Azi the Ball Python

Azi is a normal, male Ball Python (also called Royal Pythons). He's not full-grown yet, but has grown a lot since I got him. He was given to me because his owners were moving and didn't want to take their snakes with them.

He currently lives in a Medium-Wide Exo-Terra that is bioactive. It houses Azi, Porcellio scaber "Lottery Mix" Isopods, Folsomia candida Springtails, Nightcrawlers, Tenebrio molitor Beetles, and a couple male Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. It's working well for him and is really helping him shed properly as he had issues doing so when he first arrived.

Azi is a Nigerian name meaning "youth" as he was a handsome young male when he first arrived and ball pythons are from Central Africa, so his ancestors may have originated in Nigeria.

Gertie the Garter Snake

Gertie is a WC Garter Snake, possibly a Western Terrestrial Garter Snake, though I am unsure as there are a couple different types of Garter Snakes native to the Reno area.

She(?) is with and not in the wild because in September of 2020 my neighbor spotted her on the banks of the Truckee River and grabbed the snake for her kids to play with. Of course little kids who treat their toys badly didn't treat her well either and by the time they got home she was weak and mostly still.

My bf saw her and convinced the neighbor to let me try and save her. He even conquered his fear of snakes enough to carry her inside to me. She looked like a tiny hatchling she was so thin and I didn't think she was going to make it, but I popped her into a tank I had emptied out to clean and rushed to get her some water, which she drank thirstily. Stretched out she was a lot bigger than she had looked, probably about 15" long, but she seemed very thin so I grabbed her some pieces of fish and she immediately ate them off the tongs.

I've wondered if she was easier to catch because she was starving or perhaps my neighbor was telling a story and she was procured some other way. Maybe she was even a thrown-away pet who didn't know how to find food on her own. I'm not sure, but she took to tong feeding immediately and was not afraid of humans at that point. Perhaps she was just able to do so because she was so hungry

Gertie is now much healthier. She eats fish and worms and mice and basically whatever I feed the little garbage disposal. She's also grown a lot and is about 20" long. It took her awhile to get there though and by the time I got her well it was snowing out so she couldn't get released. I probably won't ever release her at this point as she is very acclimated to humans and races to the edge of the tank whenever she thinks she may possible be getting fed. She remembers that she's supposed to be arrived of people after she has food in her mouth, but her learned reliance on humans would probably turn out badly if she was released.

I'm hoping to get Gertie a couple of other Garter Snake pals as they are a social species and she seems lonely. She spends a lot of time curled up in her water bowl, chin on the rim looking out at the world, though she also likes being curled up in her cave, chin in the opening, watching the world because she likes alternating where she can recline lazily and demand food from humans.

Bernard the Bearded Dragon

Bernard and his sisters, Barbara and Bastian, were being given away on Craigslist when they were babies. Their owner had bred his bearded dragon and ended up with far too many babies and nowhere for them to go. Like many people who attempt breeding bearded dragons but don't know what they're doing, he was overwhelmed and just wanted them gone. Three was pushing what I could take, but I needed to take as many as possible because they were already i unhealthy conditions.

Bernard came out of everything with hardly anything wrong. He has a toe nip, but that's about it and he's managed to reach a decent size and weight.

He's a bit of a big boy with a dominant personality who thinks the girls belong to him, humans can be intimidated if necessary, and Buddy needs a butt-kicking.

Barbara the Bearded Dragon

Barbara came home with her brother, Bernard and sister, Bastian. Like them, she wasn't in the greatest of health and had issues from being in a big brood of beardies without enough food and heat. She has a toe nip and a stub tail and hasn't gotten very big. She's little and chunky like me.

Barbara is a pretty variety of shades of orange with some raised marks down her back. She changes color quite frequently, but is usually some kind of orange tint. Her face is stubby, but she walks fine--when she wants to, which isn't often because she likes just lounging in dark spots of her cage. Under her hide, under the carpet, she wants the lights out now so she can get her beauty sleep.

Her cage is the top half of a Critter Nation, currently being remodeled into a Victorian home in Australia. Sadly, while she does enjoy certain aspects of the cage, the space is mostly wasted on her as she'd rather stay in one space all the time.

Her and Bastian still tolerate each other in play spaces usually, though surprisingly this year Barbara has decided she wants to be bossy and Bastian has had to be removed a few times due to arm waving after Barbara has pinpointed on her.

Bastian the Bearded the Dragon

Bastian is Bernard and Barbara's sister. She was the one that almost didn't make it. When they arrived the others ate without much of a problem, but Bastian just wouldn't reliably eat. Already skin and bones, with toe nips and a stub tail, she wasn't in good shape. It got so bad I had to force food into her and train in more as she tried to get the first bit down. I truly believe her survival rested on the jar of soft bearded dragon bites that I got them as a treat. They were soft enough to press into a mouth that didn't want to eat. Forcing her to eat the bits several times a day got her onto the road to survival.

Nowadays she has no problems eating anything and everything. When allowed a choice she immediately seeks out the biggest roaches, bigger than her head, and she will lunge through the air at them with no hesitation. She chomps down on each one she catches, which is truly a funny sight.

Buddy the Bearded Dragon

Buddy was another pet that had her owners just want her gone.

She is a handsome greyish bearded dragon with a very nervous personality, always ready to bolt or bite. Her fight or flight mode is never disengaged.

