and his keeper, cuddling a snake can be meditative, calming and therapeutic.

Many of the snakes come into the sanctuary because the keeper stopped cuddling them and the snake forgot whose large hand it was coming into his house and frightening him, I think many people forget that a vivarium however well kept and dressed up with caves and fake greenery is still a prison for a snake, no other creatures, no weather, solitary confinement – please cuddle your snake.

We try not to neglect any of the snakes at the sanctuary but the king-snakes are the most likely to get neglected as they cannot go out entertaining like most of the others do as often we take corn-snakes and other rat-snakes which happen to be dinner for king-snakes!! So we have to give the King-snakes special cuddles whenever we get a chance.

Below some pictures of Sue cuddling Cleo the King snake:

 

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Happy Customers

Posted by on October 18, 2013

Happy customers call us back every year to schools, fetes and fundays and sometimes we get calls from the same family wanting live snake encounters for each of their childrens birthdays.

We receive calls from people who have kept our number for five years or more!!

It’s so rewarding to take the snakes out to meet the public and see people of all age groups enjoy handling them, of  course the snakes enjoy getting out too, we try to  give them the best housing possible but it’s stimulating for them especially in the Summer months when they can enjoy some  outside air.

We would love to edutain customers closer to home too;  having lived and worked in the London area we are continually called back which is great but it would also be good to have more customers in North Essex it takes time for people to get to know a new face and begin to book someone new, after all we have happy customers going back to 1996 where we used to live.

We are making many new contacts and find North Essex a friendly place so we are looking forward to getting lots of interesting work here in the future.

Its also rewarding to be thanked, below are pictures of a thank you card which was sent to us from a kids holiday club this Summer.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Encounters, Fetes and Fun Days, Holiday Clubs, Sanctuary, School Visits, Snakes, Testimonials | Tagged:

Volunteers are brilliant for snake encounters

Posted by on October 9, 2013

Volunteers are brilliant for snake encounters – below are some photos of volunteers who come to help care for the snakes in the sanctuary and also helping at large events where there are often 6/8 volunteers and 20/30 snakes.

One of the reasons we take so many snakes is that over time I found that some snakes, in particular Corn snakes and other types of rat-snake can get over handled and hot so we give them turns and change them around, they can usually manage up to an hour; larger snakes such as Boas and Pythons can usually cope with longer times 2 to 3hrs, because they are larger their whole  bodies are not being handled and they will usually happily sit on someones shoulders for quite some time. In the past we have sometimes charged people a fee to hold a snake to raise funds for the sanctuary but this is a rather stressful way for  the snakes and myself to create funding, much better if we are paid a fee for our appearance whereupon people will be able to handle the snakes with no restrictions, if our appearance is advertised well people will come along to the event to see them because they are fascinating and a big draw to any event. The sanctuary just could not run without our passionate volunteers.

7 volunteers hold Ra a Burmese Python

Stacey started to help when she was 12 and I first began taking the snakes out to schools etc.

Filed Under: Fetes and Fun Days, Sanctuary | Tagged:

Chinese New Year 2013 of the Snake

Posted by on March 11, 2013

Because of  the Chinese New Year 2013 – of the Snake we have been inundated with calls to appear with the snakes unfortunately we cannot fit everything into the two week window, we really hope that from these extra bookings work will pick up for the snake sanctuary.

Its great to have this little whirlwind of extra work and the finance will certainly help us, maybe to even scrap two or three dilapidated vivariums and purchase some new ones 🙂

We’ve had some sad times in 2012 with the deaths of some of the snakes in the sanctuary. 🙁

 We took in little Elvis a young Boa Constrictor – we managed to sort his skin problem and respiratory problem but then he went down with a disease that affects the nervous system.

You can see by this photo even though his body looks good after all his problems, his face looks very sad.

