The Mother Is A Selfish Snake

CONTENT WARNING: Animal Abuse, Death

For about three years, I have been running a very small reptile rescue. It’s out of my home, and I meet people in public places when taking in or rehoming animals. I have rehomed over thirty animals since I started rescuing. I also own fourteen reptiles that I haven’t been able to get rehomed, most of which have disabilities. It’s hard work and can be costly, but in my small town, there are no other animal rescues that will take in reptiles. I have a website set up with information, adoption applications, and a section where you can message me if you want to surrender an animal. I check this daily.

One day, at 2:00 am, I get a message that nearly gives me a heart attack.

Message: “Hello! My eight-year-old son loooves reptiles! So much that he made us buy him more, and more, and more. Now, we have way too many of the d*** things because they keep breeding. I can’t keep count. I have at least three baby ball pythons, the mama, the daddy, three leopard geckos, and two crested geckos with, like, six babies. Oh! And the bearded dragon. We got him from [Pet Store Chain], but he’s so d*** mean. My husband is going to throw ‘em in the river if someone doesn’t take ‘em, so we can meet tomorrow at noon at [Location]. K?”

I’m pretty horrified, but I don’t want to scare her off, so I simply give a generic reply confirming the meeting. I spend all night preparing a small rack system for the baby crested geckos and baby ball pythons, as well as setting up a forty-gallon for each adult and twenty-gallon for each adult gecko, of course turning them on their sides for the cresteds. By the time I’ve set up everything, it’s 6:00. I barely get any sleep and arrive at the meeting place thirty minutes early. The woman arrives thirty minutes late. She drives a very expensive car and is very well-dressed.

As the woman gets out of her car, she says to the child in the backseat:

Woman: “Sorry, hun! We’ll buy you that parrot you said was sooo pretty online!” *To me* “Okay, the cages are in the back. I’ll pop the trunk and you take them.”

I quietly listen to her, simply wanting to get these animals out of this situation. I… have no words for what I see when I get to the trunk. Two tanks. That’s it. Each is crammed full of reptiles. Each tank is twenty gallons. I’m horrified. I simply grab the tanks, put them in my car, thank the woman, and drive home as quickly as I can without killing anyone.

Once I get home, I assess each cage. One twenty-gallon has an adult bearded dragon with a very infected eye and a ball python with seven babies, four of which aren’t moving. In the second are five baby crested geckos, one of which is mangled, four leopard geckos, and two adult crested geckos, both of which are, understandably, missing their tails.

All of the animals have missing scales and scars from fighting, one of the leopard geckos is missing a foot, and the babies all look sick. Every leopard gecko is missing toes and all of them seem to have stuck shed. I quickly move them to their new homes. Three of the ball pythons which aren’t moving are dead and partially eaten. A leopard gecko is missing a tail. There is one tiny hide in each cage and a very small water bowl, as well as a large number of crickets and pellets, most of which are dead.

I feed all of the animals, remove the stuck shed, and make an appointment for the vet tomorrow for the worst of them; I will take the healthy ones the next day. When I wake up, two more of the baby crested geckos are dead, as well as the leopard gecko with a missing tail.

I rush the worst ones to the vet. No emergency animal hospitals within several hours of me will take reptiles. In the end, the bearded dragon has his eye removed, and I manage to nurse the rest of the animals back to health.

I rehome most of the animals and keep the ones I can’t: the bearded dragon, leopard gecko without a foot, a baby crested gecko that ended up losing his tail, the adult female crested gecko, and the female ball python. I upgrade all of the animals to bigger cages and give them the best life possible.

The bearded dragon ends up being the sweetest one I’ve ever met. It costs me a huge amount to nurse the animals back to health and rehome them, but I don’t regret it. I’m only horrified that someone would do that to an animal, and I hope to never see something like this again.