It is possible to handle her as long as she's picked up carefully from the side and you have a tolerance for stabby spines, but it seems to make her even more nervous, so she is currently not being handled much in an attempt to get her to not see humans are threats.

We were told Buddy was a boy and never checked, but he surprised us with some eggs, so now we know otherwise.

Merkita the Leopard Gecko

Merkita was originally a pet store gecko. A neighbor of ours worked at the store and Merkita was returned after the family changed their minds. She lived with the neighbor for a while, but the neighbor wasn't very interested in her, so gave her to us.

Sadly, the neighbor didn't seem to know all that much about keeping leopard geckos as she was living on dirty, purple calcium sand in a 10 gallon tank, with only one hide and no heating pad. Luckily she as in good health still and was soon moved into a bigger tank with multiple hides, including a cozy warm one and a humidity spot.

Merkita just seems like a Merkita. Maybe it's a vague, subliminal recollection of La Femme Nikita? No clue why the name came to mind, but it fits her big personality.

She's a thick girl with a pretty pattern that looks even better in person than in pictures. Merkita seems to stomp her way across the cage when decided she wants to be somewhere. Perhaps she imagines herself Godzilla.

Freckles the Leopard Gecko

Freckles most outstanding feature is a thorough coating of black spots, or freckles. She's a good girl. Not as shy as Chiquita or as pushy as Merkita, Freckles just wants some loving all the time.

She was rehomed when her owners didn't want her anymore. She was about a year old then, which was in May 2018. Unlike many, she didn't have any obvious health problems. She's just a normal, pet leopard gecko.

She has changed colors a little since then, developing slightly more prominent stripes on her body and just a hint of blue in her tail. She's just a cute girl with a lovely personality who wants attention every time her cage gets opened.

Chiquita the Leopard Gecko

Chiquita got his name from as you probably guessed, looking rather like a banana. I got him in August of 2019 and he was still a juvenile when he arrived.

He's lanky and still having issues gaining weight, but when he first got here he was far thinner and basically just yellow with a little bruising color. He was one of those pets I took in hoping it wasn't too late, but almost expecting to have him die because I didn't save him in time.

Chiquita's problem was that he wouldn't eat for his old owner. I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was purchased by an inexperienced owner from a pet store. He seems to have been kept too cold and I'm not sure how his previous owner tried to feed him, but he eats okay for me with a few tricks. Enough to stay alive, and now he will eat out of a bowl which is a huge benefit as he gets disturbed from his food easily if a human is standing nearby. With a constant source of food and warmth, while he has some circulation issues and is still thin, he's slowly getting a bit better.

Laverne & Shirley the Yellow-Bellied Mourning Geckos

While I normally rescue or rehome most of my pets, the Yellow-Bellied Mourning Gecko girls were a splurge for me. They came from Josh's Frogs and were tiny babies when they arrived in October 2020.

Mourning Geckos are micro-geckos though, so they'll never get very big. While that is cute and makes then hard to handle, but fun to keep, that's not their only claim to fame. Mourning Geckos are known for being among the animals that are parthenogenic. I don't need to check to see if both of my mourning geckos are female, because they are almost certainly so, as nearly the entire species is composed of females. They reproduce by essentially cloning themselves. They can do this on their own, but have better results if humped by another female. That's right, that makes these lesbian lizards.

Laverne and Shirley are roommates in a large, plastic jar currently. While this might seem cruel, it's actually good for them. When young mourning geckos are tiny and prone to escaping their vivariums. This could lead to them being harmed or killed. Smaller enclosures at first also help them find food and keep in humidity. Don't worry though, they aren't staying in the plastic jar for forever. I'm in the midst of building them a bioactive vivarium.

Lilo & Stitch the Hawaiian Mourning Geckos

No pictures of the new girls just yet. Lilo and Stitch just arrived in March 2021 and are still settling in. Lilo and Stitch look very similar but Lilo has a stub tail. They are also very shy, so are harder to spot in their jar.

These two were purchased from Aquarimax, a popular YouTuber who has a great channel teaching everyone to care for pets and also sells surplus geckos and isopods.

I got Lilo and Stitch because I loved Laverne and Shirley so much that I wanted another variety of Mourning Gecko. These girls came from Utah, but were originally from Hawaiian stock, and look ever so slightly different. They'll eventually be getting a Hawaiian-themed bioactive tank after they get a bit bigger.

Thelma & Louise the Yellow-Bellied Mourning Geckos

Our first babies! Thelma & Louise were laid by either Laverne or Shirley. Because mourning geckos are a parthenogenic species, they are essentially little clones of the bigger girls, but are so tiny it's difficult to see the similarities. Most mourning gecko eggs are laid in pairs, as was the case with these girls. I removed the tube to another jar so they wouldn't get eaten by momma, then waited months for them to hatch.

They are so tiny and cute. Far smaller than I expected, and even the holes in the top of their jar are a little bigger than I'd like considering how small they are. I'm very glad I placed them in a secure location.

Thelma & Louise are both less skittish than the other mourning geckos, I presume because I immediately started moving my hands around the jar to get them used to it. Their escape tendencies terrify me a bit though as they really want to go up and out every time I remove the jar's lid and they are so tiny and jump so far I worry they'll bounce right out one day.