“He’s never been on the ground before, has he?” I asked Chuck as he lay our 26-year-old California Kingsnake, Spike, on the floor of our patio. “No, he hasn’t,” said Chuck. “I thought he might like a little vitamin D.” For an animal that might not have passed his sixth birthday in the wild, it …
Everyone who has worked hard deserves to retire at some point. And this, we feel, goes for snakes as well. Our kingsnake, Spike, is approaching 24 years old, and we feel it’s time to give him a well-deserved rest. Spike has been instrumental in converting people from fearing snakes to respecting snakes. For many, just …
Once again, in less than a year, we have lost one of our elderly snakes. Karma, the Western Terrestrial gartersnake, was a co-worker we depended upon more than any of our other snakes for our reptile programs. Good Natured If a snake could be ever be considered good natured, it was Karma. Her disposition allowed …
“I’ve thought of a name for the new snake,” I told Chuck a week before we even went looking for a western hognose to replace Roggen who died a couple months ago. “How about ‘Encore’?” The look on Chuck’s face answered my question. We’d have to give it more thought. Plans for Reptile Show When …
We wish to thank everyone for your kind comments and condolences on the loss of our western hognose snake, Roggen. We have heard from friends and even a few strangers by email, in person, by phone, via Facebook, and by comments on our blog. Since this is the first snake we have lost in over …
We cried when our dog died over 30 years ago. We cried when our cat died in the mid ’90s. We cried when our hamster and our turtle and our parakeet each died. And only a week after watching our bullsnake Hatch leave with our zookeeper friend Bryon Shipley, we cried when our western hognose …
For almost the past ten years we have traveled with four snakes. One of these snakes, our bullsnake Hatch, turned 10 this August. Chuck hatched her out in an incubator at the Denver Zoo after a pair of bullsnakes at Cherry Creek State Park in the Denver area produced 13 eggs. Hatch’s was the only …