We also lost Cats a 5yr old Boa through a disease that attacks the snakes nervous system there was no contact between the two snakes, they were kept in different areas of the sanctuary, Elvis was in quarantine and we always use F10 hand gel between them so why she went down with this was a total mystery. I had kept her all of her 5yrs and she was eating well until May but suddenly went off her food and in July after a slough it was obvious she was ill so I took her to the vet for euthanasia. She was living in the main part of the sanctuary so we are lucky that none of the other Boas have so far become ill with this appalling disease, it is so distressing to watch snakes go down with this  and know in your heart that there is no cure.

Zeno one of my old corn snakes died at the age of 17yrs, he slowed his eating and developed a little lump on his spine, we just found him gone one day.

Zeno as a young snake – very handsome boy and we have 4 of his children, Freckles, Alex, Choc Drop and Hotch Potch.

After struggling with Simons mouth problem for 4yrs after he accidentally hit his nose on a branch in his vivarium whilst striking for his food and he kept developing pus in his gums. Pus in a reptile is very different it becomes hard and lumpy, although he had many doses of antibiotics over the years and the swelling did go up and down, we had to use an antibiotic that needed to be injected everyday as the previous one stopped working, these daily sessions always included a cuddle so I’m sure he knew I loved him and we tried so hard to cure his problem but in the end his suffering was too much and he had to be euthanised.

Snowdrop was also one of Zeno’s offspring, I kept her because her tail was a funny shape, it turned out she/he was an hermaphrodite so she had to live alone. Her cloaca was large and last year became sore I bathed it and applied one of my favourite cures Manuka Honey it works brilliantly and doesn’t sting. This year it became sore again I applied the same remedy but had a feeling I didn’t notice quickly enough and she lost all her energy and became quite limp something similar happened to a Kingsnake I had many years ago it was septicemia, they go down so quickly with that and in a few days she left us, she was 8yrs old.

Tao – a Chinese Copperhead Ratsnake – I took him in in November 08, he was what I call one of the untouchables, extremely nervous although I did occasionally sit with him on my lap calming him. I think some of these fast ratsnakes don’t live as long as some other snakes. He was already adult when I took him in so have no idea of his age and the people that passed him to me were beginners in snake-keeping so knew nothing about him and just told me he was a hybrid ratsnake. He died suddenly and unexpectedly.

So that’s the sad news of the sanctuary for 2012 I think I will have to put up some good news for balance.

Filed Under: Sanctuary | Tagged:

Adopt a Corn snake

Posted by on November 27, 2012

Three new rescues:

The photo opposite is of Kellogs who is a little overweight and has a unusual pointy snout more like a Pine Snake.  Just underneath his body you can see the body of Syrup.

 

 

Syrup and Kellogs came in together, the usual story – children grown up and left home the snakes were bought rather like a toy than a family pet. Syrup is rather shy, you can just see her peeking out from under Kellog’s body.

 

 

Bully the Bull Snake is a very unhappy snake, we will attempt to change this with lots of loving care but he/she is 15yrs old so it may be too late to make any changes. The first time in 16yrs that I’m considering purchasing a “snake hook”!

 

Adopt a Corn snake, we now have 10 rescued Corn Snakes needing loving, forever homes.

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Mika the albino Garter Snake – latest news

Posted by on October 8, 2012

At the snake sanctuary uk little Mika the albino Garter Snake has had some health problems this year, he hasn’t eaten much and I thought it was the end of the line, after his 3rd visit to the vet a huge amount of stuff came out from below his cloaca it seems his glands had built up loads of unnecessary junk. A friend brought some PowerAid to bathe him in and he sloughed on Tuesday and ate two rat pups – whoopee – looks like he’s on the road to recovery – such a sweet little bod with the hugest eyes. Another success for the snake sanctuary UK.

 

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Snake Art

Posted by on September 26, 2012

Snake Art – What I do when I’m waiting for snakes to eat their dinners, quite a few more portraits to paint with 70 snakes living in the sanctuary!! My Paintings and Drawings of Snakes.

 

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